I picked up an old folks gig on the Northside of Bethlehem, and, upon realizing I knew a few of these folks, this wasn’t an elder gig as much as it was for my contemporaries. How about that?!
I was set up in a lovely courtyard in the middle of this large 4 story facility and it was a spectacular evening with a cool breeze and comfortable temps. This venue has music every Wednesday evenings, often coupled with a theme. Tonight was Scandinavian cousine, so I opened the evening by saying every song tonight was of that origin. Yeah, right. Folks chuckled.
Preshow audience
Right off the bat, a gentleman up front asked for Home on the Range. I knew what I was up against in these situations – some folks expected “The Hits”. That’s not how I roll. I started off with my positive tunes like Here Comes the Sun, We Are Welcomed, Simple Gifts and I Can See Clearly Now, and, though they weren’t the standard tunes, it set the stage for what I wanted to do.
There were quite a few familiar faces from my Bethlehem past and I felt comfortable in presenting my material, chatting about my performing career, my Martin connections, etc. and the show went well. I’m not sure the facilitator understood what I was doing, but there was a really good turn out, and the courtyard was pretty full.
All in all, a good gig in my home town.