I headed out to Bucks County (!!!) for my second benefit set. This was at Washington Crossing State Park in the rather extensive museum building. The benefit was for AiR, Artists in Residence, a group that has booked me and other teaching artists in Trenton and schools that are challenged in presenting arts. I felt it would be a good thing to help them out and play for a new audience.
It was an art auction, wine and cheese affair aimed at the upper crust of this Bucks County society. Lots of black dresses, pink button-down shirts and the like. They had a piano player on first, I was to follow and then a trio doing acoustic pop hits. I did hit it off with the guitar player, husband of one of the board members and purveyor of the sound system. He understood where I was coming from.
As the hors d’oeuvres and wine circulated, I checked out the art works, many of which started with bids of $500 and more. Get back…. There was money in the house.
The piano player finished up and I set up. I said a few words about my work in Trenton this summer and started out playing. It was no surprise that the wine flowed, as did the conversations and I immediately became background music (dare I say ‘white noise’?) for the affair. Yes, I was told to turn it down. I finished up with Dixie Chicken and my new friends in the trio came up and we played for ourselves. I packed up, snagged some chocolates for the road and drove home through the roads in Bucks County. It’s been years since I’ve played one of these gigs, and I’m glad that most of my gigs have people’s attention.
Bucks County.