I had my second freebie visit to the Centennial Stage and I am always amazed at the experience. There are always folks who show up, but I have little idea, other than the ones with kids, why they stop by. And, I seem to get a nice variety of folks stopping by.
Today, as I was preparing my instruments, I looked up and there, in front of me, were Amy and Alena, the twin girls who have been to my last two shows over the years. They come with their grandmom, and today, their mom when they visit their grandmom in Allentown this time of year. They turned out to be great foils during the show.
I was expecting them sometime this weekend, so I looked up last year’s visit to remind me of their names. So, armed with this knowledge, I said, “hmmm, you’re Amy and you’re Alena”. To the surprise of mom and grandmom (and them… and myself), I got the names right. I explained I had a 50/50 chance, but didn’t divulge how I got it right. I guessed right. We were all impressed.
I started out with Peanut Butter, and had prefaced the set saying that everyone should be playing tambourines and shakers on this one, not just the kids, so I asked Amy and Alena to hand out stuff to everyone. The older folks couldn’t refuse these twins, and that set up a whole set of playing along. It was great.
The girls came up for Giants like they did last year, knowing exactly what to do and when. We were primed. The girls knocked it out of the park. We also did Names to the Animals and both girls jumped on each animal. I challenged the rest of the crew to keep up with them, and I chastised the older folks for not being able to. I then pulled out a sheet of some verses from past residencies – Wolverine, Marmoset, and the song developed into some fun and games for everyone. The twins also asked for Knockin’ Freeze Dance and it was another nice vehicle for everyone. One mom with two very shy girls danced off to the side, and when I did the Banana joke, the smaller of the two daughter giggled and laughed infectiously. I stretched it out just to let the audience enjoy the laughs and the situation. Great theater.
Having changed my strings for this gig, my guitar stayed in tune today and gave me the ability to concentrate on the set. There was some mojo today with lots of cool moments with the adults and the A-twins. Very cool gig.