I opened up the Centennial Stage at 2:15 this afternoon, after a rather hectic drive through Lehigh Valley traffic, set up and actually started at 2:16, nick o’ time productions once again. There was a nice crowd of folks gathered with some familiar faces, some grandparents with kids and random elders cruising Ag Hall. I invited the few kids to grab an instrument and away we go. I was still in my hustle mode so I leaned on the hits like Cat Came Back, I Wanna Be a Dog, etc. that work well for this kind of audience. I, of course, chided the audience for their lukewarm singing and they responded nicely.
I invited three young sisters to come up and do Tutti Tah with me with an assortment of joy, bemusement and enthusiasm. The audience loved it. Later on, I brought up a dad and his young son for Giant and the Thunder Tubes and, again, it proved to be good theater.
The audience subsided after a while, especially when I tried to broaden the scope of the material from kids to adult songs. It’s a tough row to hoe when dealing with an audience like this but I enjoy the challenge. Upon reflection, I could have added a couple of my newer songs at the end, but was still not centered enough to do them.
I return tomorrow for another afternoon set. I’ll get there earlier, for sure.