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Monday, August 7th, 2023

Saucon Valley Farmers’ Market on Sunday

 

This is  nice run of gigs in the home town area. My monthly Saucon Valley FM was moved from my regular 9:30 slot to 11 am, due to the young folks from the Saucon Valley School’s Jazz Band. They actually filled the market with parents and other folks, so it was a bonus for the vendors, as well. I pulled up and set up my small sound system and cruised through two hours of tunes.

There are always moments of conversation, interactions with kids and parents, and time playing to the great expanse of lawn in front of me. I got some woodshedding done on my general repertoire and a good warm-up for my Musikfest gig on Monday. I’m glad I do what I do.

Wednesday, March 27th, 2019

WPRB radio in Princeton on Sunday night

My good friend Frank Glaz sits in for John Weingart for his long-running folk music show “Music You Can’t Hear on the Radio” out of Princeton, NJ. Frank is a Godfrey’s Open Mike alumnus as well as a radio programmer, so when he calls for folk on this show, I answer.

I made the hour and a half trip down to Princeton for my 7:30 slot, getting there relatively early. Frank got me on the air, playing Lessons from Pete from the album and we launched into chat about Godfrey’s, school programming and kids’ albums, some talk about being a cancer survivor and John Gorka.

I played Giants, Don’t Call Me Early, and How Legends are Made during the half hour segment and Frank was a most gracious host. As usual, it passed quickly and I was able to play strong with no mistakes (!!!!) and make complete declarative sentences at the same time.

I have no idea if anyone listens but it’s still worth the time and effort to be part of the great folk scene. I appreciate Frank’s friendship and the opportunity to be on the air. It’s performance of a different ilk and I continue to learn from the experience.

Saturday, January 12th, 2019

Philly radio on Thursday afternoon

I hit the road after my Salvation Army gig and headed into Center City Philly for a half hour session with Ray Naylor, a folk acquaintance, who does a two-hour folk music show called Philly Folk Scene on WPPM, PhillyCam online. His format mixes CD cuts with live interviews. I got there at 2:30, found free parking on the street a few doors down from the studio!!! A good sign, indeed.

Ray has been a big supporter of area open mikes and local folkies, so I was more than glad to do the show. Thanks to my Troubadour release, it’s another sign that I’ve stirred up some interest in my music; he’s been playing it over the last few months.

On the air, we chatted about the album, playing on the White House lawn, RockRoots, etc. I also enjoyed talking with Ray off the air about folk programming, his current gigs, the Philly Folksong Society.

I got to play three songs live. I started with Kent’s Giants, an off-center way to get folks attention. Later on I stepped up with Lessons From Pete and finished off strong with Stan Rogers’ Giant. It was a good mix of folk styles and I played them well. I did have to face some tuning between a capo tune, a regular tune and then Stan’s double-D and capo song. Ray covered for me like the pro he is.

The interview is here: https://www.facebook.com/raysings/videos/10215857392580021/.

The drive home wasn’t too bad for an afternoon commute out of town, and I felt that I had spent the day righteously. Parking was no problem either.

Saturday, August 18th, 2018

Radio playlist – world wide

I got a print out of radio stations playing Troubadour. Pretty amazing.

In the states: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, California, Alaska, Florica, Connecticut, Alabama, Ohio, Massachusetts, Maine, New Mexico  and North Carolina.

Foreign airplay: Ontario, Canada, in Kangaroo Ground, Australia and in syndication in New Zealand.

Lessons from Pete, Ten Men, We Are Welcomed, Louise, Giant, False from True, Rosie is a Friend of Mine, and How Legends Are Made are the cuts being played.

This is a very curious trip, indeed.

Thursday, January 18th, 2018

The power of radio

Tuesday night I did my Live From Godfrey Daniels program on WDIY, a slot I share with Dina Hall. I’ve been working on tightening up the format, doing shorter sets, including more ‘single’ cuts from artists while featuring a particular group’s studio album, The format really seemed to work on Tuesday. Good movement, a mix of short cuts with slightly longer sets and CD cuts with high production values.

I happened to play a short set from the Cache Valley Drifters, a wonderful acoustic band from California, and their set from July 1981, 36 years ago. It consisted of an original gospel tune, Journey To My Savior’s Side and an extended jam on The Dead’s Cumberland Blues. Great vocal harmonies and superb guitar and mandolin leads. Good stuff.

It was a particularly good show and felt satisfied with the newer format. Good comments on FB, including some from California.

 

When I got back home, there was an email waiting in my box from Tom Lee, the bass player from the Cache Valley Drifters.

“Hey, Dave…
I just want to say thanks for playing the tunes tonight (Tuesday the 16th) from the Cache Valley Drifters show at Godfrey Daniels way back in ’81. I’m the bass player, Tom Lee. Boy, did that bring back sweet memories of halcyon days. It also happens that I’m the author of the first song you selected, Journey To My Savior’s Side. We seldom performed it, and never recorded it. It was SUCH a blast to hear it. Our David West – still a beloved friend and band mate to this day – used to sing the holy hell out of it, and it was a real treat to be reminded of its coolness.
You do a terrific show, man. I loved the whole broadcast tonight. Keep up the good work, and count me among your new-found fans.
With great respect, Tom Lee

I was able to reply to Tom, send him the audio files from that night, and, over 36 years and 3000 miles, reconnect with a magical musical moment at Godfrey’s long ago. Cool squared.

As this show evolves, I’m finding more fellow performers and folk music lovers outside the Lehigh Valley who are taking notice of the show, thanks to social media (FB). There is an appreciation of this new archival and creative step in my own development. Whoda thunk?

I truly enjoy my work in radio programming, live performance, Godfrey’s archives, creative writing and more. Still growing.

 

 

Friday, January 5th, 2018

In My Spare Time

I don’t have as many gigs these days but I’m finding that I’m spending time working on Godfrey Daniels sound archives for use on the DIY Live from Godfrey’s show. Thanks to sound guys from the past, Kris Kehr and Todd Denton, I’m recovering some of the great, forgotten shows from the past. In the past week or so, I’ve worked on Greg Brown, Claudia Schmidt, Gamble Rogers, Chris Proctor, Relativity, Johnny Cunningham, Patrick Ball, Chuck Pyle, Jim Post, Bill Miller, and more.

I enjoy the nuts and bolts of processing the sound files with Sound Forge: chopping and slicing, bleeping the f’s and s’s, eliminating the tuning, tightening up the patter, and simply working on the sine waves to create professional and enjoyable segments for radio airplay and for the GD archives in general. The process puts me in house after all these years. Time travel, for sure.

The club has also gained the ability to record each new evening and, through this process, broadcast on Tuesday the set from the immediate weekend before. Amazing.

I’m also able to pull out “singles” from the sets – one song wonders that work particularly well for the Tuesday shows. It’s an effort to keep the overall show crisp, varied and interesting. The LFGD show initially did a full hour of one particular show, and Dina and I have made an effort to cut the live sets down to 20 minutes. I’m taking that even further.

Some of the shows were in a packed house, and some were in front of a small crowd, and that shows up on the tapes. But the artistic quality of the shows is quite amazing. These folks consistently brought their their A-game to this club and that is what I take away from these sessions. Great performers.

I’m glad I have an outlet for this material with the radio show. Godfrey’s has had a hard time getting the local arts scene to understand what goes on in this room, and this is a great way to capture the magic that happens here. The club had started to broadcast live shows on Concert Window on the web, all a part of inviting folks into this club to experience that magic.

This process is part of what I do as an artist. It is less visible one, because I love to perform live.  But I get great satisfaction in presenting the great folk performers I respect and their music with the people whether on the radio or here at Godfrey’s these many years. That’s why I celebrate the legacy of Godfrey Daniels and folks like Ramona, Mike Space, Dina Hall and all the volunteers who keep this place vibrant and alive.