My friend Dave Reiber asks me to do a Spring and a Fall open house at this nice working educational farm outside of Hellertown. I was one of very few musical volunteers for this weekend, and having survived the earlier farmers’ market, I was looking forward to playing in the horse barn at noon. I was expecting an hour and a half of playing music to a few families out on the farm tour but as I arrived, a tour bus also arrived with 25 inner city black kids and adults. I quickly parked my seat, guitar and bag and immediately launched into an appropriately funky tune. The kids and a few adults gathered around, picked up tambourines, et al, and we started to groove. It was an incredibly energetic beginning for us all, and we hit it off right away. I said it was the best opening song I had ever done.
The folks hung around for an hour, and I maintained the funky tunes. I started with Jelly in the Dish which morphed into a very cool Old MacDonald Had a Farm, instantly more musically interesting than the original. I will keep it in the repertoire.
For the last half hour, Dave and I had a chance to play some folkier tunes on guitar and hammered dulcimer. It was a good way to settle down after a pretty exhausting first hour of intense funk. You never know who’s gonna show up or what your set list is going to be.
A hour off and then up to Stroudsburg for a stage set at the Sherman Theater.