I’ve been doing a couple sets for my friend Jeanine Villano-George every Labor Day  Weekend (‘cept for last year, of course) as a freebee just for the opportunity to play for this interesting cross-section of people: kids, families, old folks, wanderers, etc. Some how, I seem to find the material to entertain the folks and get them invovled. Always a challenge. This year, I had Thursday and Monday in the afternoon – Thursday was relatively light and Monday pretty busy.

Things were on a budget this year with the stage not so far off the ground, but not a big deal. The 4-H display was pretty skimpy but that’s all a function of the strange year it’s been.

Diving into Americana

I put up this image for the Thursday gig on FB, saying that I was diving into Americana. It raised a ruckus and I had to add that no guitars were harmed in this performance. I like the fact that I will take on these gigs that few other folkies will do.

Giants and Thundertubes

I’m always open to doing adult material but will definitely lean on doing the family stuff if there are kids in the audience and that was the case for both days. My obligation is to entertain the kids and the adults always get a kick out of those interactions.

Jelly in the Dish

Barnyard Dance, We Gave Names to the Animals, Giants (of course), I Like Peanut Butter, The Cat Came Back, I Wanna Be a Dog, etc. This weekend I tried Jelly in the Dish with the scarves as my final piece and it worked quite well, especially when the kids started off with the scarves, and, bit by bit, I was able to put the scarves in the hands of most of the adults so that the piece became a unifying spectacle. I brought up a young girl to lead the folks with the scarves on Monday.

I received some good feedback from folks who work the fair: Jeanine, Sam, the sound man, the security guard, the 4-H lady, and, I hear tell, the woman who works the rest room. They all say I’m the most entertaining of the acts, which is gratifying though I still feel I’m just winging it. A lot comes from my commentary that I pepper my “show” with, and folks appreciate the spontenaity of the situation.

I gave away my Peanut Butter and Playground CD’s to the families, sold a few Troubadour CD’s on Sunday, and did alright on tips for both days. The best payoff is the responce I get from this really diverse audience.