I was honored to return to Roaring Brook as an opener for Donna Martin in the opener for the club’s fall season. It was a homecoming of sorts, since I had attended many open mikes there during my CT banishment during the aughts. Several friends were in attendance, but a noticeable lack of a number of others. I was disappointed that it wasn’t a co-bill, but understood. I was asked to do six songs so I chose carefully.
I opened with Don’t Call Me Early to get me on solid ground off the bat. I followed with Giant and I did it well; it seems to be in good shape now. I followed with John Gorka’s How Legends are Made, making the transition from a Stan Rogers song, to John’s homage to Stan, but also to small clubs like the one I’m in. I followed with Kent’s Giants, with Thunder Tubes. Kent was on the sound board, so that made this rendition special. I then did Lessons from Pete and got a great reaction from the small crowd. Stan, the booker, caught up with me at the break and asked who wrote it. I said I did, and he said he thought it might have been Guy Clark. That was a compliment. I finished with Rosie is a Friend of Mine and it cook, though the last chord was slightly out of tune. Drat.
I sold some CDs, fortified myself with coffee and some chocolate cookies and headed back to PA during Donna’s set. I did excuse myself ahead of time, and enjoyed catching up with her before the gig as well as several of her songs early in her set. It was two days of good music at the market, Ron’s kitchen and my favorite folk club in CT.