This turned out to be a remarkable gig at Coopertown ES in Bryn Mawr, PA this morning. It was good for me, for a change, not to worry about my part in the show. The post-Covid cobwebs have been, for the most part, banished and the show and my confidence  is back in good shape. Travel was easy and Kevin called and said he’d be late. No problem.

As I headed into the school with my guitar and mandolin, one mom in a drop-off lane commented that I might be pissing off a lot of people. What? As we struck up a conversation, she was referring to the tragic incident in a school in Texas the day before. I finally connected that my carrying a black case into a school was disconcerting to some parents. We straighten that out with a little humor, but, apparently (pun intended), the concern was in the air. And, we helped a little bit with the show. More, later.

The principal introduced us, saying that this was the first assembly in three years, and for many of the kids in the house it was their first ever (the 1st and 2nd and some of the 3rd grades weren’t in school), so that was interesting. Assemblies were the best part of going to school for most of us, I think.

Two shows with about 225 K – 5th students each, but the grades were mixed around so we had to aim for the middle ground. No kiddie show. The kids were great, a wonderful 5th grade girl nailed the Irish Jig, the Peanut Butter do-wop groups rose to the occasion and were delightfully giggly, zany and being kids. Everyone got up and danced.

The teachers and the PTA liaison loved it. One teacher said that she has I Like Peanut Butter and will play it for her kids in class. Again, deep roots. But the general feeling was that RockRoots provided a tremendous relief for the whole school on such a grey emotional day. YANJ got this message from the school:

“We all very much enjoyed RockRoots yesterday!  The show could not have come at a more perfect time for the students and teachers after such sadness in the news from Texas. It was so good for all of our hearts to see the kids laughing, dancing and singing.  The joy was palpable. Thank you!”

We’re making a difference sometimes when we don’t even know it.