I was asked to sit in with Mike Duck (aka, Not for Coltrane) at the local farmers market on Thursday. I worked out some of his original tunes, we had a rehearsal and we played. I particularly enjoyed being a backup mandolin player on his songs, a relatively new gig for me. It was a warm October afternoon and the forecast for showers never happened. All for the good.
In the second hour of a slow market, a group of kids and teachers from Freemansburg ES came by on their way up to the Linderman Library on campus, “The Stacks” as it was known when I went there. I have played there over the last two years so these kids and their teachers knew my stuff so I kinda commandeered the set from Mike and launched into The Cat Came Back, We Gave Names and others. It was nice that Mike was using some of my songs so we could do some nice give and take on Names and Jelly in the Dish. Several of the kids had a dancing jag, so it was great to encourage them to ‘take the stage’ in front of their peers, the generation of risk-taking artists in their community. The group trundled off to the college library and things settled into the Duck/Fry thang.
It was quite nice to share an afternoon with my friend, making music together on a beautiful, warm fall day a block from my apartment. Tips, too!