This one was booked months ago, and it finally rolled around, as it always does.
This was a church kids/family event at Ziegels Union Church in rural Lehigh County west of Allentown. There are two congregations (Congregational and Lutheran) sharing this old church (and ancient cemetery), thus the ‘union’ title. I think that’s a commendable effort.
I was booked as the main event at 1 pm, to be followed by hot chocolate and goodies. There ya go. I got there plenty in time to set up with a vocal mike. The sanctuary seemed live enough to play the guitar acoustically. As I set up, I had a chance to hang out with the custodian/volunteer and we chatted. We found out we had in common the late Bob Grover from that area.
Custodian and younger brother.
A young boy was poking around so we engaged in conversation. He said he didn’t play but his older brother did. I shared the rain stick with him and his eyes lit up. Ten minutes later his 15 year old brother (with long hair) showed up so we talked guitar. I offered him my Martin to play and he sat back in a pew and played some really nice stuff. He knew what he was doing. You could tell he was bitten by the ‘good guitar’ bug. While we lugging stuff to my car at the end, he said he had to check in on this Martin stuff. A magic moment, one that I recall in my past.
The concert was well attended with about twenty kids up in front of me, with an equal amount of curious adults and some parents. I started with I Like Peanut Butter, followed with Tutti Tah and rolled into some Santa classics. I said that it was hard to remember the third and fourth verses to some of these annual songs, and the minister in the third pew nodded in agreement.
I broke out the rhythm instruments for We Gave Names to the Animals, the scarves for Jelly in the Dish towards the end and then tossed out red foam noses to the kids for Rudolph. As usual, Rudolph was a riot, with everyone noodling their antlers. I have the best seat in the house.
We finished up and I headed for some hot chocolate and cookies. It was a gorgeous day in one of my favorite parts of PA. …and I got paid.