I enjoy playing small gigs like this one on Saturday afternoon, a family gathering for Adeline’s 3rd Birthday outside of Phillipsburg, NJ. The family had seen me at GarlicFest in Easton this fall and invited me for this family event. There were families, grandparents, kids, food and more, and I settled in early with some eats. I chatted with folks and especially the older sister, Genevieve, about her art work on the walls in the dining room, and when I came in, Adeline gave me a big ole knee hug. The kids remembered me from the Easton gig.

I started out with Peanut Butter and the sister said, “I know that one!” The kids picked up on the hand movements and we were off and running. There was one boy who really got into it and was a great foil for the adults watching. There was also a younger lad who’s focus wandered, but I had channelled his energy early on. He eventually wandered off among the toys in the house. The parents Anthony and Tracy were involved, as were the grandmoms, and helped guide the energy forward. Lots of phone pix of the kids, and when the shakers came out, we had some wonderful moments. I even picked on one of the granddads who stepped up when I asked him to do some gobble-gobbles during the Bear Hunt.

I particularly enjoy involving the adult family members, and it really adds to the occasion when they join in. It’s not just about the kids’ show at all. It’s about the family and its community. I’m am glad I do what I do, and I got some very nice compliments from folks as I headed back to Bethlehem.

I left them with two of my CDs so the experience will last for many more years. That’s cool, too.

This gig has always been a gas to play, for several reasons. It’s Symphony Hall, for one. and for two, as well, actually. It’s got a great sound system, a sophisticated audience and a collection of fellow Lehigh Valley musicians and friends in the house. I get to say hey to a lot of folks who are out playing the clubs, trying to make a living, as well as having the opportunity to play for them. (Unfortunately, quite a few of them don’t catch my brief set, which pisses me off.) But the backstage moments are quite priceless and personal. And there is food in the spacious green room upstairs. It’s a beautiful gig.

I emceed the early portion of the show; I enjoy getting my ‘work’ dues done early on. I had a few quips to offer, and the audience seemed to respond, though some of them aren’t quite sure. “A Vacation at Roadside America” mention worked, as did my “I wanna grow up to be a famous LV musician – but you can’t be both” to a murmur of recognition.  I was glad to shed the emcee job. I’d rather play.

Ironically, I was up directly after this job, and I was introduced by friends George Miller and Kate Scuffle. George picked up on the Roadside America riff, mentioning that I play there. Nice. Kris Kehr and I took the stage and launched into “Zat You, Santa?“. My Martin roared (my friend Phil on sound was another comfort zone). The audience picked up their part quickly (Zat You’s), I did a nice vocal trombone and passed it to the audience. After an interesting silence, the looser portion of the audience chipped in, and I had broken the plane (and the vast darkness in front of me) and connected. It’s a shame that they don’t video this show, so that I could experience what it’s like from the audience perspective. I only know what I hear from the stage. Kris was solid on bass, in spite of very little practice (next to none, though related to “Cerumen” and “Giants” from shared repertoires). It felt good, and in control. It worked well. Trust.

My good friend, Craig Thatcher was slated to follow me, so, before the show, I asked him to sit in with me and Kris for my second song, a nice rocking folk tune I learned from Bruce Cockburn, Mary Had a Baby, very gospel-esque, and a good, simple sing-along. I was able to trust in both my friends to launch into it, knowing that they would understand and respond to what I was laying down. I can lay it down. That I know how to do. Craig responded with some fine leads, I was able to physically move around to the music (a year removed from my hip replacement!!!), and the audience supported me with the choral responses. Upon reflection, I was able to create some good moments of live and genuine music on this Symphony Hall stage. That’s pretty cool.

I had two good friends with me tonight. Kris Kehr, from our Pavlov Dawgs days on bass, is solid, unfazed and supportive, giving me the opportunity to expand on my rhythm guitar chops, concentrate on the audience, the song, the arrangement and my vocals, and lead the band – create the piece. I don’t need a band with Kris. We chatted about this afterwards. We don’t need a drummer, actually, and our sonics cover quite a bit of ground. He is a friend.

Craig Thatcher is a brilliant player and a consummate performer on stage. He listens first, and second,…  and then plays. I am proud to have his respect on stage, knowing we can share our moments together and play off each other. You lead, I lead…. I got to play Symphony Hall with my friend, Craig. Very nice. Together with the audience, the three of us made some vibrant and authentic music tonight. Craig is a friend.

I skipped the finale, and, though I respect all my friends, I just can’t take this crowded stage, especially when it tips too much towards chaos. “We Are the World” isn’t my style. I slipped out a tad early. I guess  I treasure my solitude after a gig and enjoy parsing it on my way home… and here on this blog.

Miriam Huertas and Mike Krisukas put together an amazing run of concerts across Allentown over the years and they gave me the opportunity to play some amazing venues (Rodale Theater, 19th Street Theater and Allentown Symphony Hall) for some very sophisticated audiences in my home Lehigh Valley. I would not be the player I am today without theses opportunities. That’s pretty cool, too.

I gathered the troops for another reunion, now close to 39 years since we first formed. It was a long day with a three and a half hour rehearsal for the night’s show, and the first one with Reid coming in from NH. We had several splintered rehearsals over the last few months with some new tunes, but today we put them all together. I particularly enjoy the banter that goes on as we put tunes together and I remarked that it was good to get the cussing out before we went public later on.

There was a good house for the show, with many familiar faces from gigs gone by, and though we we’re as tight as we used to be, the stage communication was good and the humor flowed as well.

I had put together some of my newer tunes like Ireland, False from True, Santa Assassin and Lessons from Pete, all of which we did remarkably well, especially the Pete tune. I put together the two sets and the leads were spread nicely around, Reid’s nasty guitar and crazed vocals, Hub’s Texas Swing tunes and his Leon Russell “Song for You”, Jeff’s “I’m an Old Cowhand” on guitar, Chris’s steel and Kris’s solid bass. Peggy Salvatore opened the second set with two fine tunes. The good cheer was in the house and we fed off the audience. We had great feedback from everyone and each other. A rich performing experience.

Chris Jones suggested we do “Yulesville”, an odd beatnik version of “The Night Before Christmas”. Hub brought berets and shades, the band played a perfectly nebulous jazz riff and I delivered the poem. It came off very cool and definitely in the Steppin’ Out! tradition of performance art. I was really proud that we delivered some new stuff to go along with some old favorites.

I was exhausted at the end, but a good exhaustion. There was no sound tech for the evening so we had to fly by the seat of our pants, and, unfortunately, the recording of the evening suffered. I feel that some of my projects here on stage still lack a little hometown support and there were few fellow players in the audience (with the major exception of Steve Brosky!). People have no idea how good this band was, and continues to be.

I was quite concerned with our former bass player Denny who was unable to play last year and was uneven the year before. In order to do the gig, I asked Kris Kehr to fill in and he was tickled to do it and did it well. This year, Denny popped up saying he wished he had been asked and I told Denny that I was sorry but I had committed to Kris. I offered him a slot to sit in and a few days before the gig, he emailed that he had practiced all the material and was ready to go. I felt quite uncomfortable in this situation, as did the band. As it turns out, Denny didn’t show up. It would have been very difficult for him in many ways – to play bass and sing after a long layoff, and, perhaps more importantly, be in the house and not play. Next year, I will try to navigate this better.

Well, well, well. A very nice night at the St. Peter’s Bakery tonight. This has always been an act of love for the joint, and, more importantly, a chance for me to play adult music for adults. Two hours of banging and hanging, getting out the fun tunes, the mando tunes and basically play for myself in front of noisy situation (and still not a bar…). I enjoy the challenge.

As I got there in the nick o’ time (before 7 pm for a 7 pm hit), I came upon two very good friends, Amy and Charley, sitting at the primo table. I felt good right away. I scurried about, setting up my small PA for the gig, and actually was ready at 7:05. Remarkable, considering the travel on a Friday night.

I launched in. I had my GD Martin and my cheap mando, both easy to tune and to play. I love my tools. It flowed tonight and the time passed much quicker than usual, partly because of folks listening and acknowledging my effort. Folks were dancing to Nadine for the last song. I got a quantum leap in tips and have enough ‘Washingtons’ to keep me in laundry money til Christmas.

For the first time at this venue, the owner of the Bakery tossed in a couple of  “Jackson’s”. Bam. That was very nice. Seems I have arrived, in a way. This is a ‘tips and food’ gig, both very much appreciated: bread, a Sunday sweetbread and a very cool pizza (Veggies and anchovies. Healthy, no?) and the good will of the People. It really adds up to a very satisfying gig. That’s why I play here.

I surprised myself tonight. It seemed I was primed from the Bristol ES gigs over the last two weeks, as well as the recording sessions with Kevin. I guess I felt focused.  I had a really good time.

I drove back to Bedlam through this familiar PA landscape, with the clear waning moon on my right. I played some Little Feat to guide me home.  A good night.

I finished up my three day residency in Bristol with two sessions with the 1st grade today. Phew. It was good, but there seemed to be a lack of focus with about 10% of the kids, and the teachers and I had to reign in several kids several times. I tried to get across the fact that we could have more fun together if we are making music together, but I think the age level and grade level made it hard to accomplish. I also think the some kids have little experience in a rich group experience, and see it as recess.

I had my bag of instruments with me but realized that it would not be worth the chaos unleashed with this group. It worked with the 2nd graders and the K’s but not this particular gang. Not that there weren’t some highly motivated and intelligent kids in the group. Many were really engaged, but the fringes demanded my energy. That’s the way it is in schools today, I suppose.

I apologized to one of the teachers that I couldn’t do better but she said this is a particularly hard group to work with, and I could see a little of the “deer in the headlights” in her expression. Urban first graders… The teachers were really pleased that I gave each one a CD with instructions to share with the classes I played to this week.

During the break, I headed to Bristol Cemetery to look for my grandparents grave. With a little help from the caretaker, I found the stones, took some pictures to send to my sister and kids and paused to thank Pop Pop for what he has passed on to me. He died when I was 14, but really enjoyed his presence in my early life. My grandmother Anna passed on before I was born. I’m glad I checked in again.

Professor Roland Kushner asked me back to do a session with his freshman class called For the Sake of the Song, an exploration of folk music and music in general. Last year’s class was pretty powerful and I really looked forward to doing it again. I was glad that I went back through these posts to figure out what I did last year, and that turned out to be a very good starting point for this year. Some very curious observations came out of this afternoon.

I started with My Girl, and, amazingly enough, most of the kids didn’t recognize it from the opening bass line, showing that not everyone remembers this tune. I insisted that they sing along on the chorus (setting them up for discussion later on) and it went well. We then dissected the tune as to why it worked. Simple, singable, repetition, pleasant theme, rising melody in the chorus, key change. A good and spirited discussion. We also talked about why some found the tune less-than memorable, citing predictable changes and no bridge.

I followed with Here Comes the Sun, as I did last year. We talked about the brightness of the melody, the descending motif in the bridge, the capo up the neck changing the tone of the guitar. Again, great back and forth.

I was curious as to what they considered to be strong songs in contemporary music and, surprisingly most kids said they don’t listen to modern pop music. We went around the room and talked about a song that they really latched onto and why it made an impression. I asked that they make a You Tube of that tune to share with me and each other. This idea came out of the blue, and made for a good teaching moment.

I followed with a Dylan tune, prompted by Roland, since they were about to do some reading on the Nobel Laureate. The recent election pointed me towards A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall, so I printed out copies of the lyrics and asked them to pick out a line that resonated with them. I then launched into the song, having only worked it up this morning.
It went well and as we discussed each person’s defining line, it came back to me and I found that I was moved by “I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow.” It’s a fairly dense and dark song but was surprised by the hopefulness in that particular line, something that I was looking for during the last 24 hours of gloom.

I followed with Lessons from Pete that laid out my philosophy. As we wrapped up the class, I thanked them for allowing me to exchange ideas with them – I said that I was actually high from the experience. I was. Roland agreed that the class was too short. I wanted to discuss how the music is passed around these days, and I didn’t get to reflect with them how they experienced the class. Hopefully, Roland will pass their comments on to me so I can get some feedback.

I was pleased with the way I was able to open up conversations in the room, draw information out of everyone. These kids were pretty hip and I tremendously enjoyed the experience, learned a few things myself and stretched my brain. I could be a professor, you know.

I got back through the rain, took a nap so I wouldn’t have to deal with all the Facebook nonsense, gloating, moaning, etc. I headed over to Calypso for my final session with the after school kids to try to wrap up our centennial song. I wrote a draft of a final verse and needed one more verse by the kids to finish the tune off. We launched into it at 4 pm for an hour. We named the tune: Hey, Ho, Calypso.

The kids remembered the chorus and we had finalized the first two verses already. The third verse came smoothly and we pared it down to size. I presented my fourth verse and we made some good changes. Towards the end, we worked out some hand and body motions to help perform the song, and the kids came up with great stuff. As they filed out at 5 pm, I asked that they draw an album cover for the song. It looks like we should get together one more time to rehearse the presentation that’s part of a celebration assembly in December.

Working with the kids was great and we have a song. As always, these residencies are pretty creative, and something comes out of the ether and takes shape. The kids rise to the challenge. It was nice that I had 3rd, 4th and 5th graders working on this together.

Hey, ho, Calypso, D G
Miles of smiles that shimmer and glow. (smiles and hands) A Bm A
Hey, ho, Calypso, D G
Every day, we all grow, (hands outward) A D
Ho, ho, ho. (a chuckle.)

verse 1
The morning starts with the school bell ring, (ring a bell) D G
Learn math, reading and science things, (point to brain) A G A
Time for lunch, Hey, what´s to eat? (open a bag) D G
Sandwich, an apple and a sweet treat. (Yum and belly rub) A D

chorus:

verse 2
Out on the playground, we skip and run, (run in place)
Red Rover, Dodge ball , super fun, (arms up)
A hundred years of kids´ tag games. (hands)
Jump rope, hopscotch, we´re just the same. (point out and in)

chorus:

verse 3
In Art class, we draw nice and neat, (squiggle line)
In Gym class, we make our hearts beat, (thumping heart)
We sing in Chorus with harmony sweet, (…)
Pack up our homework; our day’s complete. (Yes!)

chorus:

verse 4
We head out the door to friends and family,
To Bethlehem homes in our community.
One century of Calypso joys.
Generations of girls and boys.

chorus:
everyone sings, and then go out into the audience, encouraging laughter.

Bristol, PA school – the day after the election

I’m doing three days of sessions with the primary grades at Snyder-Girotti Elementary in Bristol, PA, my parents hometown. I vaguely remember visiting my Pop-pop and Uncle Harry, his brother and I plan on cruising by the old homestead on Jefferson Street next time as well as visit Pop-pop’s grave in town.

I did two hour sets with the 2nd grade today in the small auditorium room for about 50 kids per session. Just small enough not to haul in a sound system for the shows. The kids were great as were the teachers.

I didn’t stay up to find out the results and awoke at 6 am with headline on the NY Times. Quite the shock, but I was glad I got my sleep instead. As I traveled the distance down to the school, I had plenty of time to consider the ramifications of the election on our culture, education, the arts and kids-of-color. Quite sobering.

I felt I needed to immerse myself in my art to help me deal with the shock. It worked and several teachers came up afterwards thanking me for helping them deal with the situation, too. That was powerful juju for us all, and that’s what music can do. At least for a while.

Back home for an after school session at Calypso. I’m glad I am busy today.

This was the final farmers market of the year, one that popped up a few weeks ago. It turned out to be a reasonably warm day, though with the little wind that came up occasionally, it had some chilly moments. This is three hour gig so I was glad I had some sun on me the whole time.

I decided again to go with no sound amplification and several vendors thanked me for it. In fact, a friend and potter down the path said it was amazing how well the sound travelled acoustically. It was a fairly slow day, I was told, so I was glad that the vendors were listening and appreciating the music.

There were a few kids with parents and grandparents drifting by, and some of the kids got into it, but there were some very frightened/shy kids that wanted nothing to do with me. I can’t figure it out but I understand how strange it must be to experience live music that somehow demands a reaction. I try to be as non-threatening as possible, but sometimes I just can’t break through. I’ll often encourage the moms and dads to join in, and, often they do, but just as often the dads just don’t know how to do it. It’s sad, really.

One delightful toddler girl had a great time with her grandmom and as we chatted, I found out the grandmom was a primary school teacher for many years. She knew what was going on and it seemed her granddaughter caught on, as well.

I got some good tips, a nice pottery mug from Tom, the potter, a ball of soap, a beautiful squash and a surprise check from the market. I’ve had a tough time booking this market (this was my first visit this year) and I can’t understand why not. As one of the vendors said to me, I’m am the essence of what a musician should bring to this type of event. I agree, frankly.

I was done at 12 noon and had a healthy three hour session of practice. That’s why I like what I do.

After the country club gig, I was looking forward to the CD release session at Open Mike at Godfreys at 7 pm. It was a gathering of the tribe and I was glad that so many of the players stopped by to do a couple of songs in celebration of community.

I decided to lead off and teed up Giant and followed with Lessons from Pete, with Ed McKendry on lead. As usual, I blew a wrinkle that I had inserted at the last moment, a ‘doffing of the hat’ to my fellow Open Mikers. No big deal. The outtro with Ed was nice and I enjoy having this open section to jam with my friends. I also sat in with Mike Duck on mandolin, and contributed nicely to the effort. My new mandolin is a pleasure to play and I appreciate the opportunity to take it out for a ride and do some exploring.

Everyone on the bill really stepped up,and did some really great arrangements of their songs. I was quite proud of my fellow artists and I hope to play some of the cuts on the radio, taking them and the event into the radio waves.

Dina, Ed, Sam, Bill, Bill, Dave, Mance, Leon, Pete, Mike and Mike. It was a very warm and satisfying evening among friends.

I’m glad I have these regular brunch gigs at this country club in Macungie every year, both Halloween and Christmas events. They pay really well, but the families really appreciate what I do for the kids. I started a little before noon and immediately kids came up and dove into the bag of instruments. I particularly like the toddlers getting involved, encouraged by older siblings, grandparents and parents. Lots of smiles as the wee ones dance and play.

It was a particularly warm day so the kids and parents gathered out on the patio so the last set was fairly empty, though some kids made their way back in for a couple of tunes and dessert. As I remarked to one dad sitting nearby, I couldn’t complain about such warm day in late October. It was a good gig.

The manager was missing-in-action so I didn’t get my check after the gig. Delayed gratification, indeed.

We had a rare RockRoots in central Pa., about an hour west of the Lehigh Valley at a large ES. I had actually played this school when it was a much smaller and older building perhaps 25 years ago. We did one show filled with 600 kids and teachers, all dressed in Halloween outfits, so it was pretty much a zoo. It was fairly hard to maintain quiet for the spoken parts of the show, and as we headed to the finish line, I pretty much streamline my patter and pushed for the ending. We have welcomed back Wayne Smith on guitar, and though he’s familiar with the show, he still has some moments that he loses focus on playing a tight show, with some incidentals that are playing to us for chuckles and are lost on a gym full of kids and teachers.

A special bonus for the kids, as part of an incentive program, a small plastic pool filled with chocolate pudding was brought out, once we were packed up and off stage. The woman principal, dressed as Pooh Bear then proceeded to jump in and frolic in the muck. That must have been a treat for the school.

It was a beautiful fall drive through one of my favorite parts of rural PA and a nice departure from the usual trek into NJ for us.

I was back in time to nap for the Godfreys’ 40th Anniversary Show at Moravian at night. A long day.

I was looking forward to sharing the evening with my friend and renaissance artist Dick Boak tonight. Dick admits to being stage-shy, and, in the past, had wanted to share the evening with Craig Thatcher. Tonight, we had the chance to concentrate on his artistry and the rather breath-taking scope of his talents.

Dick prepared a Powerpoint projection that featured a short film done on him and his work, and perspective of his early high-school drawings, his pointillistic pen and ink drawings, his work working, his archive work at Martin, his artist relations with the who’s who of guitar and some of his more recent graphic work. Along the way, he played some of his original songs on autoharp.

I had to find spaces to slow him down and chat about his early days at Godfrey’s, some of his work on the Godfreys Martin and other moments that could give some interesting reflections on his art. We did have some good chat about ‘fame’, about being surrounded by other very gifted talents and the artistic process as well. We had a chance to talk about music in the studio as an act of creation as well. We had some deep moments talking about doing art for ourselves first, without an audience response in mind.

We had several good friends in the audience, and it was special to have them there. My friend Bill George responded to Dick’s post on Facebook: “I loved being with you two, Dave, Dick. You are clearly a genius, Dick (and you too, Dave), but more powerful for me is your your humility, your profound work ethic, courage, energy, and your dedication to service, joy, love. Just wanted to say that out loud here. Thank you for putting yourself out there. It was so great spending a little time with you.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Again, a very sparse audience for these spectacularly dense evenings. As Popeye once said, ” I can’t stands it!”

I was back for the second of four visits to Calypso School for the after-school program. I had given out homework last week: 1. Best of Calypso 2. Knock-Knock joke 3. Find an old-time playground game.

I started out singing The Cat Came Back and the verse we had written last week. Amazingly they had remembered it, almost exactly as we had refined it. That was very cool.

We listed things that we found to be the Best of Calypso and there was the usual friends, teachers, and, with some coaxing, we came up with neighborhood, family, specials, lunchroom and other aspects. Hopefully, I will be able to mix this stuff in to the song.

The most productive session was the old-time games that I hope will connect this kids to the kids who grew up on this playground. Great discussion of tag games, ball games, box games, jungle gym equipment, jump rope, marbles, red rover and other games. The kids put some effort into this, for the most part, and the teacher remarked that quite a few of these games are still being played at recess. I’m not sure how to fit this in yet, but seems to be a good way to help write the history of the school, and, importantly, kids’ play, in general.

We finished off with the Knock-Knock Freeze Dance, and it was a good way get up and move after an hour of some heavy mind work. Again, most of the kids had prepared one joke, and it was good way to involve them on several levels: movement, hand-instrument playing, leadership, memory recall and performance skills. All around a very good session.

This is a sparsely attended monthly jam, but each session has its moments and is definitely worth the effort. Tonight had some new faces, one picker from Clinton, NJ, another from Stroudsburg, along with a new, younger trumpet player from Nazareth. He was particularly refreshing and able to provide some very nice New Orleans spice to the evening.My friends Tom Walz and Jim Steager showed up and I was quite happy to have them in the house. We did more Piedmont picking, Rev. Gary Davis stuff and I got to switch off to mandolin for several tunes. The picking was good and the historical patter was good, as well.

I started my four-week residency at Calypso School, a local school on the Northside of town, and one I’ve played the last three or four years in a row. My People! Part of Doug Roysdon’s Children’s Festival of after-school arts programming, this is the second one I’ve done.

The key element is Calypso’s 100th birthday. I spent some time looking at old photos and new clips but couldn’t find anything to grip, so decided to see what develops. It’s a group of 15 kids, 3rd, 4th and 5th graders eager to spend some time with me writing songs. It’s a workout, indeed. Some kids are quiet, some physically active so it’s up to me to shape this community experience as we go along. That’s the really creative part.

I asked, “What makes Calypso special?” There was the usual – friends, fun and other non-descript terms. I, at least, had brought up the subject. I assigned homework. Bring back one thing that you love about the school for next week.

We have to come up with a centennial song, so, after doing some rhyming games and The Cat Came Back, we staked out some ground. It dawned on me that some common ground for these kids and 100 years of neighborhood kids at this site had some connection. I hit upon recess games and songs and I was fresh from my Playground CD experience that this was a natural way to go. A good idea to explore. I gave them homework to look up old playground stuff from the internet. We had a good chat about how to Google it, and that seemed to be a valuable lesson, right there. Surprised me!

I decided to do some practical songwriting with something they were familiar with, namely, The Cat Came Back. It’d be a good exercise in writing that we can do with the centennial project. I wanted the kids to project the cat’s calamity into their home. One kids suggested that the TV might knocked over. We took a vote and it won. We talked about when it might happen and Sunday football immediately came up. Bingo. Common experience. We’re off….

As usual, I come up with the first line: Sunday football, the cat watched TV. What to eat? Ice cream, bologna (spelling lesson) and catnip iced tea (again, a great image and commentary on beer). What teams would a cat root for? Jaguars, Lions, Panthers… What happened to make him scram? Great talk about current football celebrities.

Here it is:
Sunday football, the cat watched TV,
Ice cream, bologna and catnip iced tea,
He rooted for the Panthers and the Jaguars, too.
He saw Beckham’s Boogie and out the door he flew.

Great discussion, decision-making, singing, refining and all the good stuff that goes into the art. There was a sense of completion that was very cool.

With only a little time left, it was time to get up and move. I emptied the bag and we did Knock Knock. Again, I made sure everyone moved, so important. I assigned them to bring in a Knock Knock joke for next week.

I reviewed the homework at the end: Calypso love, old time recess game and a knock-knock. The time flew by and we really connected. I love my job.

I donated my services again for my friends at Flint Hill Farms outside of Hellertown. I told the folks I was bringing my own flies. The day was cloudy but in the 60’s so it was a good day. I set up outside a bank barn and encouraged kids and folks to come up and sit on some hay bales. It was a tough sell, especially when there so few families there.

One family was great. The little girl is the grandchild of some old Steppin’ Out! fans, and the dad grew up listening to my tapes, and seeing me in concert. He was really cool, watching his daughter reacting to songs he knew as a child. Lots of pictures. Good stuff. I had a few good other moments but definitely a slow day on the job.

I headed out to a music party just over the Delaware, a pretty big fete given by an acoustic music supporter in the Riegelsville area. It was a nice collection of friends and musicians in the circle of Andy Killcoyne, so there were lots of familiar faces. As I loaded up my plate with barbecue, Andy came up and said, “You’re on.” I gathered my guitar and plugged into the nice sound stage put together in the garage space (a spacious space…). I had three songs and had to come up with some ‘bar’ material so I picked Dixie Chicken, Rosie is a Friend of Mine and Pay Bo Diddley, and asked Mitch to sit in on bass and Andy on slide. Jenn McCracken came up for vocals.

The first one was pretty good but something seemed forced. As we finished the tune, Andy found out that he still had background music playing through the system. Sheesh. Rosie came out well, as I was shouting out changes to Mitch. I finished with Bo Diddley and had Charlie sitting in on sax and some piano player found his was onto the stage. It was a good jam with nice dynamics. It was a well received set, and I was glad I had a chance to make a statement among the players attending.

I found my plate of cold barbecue, found some friends and pigged out. After a DIY radio show, a farm set and the fat cat party, I was done for the day. No set at Godfreys Open Mike for me.

I was asked to do a benefit for a church outside of Philly for a group of kids going down to Appalachia on a summer work program. They wanted to do an hour of family music before several bluegrass and old time groups came on, so I shared the space with a wonderful storyteller.

In negotiating the gig, I was offered my CD sales (I said that no one buys CDs any more), and asked if someone could at least come up with $50 to cover my costs. They agreed.

It was a sparse beginning on a warm October day, but I set out. Gradually, I worked up relationships with various folk eating at a table across from me, a few folks and kids who committed to sitting in front of the stage and teens on the playground equipment off in the distance. The grandmoms always make for a good audience and several kids picked up instruments from the bag, and we were off. The storyteller did a couple of finely done stories (we had some connections with PennPat back in the day) and I finished up with the Knockin’ Freeze dance.

As I packed up, the coordinator thanked me for my set and handed me a check. I pocketed it and he said that I should check to see if it was right. It was for $100. Surprise!. That was a very nice touch on their part, and a nod to the needs of the musicians.

I was honored to return to Roaring Brook as an opener for Donna Martin in the opener for the club’s fall season. It was a homecoming of sorts, since I had attended many open mikes there during my CT banishment during the aughts. Several friends were in attendance, but a noticeable lack of a number of others. I was disappointed that it wasn’t a co-bill, but understood. I was asked to do six songs so I chose carefully.

I opened with Don’t Call Me Early to get me on solid ground off the bat. I followed with Giant and I did it well; it seems to be in good shape now. I followed with John Gorka’s How Legends are Made, making the transition from a Stan Rogers song, to John’s homage to Stan, but also to small clubs like the one I’m in. I followed with Kent’s Giants, with Thunder Tubes. Kent was on the sound board, so that made this rendition special. I then did Lessons from Pete and got a great reaction from the small crowd. Stan, the booker, caught up with me at the break and asked who wrote it. I said I did, and he said he thought it might have been Guy Clark. That was a compliment. I finished with Rosie is a Friend of Mine and it cook, though the last chord was slightly out of tune. Drat.

I sold some CDs, fortified myself with coffee and some chocolate cookies and headed back to PA during Donna’s set. I did excuse myself ahead of time, and enjoyed catching up with her before the gig as well as several of her songs early in her set. It was two days of good music at the market, Ron’s kitchen and my favorite folk club in CT.