I signed up to do my Topsy Turvy Tuesday set this week, anticipating the fact that Musikfest no longer books kids’ music during the festival. It was a small but responsive audience of about 30 people, with familiar faces in the crowd. I was lucky that my friend Dave E. had his wits about him to help me call Doug to come down and open up for the morning’s show. It turned out fine.
It was a mix of Fry-fans, young kids, grandparents and moms in the big open space that served well, especially for the young lad who was born to run…. There were some folks visiting grandparents from England, and their young daughter was quite precocious; she knew my stuff and had her favorites and it was a delight to have her chat with me in an English accent. There were three girls who simply wanted to dance, and the scarves gave them the opportunity to express themselves that way. Other kids gradually warmed up, and, again, the bag of instruments gave me the way to connect. Still, there are some very shy boys that don’t quite know how to react. I make an effort to engage each child in a non-threatening way (I am quite daunting…) and succeed in various ways. That is my main artistic challenge.
The secondary challenge is to engage the adults as well, and enjoy adding asides, curious verses and more, in order to entertain them as well, especially if they buy my CDs. (Just kidding, kinda…)
It was a good gig under the radar during Musikfest.