Dave's Journal

Friday, May 6th, 2022

RockRoots in Levittown, PA on Wednesday

We headed down the Turnpike to Levittown for a Wednesday morning assemble, near Bristol, Pa, hometown of my folks. I got there early, introduced myself to the principal (dressed in full beard as Joel Embiid!!) and set up in the gym. As the band arrived, we had a chance to go over The Snippets – the short medley of regional R&R styles, and that proved to be beneficial.

I really didn’t review the show like I should have, relying on muscle memory, and, for the most part, I did okay. I did misplace the Elvis section, putting the Do Wop first. Our Peanut Butter section is a riot with four kids coming up, giving them red shades, and the crowd loving it, including the older kids (7th / 8th graders) responding to one of their own on stage.

We finished with All Around The Kitchen with the entire gym up and dancing. I always ask several teachers to come up at the very end, and one teacher (who I noticed dancing in the back during the show) came up and demonstrated The Bristol Stomp (only three miles away). She nailed it!!!.

The principal lauded the show after the kids left, claiming that he had played drums in bands a long time ago. The Stomp teacher came back in and said we were the best assembly ever. It’s nice to hear that, and important for the rest of the band to hear, too. RockRoots is pretty special.

Friday, May 6th, 2022

Marvine ES Climate Change Residency – III and IV

We decided to move to the Art Room for the next couple of sessions so that Bill can lead the way in slinging the paint to move things along. As could be expected, the attendance has shrunk to three or four students, but these kids are charged.

Two weeks ago we used cardboard frames with head cutouts for our three concepts. We worked on the Brezz Family during the first session, selecting colors, transferring characters. We also worked on vocabulary for Wild Fire, and I’ll put something together for the next session.

  1. We live on top of a hill, soaking up the breeze.

Our blades spinning in the air with the greatest of ease.

Taking that wind, put it in a battery.

Turning that wind power into cheap energy.

Chorus: Who dat (Who dat?) Who dat, you say?

We’re the Brezz Family, here to save the day. (2x)

The second session started on Wild Fire and Pollution cardboard characters. I was about 20 minutes late for this one (finishing up with Amy Forsythe’s Lehigh class), and Bill was in production mode with painting Brezz and Wild Fire. I settled in and ran the chords for the song to get it in my head and then joined in with painting the Pollution smoke stack. The kids were listening to some current pop tunes on the computer and goofing about. Bill was cracking the whip, in his friendly way.

With about 15 minutes left, we cleaned up and I introduced the Wild Fire verse. My young friend broke out his trumpet and we worked on a place for him on the Who Dat. The kids are getting into the chorus, the attitude of some of the words, and one older boy, who seems to have a flair for oratory, tried out the verses as an orator. This might be cool.

2. Like a dragon flying through the trees,

I’m a wild fire on the wind with flames in my teeth.

Yellow, Red and Orange in a wild salsa dance,

Leaping through the air from branch to branch.   Chorus...

We’ve got one session left in two weeks, and, gradually, we’re getting there. We talked about why there was such a attrition with the kids, and, we figured that we should have presented a fuller picture of what we were going to do. Part of this process is to develop a template, and, now, we can present a better idea, with photos, song, etc. for the kids and the school. We’re all learning on this one.

 

 

 

Thursday, April 28th, 2022

Dave’s Night Out with Gregg Cagno and Bill Hall

This was a flash-back to a DNO that we did four years ago, almost to the day, with my friends Bill Hall and Gregg Cagno. I started with Going Away from Utah Phillips and then passed off to Gregg. Early on, we talked about Jersey songwriters like them (I included John Gorka) who had access to the NYC folk scene and were able to head into the city to see the greats and play the open mikes, as well. As we rotated amongst the three of us, Gregg and Bill did some really fine original tunes. I was able to bring in my new arrangement of Imagine, Branching Out, Rodeo Rider (on 12-string), and my Lessons From Pete.

My friend and now Eastonite Andrew Dunn had chatted earlier.  I said how much I liked his Steel Is Strong song from the recent Bethlehem Steel album, and that I was playing it on my radio shows. He then said that it was based on my Lessons From Pete. I found that amusing, but, in playing it on stage tonight, I caught the reference. No wonder I liked it. Frankly, it was a honor to hear that.

Martin SC-13E

Bill had come in early to do some recording for his Rosie Project and had worked with Gregg already. When I came down around 4:30, things were all set up for my session. I brought my SC-13E down for this one and rolled through my version of Rosie is a Friend of Mine. The Rosie Project plans on having a multitude of version of his song on one album, with the other album Bill’s other material. Since we all set up, Bill suggested I try out a few more tunes so I stepped up with Stan Rogers’ Giant, John Gorka’s Branching Out and Alex Bevan’s Rodeo Rider (on 12-string). Bill and Gregg filled in some vocals on Branching Out. Amazingly, I was able to roll right through the songs on the first take, though the process is pretty exhausting.

Bill bought Indian food from Na Wab down the street, and it served as a nice break between the recording session and the show.

As usual, there was a dearth of folks for the show, but the music and conversation was stimulating and humorous. It was good to be with these good friends.

Monday, April 25th, 2022

Mountain View Drive In Patio for Equi-librium – Saturday afternoon

Part two of my very rare Saturday doubleheader. A local riding academy Equi-librium held and informal volunteer recognition fling at the nearby Mountain View Ice Cream/Miniature Golf/Snack Bar above Nazareth, PA. I was asked by my friends Rita and Ted to provide some background tunes as the folks gathered together. It was a grey day but temperatures were in the 60’s and not too bad. The proprietor asked me to set up facing the restaurant so as to not further piss off the neighbors behind the place. I dragged out my new amp for the occasion.

The stables are part of a therapeutic effort to mix horses with special needs people, and the volunteers certainly deserve celebration. “Healing Through Horses.”

I set in playing tunes as folks pulled up, started to mix, eat ice cream and have a good visit with each other. My friend Sue Wallace showed up and she was kind enough to treat me to a crock of chili after I finished up. The folks seemed to have a good time. I packed up and headed back home, when, upon arrival, I was pressed into service at Godfrey’s counter for the evening. I really was beat but pitched in. I needed all of Sunday to recover.

Mountain View, Nazareth

 

 

Monday, April 25th, 2022

Packer Chapel memorial service on Saturday morn.

Packer Chapel at Lehigh

My friend Lloyd Steffen asked me to play for a memorial service for a Lehigh professor who had passed in November, 2020 (mid-Covid) and the family had a chance to gather in his memory. I said I’d be glad to, and the family asked for John Lennon’s Imagine. I said I will work it up. At the time, I didn’t recall James McIntosh, but got to know him at the service, and then recalled him quite well. He was the weirdo Social Science guy in Price Hall. In a sea of conservatism, his shorts and T-shirt set him apart.

I spent four or five sessions working on an arrangement for it. I like doing this stuff. Listening to the original, jamming with the chords, looking them up, finding a key I can sing in, and then just playing the tune for a while.

It’s tough doing a song that such a well know anthem; everybody knows it. It’s the LICK that everyone expects, so I concentrated on the quick arpeggio between the verse lines, got it down on guitar. I then figured I could use it as a vocal community tool to get everyone to sing it. I decided to do it mid stream, after the first chorus. It should work.

I don’t have the head for memorizing lyrics. I don’t play the songs out enough these days to keep them on the mental desk top. So, I print ’em up, and sit and play, make sense of the song, find places to breathe before a falsetto (boy, you don’t want to hear that in process…). I have to pitch Beatles and Lennon songs lower, where I can sing with conviction. What was C was now in A (G capoed 2), and it fell together nicely, with several shots a couple days ahead that sounded really good. I looked forward to performing this in PackerChapel.

I got there in time to set up, check in with Lloyd and drink in this place, a sanctuary for me for over 50 years, from freshman student, to Sunday folk mass with Hugh Fleisher (after bar gigs in Allentown the night before), and my early folk roots in the Catacombs Coffeehouse in the basement beneath us. And the room itself is quite awesome, in the richness of that word.

Jim’s widow Sally was seated up front, right in front of me, and started up some conversation, sharing our memories of the early Musikfest days, when this community felt that it had a place in its construction and its implementation. Esprit de corp.

My workspace for the morning.

Several other folks came over to say hello, mostly folks who have seen me over the years at Musikfest, and it felt good.

Professor McIntosh, bearing the Mace

The organ cracked up with the opening. My god, what a sound. Gets your attention. The service started with Lloyd doing his best self, setting folks at easy, chatting about Jim’s honors at Lehigh (he carried The Mace at Lehigh’s formal function – rumor had it that he also carried Mace in case of a felony.). As I listened, I was studying the audience, and noticed that Jim’s son was sitting next to Sally. Then it all came together in his son’s resemblance. Yeah, I knew exactly who Professor McIntosh was.

Lloyd wrapped up with the readings and it was my turn. I chatted that I was wearing the requisite Lehigh Brown, that my diploma was checked at the door, and my connection with The Catacombs, and how I had now broken through the slate ceiling to be here today. Chuckles.

I launched into Imagine with two bars of the intro – I’m glad I could posit it, from my practice that week. Two verses and then the chorus with its falsetto (You oooo, may think that I’m a dreamer.) I did fairly well, enough to get me through.

My view from up front, a tad to the right.

When it came around on the guitar, I asked the audience to sing the LICK, “it’s easy if you try….”, and slightly badgered them to sing louder, and then proceeded to the third verse. I could see some folks singing along and the LICK seemed to hold. We finished with the chorus and we did the LICK three times – last time just the audience – to a fade. The last part was what I wanted to nail, and it did, with the common voice of the people, filling up this marvelous and historical space. It landed as I hoped it would.

I stuck around to hear the fine memorial speeches, and everyone was great. The family and friends soaked it up. And, it was nice that enough time had passed that their was more joy than grief. I packed up, thanked the organist for such an experience, and headed out into the gray Lehigh afternoon.

Another gig later.

 

Friday, April 22nd, 2022

Marvine Climate Change – Session II

My task was to warm the kids up, and had fun with Tutti Tah, even though the oldest 5th grade girl, new to the class, wondered what was going on. Anyway, the kids were great.

We hoped to revisit our vocabulary list, which Bill did, but, as we figured out later, perhaps, because of lack of information and the reticence of answering questions in class, we didn’t get much out of the kids.

Windy Brezz

I did an exercise with rhythm instruments after dividing the class in two. Amazing that some of the kids had a problem with counting off in twos. (occasional “three”). What worked – we were able to break up the little click of 5th grade girls and spread the kids out. After getting each side to play a beat, and, importantly, our “big endings” (so much fun…), I had each side take one part of each line, with Bill leading the other side.

I’m made of carbon / So are you.

Carbon is in the air / It’s CO2.

Makes a monster hurricane / makes a monster drought.

Makes a monster wild fire / That’s what I thought.

I added: Who dat? Who dat? / Who dat? Who dat? I’m going to follow up with this later.

Mini Brezz

We pulled out wild fire, pollution, hurricane and drought and voted for wild fire and pollution. Since one young girl had already worked up the Wind Power Family, we went with that. Bill then divided up the groups into Wild Power, Wild Fire and Pollution, and introduced the idea of how that group could make costumes for themselves, and gave the kids paper and markers to ideate what that would look like.

As the session came to a close, we shared the pictures with the larger group. Time’s up.

Aliey Brezz

As Katie, Bill and I put our heads together, we figured that the kids should start painting a small model of their project, water-color on cardboard, next week, in preparation for creating a full size, production model. I still have to figure out how to get verses for the three WP, WF and P models. We figured I could frontload the three verses with the first two lines and have the kids finish them.

One boy really relished “scientist”, so we figured that he could read the lyrics as a mad scientist while I play the chords, incorporating the “who dat? into the song. We only have three more sessions so the pressure’s on.

This is hard work.

Friday, April 22nd, 2022

First Farmers’ Market of the Year

The farmers’ markets are starting to roll in, and I had my first of the season on Thursday a block away from home at Farrington Square (formerly Campus Square). It was a grey and somewhat breezy day with temps in the upper 50’s, still a little chipper, but a good day, none the less.

I set up my new combo vocal/guitar amp for the first time outdoors and I was mostly pleased with it, in spite of a few annoying barks when I overdrive my guitar playing. (What, me, bangin’ on the guitar?!) I also baptized it with a new dent when it tumbled off my wagon at the end. Oh, well. All in all, a nice addition to my gear for some of these small gigs.

Being the first of the year for the market itself, there were new vendors among some of the old faces (Peanut Butter Man), lots of Lehigh coeds (what’s with the bare midriff theme? brrr…) and a few folks who knew who I was.

One particular coed came up and asked if I ever lived in CT. That was a surprise. She then asked if I had played the Atwood Library in Northford. Yes, that’s near where I used to live in Northford. She said she remembered me playing there as well as listening to my I Like Peanut Butter CD all the time. Amazing flashback. Cool.

The gig went quickly and I had a few verse conniptions, but that’s what these gigs are for, getting my repertoire up and running again.

It was good to be active again.

 

Saturday, April 9th, 2022

Marvine Residency – Climate Change – Day I

It was a dark and stormy Thursday afternoon, a perfect time to start our Climate Change residency at Marvine with my pal, Bill Christine and Katie Santoro, our teacher/liaison. A good group of about ten 4th and 5th graders (yes, there is a difference) and they seem to be ready to be engaged.

Climate Change. 

I started out with my scarves and the list of potential Climate Change (CC) characters on the board. I got the kids up and dancing, having them interpret the various items like pollution, smog, etc. It was a very good way to start out the session. The kids were moving, dancing, creating before they had a chance to think about it. We then went through the list and voted to start with Wind Power. We then made a vocabulary list on Wind Power on the board.

Bill then led with his graphic exercises by having the kids make four doodles on a page, swapping them with another student, then creating characters from those doodles, and having the character make a statement. Again, Bill creates a creative moment that breaks the inhibition of making self-conscious choices and puts them in the moment, and gets the kids to interact with each other. Wise….

While Bill was working with the kids, I had a chance to write a verse from the vocabulary list, try out some chords (also giving a sound track for the kids as they drew), and start to formulate some musical ideas in my head. I put the verse up on the board.

We gathered again on the floor and shared our favorite pictures/statements. I then tried out my verse with the kids, just to put some air in the song as time grew short. As per usual, I asked the kids (later, Bill and Katie) what they enjoyed doing, trying to crystalize some of what we were doing, and hopefully making it better to communicate with their parents later on.

Now we tackled what our WP creature would look like, and the discussion was lively and engaged as Bill did his stuff on the board. We needed a tall post, wild blowing hair, and an interesting, smiling face (Bill invited one of the kids to draw it on the board). We had to name this creature. I came up with Gusty Breeze, which morphed into Gus T. Breeze. I asked someone to print this on the board under Bill’s caricature and she wrote Gus T. Brezz, which, as it turns out, is even more cartoonlike. A keeper.

Several nice reactions as we dispersed at 5 pm. The smallest girl in the class was knocking off several versions of our Brezz character. Another girl said that she wished she could do this every day. And even one of the 5th grade subdued girls cracked a smile as we fist-bumped on the way out.

It’s a new thing for me to collaborate with another artist, and Bill and I pulled it off with style. We both can lead, support and get out of the way when necessary. Katie helped tremendously by taking part, documenting the lyrics and taking photos. She is a vital part of this process so that Bill and I can focus on the kids.

A great start.

Saturday, April 9th, 2022

Easton Public Market on Friday evening

I had trepidations about my two-hour set at the Easton Public Market, partly because of the horrendous parking situation in Easton these days and partly because of my rusty performance chops. Pleasantly, it turned out well on both counts.

The Friday night traffic made for a later arrival than I had hoped, but the friendly market manager, Erin Grins, made me feel welcome, and as I unloaded, parked and started to set up, I felt okay. My good friend Joe Janci had also showed up and made me settle in quickly. Thank goodness for the available sound system, though finding all of the ‘on’ switches made for some concern. Sheesh.

There were only a few folks gathered in the eating area, but I singled out a young boy with his mom and dad who was curious about my sound check, so I invited him up to test the mike. It was a good way to start, and, curiously, it caught the attention of the market manager who mentioned it after the gig.

I started with Blue Mule and noted that my flat pick was off a string or two to begin with, a sign of neglect over these last few weeks. But, the lyrics were sharp. My playing improved over the course of the night, with a few lyric blips thrown in, but, remarkably, my mitts didn’t suffer fatigue like before. A good sign.

A friendly trio moved up front early on. They were quite enthusiastic but the husband started asking for the standard standards. I said tonight’s theme was “Songs I Know” and started Mr. Bojangles, which defused the whole situation. When I mentioned it was “Middle Child Day”, they all pointed at each other – the husband, the wife and the mom. It was pretty funny. We had a good connection and made the early set interesting.

I had taken the time that afternoon to print out a new list of songs, and it felt good to have that to fall back on during the night. As usual, the ones I wanted to work on fell by the wayside. It was nice to be in a place where the crowd was friendly, though not hanging on every word, and the applause was gratifying and the tips generous.

Chatting with Erin Grins afterwards, I found that we had a bit in common. She and her husband are stilt-walkers for festivals and also teach circus skills in schools. She mentioned my early interaction with the young boy at sound check, and realized that I knew how to communicate with an audience. She appreciated my interaction through out the night, as well.

I came out of the gig with some positive energy, but isn’t that what creating art is supposed to do? And I got a check, too.

Tuesday, March 29th, 2022

Distinguished Service Governor’s Award – NJ

I was pleased to hear that I will be awarded  for  Distinguished Service NJ Governor’s Award by YANJ. “This award is dedicated to folks with a deep dedication to the work of teaching artistry, and you were an easy choice to receive the honor this year.”

I’ll be headed to the award ceremony in Trenton at the War Memorial Arena on Thursday, May 26th. Cool.

Since 1980, this ceremony has highlighted and recognized the outstanding arts achievements of student and educators in New Jersey.  Award recipients are selected on the basis of criteria established by various sponsoring organizations.

Governor’s arts represent the highest honor a state can confer in the arts. Across the country, governor’s arts awards programs share similar goals. Collectively, these programs acknowledge and showcase the best of arts and cultural communities. They highlight awardees’ statewide achievements—or, in some cases, national or even international successes—related to creativity and/or leadership. They recognize awardees’ visions as well as the talent and hard work they bring to bear in realizing.

Governor’s Awards website: https://www.njgaae.org/
I’ve had the chance to absorb this news and I’m feeling quite gratified, reflecting on the many early hours driving to schools in NJ for RockRoots gigs, songwriting residencies and solo assemblies across CT, NJ, PA and right here in the Lehigh Valley.

RockRoots

A partial list for RockRoots: Kevin Soffera, Nick Franclik, Wayne Smith, Don Mayer, Billy Wear, Craig Thatcher, Beau Jones, Rick Levy, Jeff Biro, Todd Schied, Neil Braunstein and others. I am also thankful for Donna Reckelhoff at Young Audiences of NJ who has really hustled our show to NJ schools since 1991.
YANJ has given me the financial ability to raise my family since 1991, a deep knowledge in the field of Teaching Artistry with college-level workshops, and provided me a rich laboratory to work on my craft as a TA. I have also benefited from being immersed in this community of creative teaching artists and inspired me to create Teaching Artists of the Lehigh Valley. I am blessed.
Sunday, March 27th, 2022

Dave’s Night Out with Noah Gibney and Kris Kehr

These Dave’s Night Outs were formed somewhat tongue-in-cheek back when I was gigging quite a bit. Well, not so much anymore as they are evenings when I actually get out of my apartment for some music with friends.

Tonight I got to play with Noah Gibney on his 15th birthday. Noah has been gigging with my good friend Kris Kehr in the Reading area, and is a wildly talented “old soul” kid who sings, plays and performs like someone twice his age (and unlike some folks I know, never get around to). Noah plays piano and guitar, writes some of his own material and, most importantly, listens before he plays.

Noah Gibney

Kris had told me that his instincts are off the chart and I could trust that he could pick up on songs on the spot. So, I had every confidence that I could throw stuff at him and he would respond. He did. Towards the end, I did Stan Rogers’ Giant at him, pretty much in a different tradition, and he added some great sound to the song. He was also open to improvisational techniques that I plopped in front of his ears. (Kris, of course, knows to expect that from me) He started off with a great (though long) version of Stormy Monday. Later on, we did several rondos where we passed leads among the three of us, just like old pros, unspoken on stage.

Kris Kehr

As usual, there were very few folks in the audience, but the conversations were quite interesting, talking about bridges in songs, and other musical esoterica.

It was Noah’s 15th Birthday. Amazing. I love these nights.

 

 

Thursday, February 24th, 2022

Dave’s Night Out with Alex Radus

Alex Radus and Dave Fry

I’ve been lucky to present some of my friends who are quite talented songwriters, and Wednesday’s guest, Alex Radus, is no different. I’ve been an Alex fan-boy for several years now. His new album, recorded at Godfrey’s, is called Tributaries, and that was a good point to start from.

I took it as river-like tributaries that have shaped our music but he also mentioned that tribute is part of that equation. Spot on.

I started out with a Mississippi John Hurt as one of my early influences, especially with his two-finger picking. I did CC Rider, although rather sloppily. Alex picked up on that did some fine fingerpicking with one of his tunes. As we moved through the night, the mix of styles and songs was quite entertaining.

I ended up doing Barnyard Dance on my arch-top Martin, my Fountain Hill tune I Can Be… and Take Me To The River. We talked about how our instruments often shape what we play or write songs.

Again, a small audience that included my daughter Rosalie, so that’s pretty good. The conversation was stimulating and Alex’s songs were wonderful. He was a delight to have on stage with me.

Wednesday, February 16th, 2022

Fountain Hill ES residency – session V

This was the last, in-class session with the Big Plans residency. There’s been some attrition over the five weeks so we only had six kids and Rachel, the teacher today. I even had some difficulty keeping some of the kids focused, but that’s all to be expected.

Today I brought in my Peanut Butter CDs to give out and we briefly talked about that process, similar to what we did with Playground. And, unfortunately, the kids had little chance to actually listen to that CD. Pitiful.

I then broke out my purple Strat for today’s session. I got around to figuring out my small Roland amp, bought a new adapter and dialed in a great sound for our song. Chorus, a little flange and some echo. The kids liked it, as did I.

We worked a working arrangement of the song, introduced “the riff” that I coped from a Bruce Cockburn song, sang the pared-down chorus. These kids are not into ‘show-time’, very little volume singing the chorus, and all those wonderful elements that we’ve lost over the last two years. Lethargy. It’s sad but the new paradigm.

We finished of the last verse, with little input from the kids and tried it out. The song’s starting to sound like something and the kids did pick up on that. I then handed out a bag of maracas and some shell shakers. We figured out how to add them to the riff, break the sound into separate sections, with some good results (taking ownership of different parts). We ran the whole thing to 7 plus minutes, good information for me to work with.

We still have to figure out how to present this and video it sometime in the spring. That’s a whole ‘nother story, but I figured out that the next step is to record it, video it and give it back to the school. Hopefully, the kids in sessions will get to hear it as itself, and take some pride in it, and come back to record it with more familiarity.

I like the electric version a lot, a departure for me. The process isn’t over, by any means, and now has taken a different, in-house project for me. I look forward to it. It’s great to have creative work again.

 

Thursday, February 10th, 2022

Fountain Hill Residency IV

Fountain Hill Elementary School

This is the fourth out of five sessions, with some kind of performance down the line to wrap it up. There is some fatigue setting in with the students, especially with the songwriting chores. But, we’re getting there.

I’ve been bringing in a new instrument each time and today I brought in my banjo. We had a great discussion about African drums/roots, and some talk about using a skin head. (ewwww…) But the teacher and I talked about native people harvesting all of an animal in order to survive. Interesting ideas for these kids.

Part of this residency is giving the kids some sense of what I do as a musician. Today, I brought in copies of my Playground CD to give the kids (even though I have no idea if they’ll be able to play it) and discuss how musicians get their music out. We talked about You Tube and other social media and I mentioned radio (again, how foreign that must be to these kids). We looked at the CD and I mentioned how I hired other creative people in the process: musicians, photographers, designer, producer and funders. It was a great exploration.

Before we got into continuing the verse writing, I figured it was time to create a chorus. We talked about how important it was to have something repetitious, give the audience something to do, and, as one girl said, “theme.” Bingo. It’s been running through my mind to have a slow-build chorus, something Tom Paxton has used.

Chorus: I …..    I can be …… I can be anything I want to be.

I figured out a simple melody and we tried it out. I attempted a back and forth call and response (  “I” echoed 3x), I can be (together), and all together on the last one, as well. I tried it out with the girls doing the I and the boys doing the echo. These kids have very little initiative or experience in singing out loud, and with some creative movement/theatrics/emotion. It really never gained steam. Too bad. It’s going to be difficult to get these kids to perform in front of others, and that’s a major part of the final reward for the kids – that they did it!

We finished up the You Tuber,

I use a camera, lights, and a green screen

I’m gonna take my friends to places they’ve never seen

I post vids on my high-tech computer

I’m gonna be a YouTuber.

We started on Music Teacher but things got distracted with the kids close to 5 pm. At least we got another verse, part of another one, and, importantly, got a chorus started.

I chatted with Rachel at the end and we have to figure out how to present the song and the kids, whether in a video, in front of a select audience (things are different these days in the second year of the pandemic), or what. We’ll figure out something.

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2022

Fountain Hill ES residency – III

Another great session with the Big Plans group, though we only came up with one new verse. We did get to go over the two we’ve written already, and I was able to get them to start thinking about performing/acting the words a little more, be physical in our presentation.

We worked on Taste Tester.

I work all day in a Ice Cream Lab

Coco, Cranberry, Bacon, and Crab

I’m not clowning ‘round, I’m no Jester

I’m going to be a Taste Tester -MMMmmm!

My initial exploration (let’s have fun at first, and create a space) was with my bag of strange instruments: rain stick, temple bells, tinker drum, bamboo sticks, and some other weird sonic objects. We played around with them, passed them around and then we created an orchestral piece called Wild Times, an attempt at controlled chaos. The fun part was introducing the concept of silence, counting in on four, playing and ending with silence. (We then changed instruments and did it again.) It was really hard for some of the kids to not play during the silence, but that’s what we are learning in the process. Some control. It was a lot of fun to create this musical chaos – with a sense of control. This was a brand new idea for me, and I can develop this session further. It was a riot! Rich soil.

I was lucky to have Alan Silvestre, a videographer, to document the session, not only to get some promo for Doug Roysdon’s TA projects, but for Alan (a musician, too) to have some artistic fun filming the session. He ended up having a great time. We are limited to presenting the kids in profile or from behind, due to school protocols (I’m not allowed to put material on social media – that’s fine with me…). Some really good stuff happened and the kids were loose. Should be pretty cool. Hate the masks.

As we got the call that we had ten minutes til dismissal (the clock failed on us last week…), I decided to go for the scarves, and create some images for the video. We did Jelly in the Dish from the first week, and the kids were ready and familiar with the process. That made for a much better video session, dancing, tossing and trading scarves, and a final circle (a good closing ritual…) with explosion of scarves. I had a great seat for it.

The kids hustled off to meet their parents at 5 pm. Alan had a great time, Rachel, the art teacher, is great support, felt good about the very quick hour and a half session. Being an artist, ya know. Time disappears. I could do this for a living.

Sunday, January 30th, 2022

Easton Public Market on Friday Night

It’s been a while since I’ve done a live gig, so I was a little concerned as to how I would make it through a two hour set. I haven’t been playing much at home, so I was worried about my lyric memory and my physical fitness – especially my hands.

I decided to use the house PA so all I had to bring was a mike, some chords and my guitar and mandolin. Smart move, especially with the incredible parking problems in Easton these days. I unloaded and drove around for about 15 minutes to find a spot half a block away. I was lucky, and, amazingly, I was able to start relatively on time a 6 pm.

My friend Steve Capwell showed up with his harps and that made me relax quite a bit more. As I started out, I could feel my strumming hand feeling some fatigue early on. I decided to mix strumming and fingerpicking and that seemed to help quite a bit. I invited Steve to come up, sit a little bit to my left and play unamplified. With the wooden floors and open space, his sound was pretty good for the situation.

It was a mixed crowd of families, date-nighters, etc. so I was able to mix in blues, folk-rock, country tunes, and the stew seemed to entertain folks. A little girl dancing to the music to my right, occasional applause but an overall good situation. Folks chipped in some nice tips into the mando case and offered nice compliments.

Having Steve on hand made the night for me. I was able to stretch the songs, also giving him a chance to improvise – a symbiotic situation – and the evening went well. Steve’s a real pal. I drove home in the incoming storm feeling good about the gig.

 

Sunday, January 30th, 2022

Fountain Hill ES Residency – week 2

Back to Fountain Hill and my Big Plans songwriting residency. We had a good session last week and developed some good connections with the kids and the teacher. Still, it’s hard with these masks, though.

I started with something I picked up the day before at a TA session – setting up agreements with the kids. “We agree” statements – short, clear and vocalized/physical. I went with “tell the truth” and “respect each other” and “listen first”. The Respect one worked well with the crossed fingers (R in sign language) salute from the forehead. That one stuck and we used it throughout the session.

I brought the Thundertubes to do Giants, and it was a good opener. The kids passed around the tubes from each end of the circle and ended up with one girl playing both at the end. Nice. A good start.

I’ve promised to bring a new instrument each time, so I brought my mandolin and used it to re-introduce our rhyming skills with Down By the Bay. I passed the mandolin around as well.

I introduced We Gave Names to the Animals so we could use the format in our songwriting project. It worked well and then we shifted to the white board to try to start on our songwriting.  We’re concentrating  on “tools” used. We hope to be able to use the overhead projector next week to keep the words in front of the kids.

I got a microphone, a monitor, and a groovy band

Same backup dancers and loyal fans

My tunes are sick, a rap music Zinger

I’m gonna be a pop star singer

 

I have a salon filled with hair dyes and afros

I work on fades, extensions, weaves and updos

My clientele are all on the A-List

I’m gonna be a Stylist

 

I kept on looking at the clock and, somehow, it seemed to be staying on 4:26. Eventually, I asked the teacher what time it was, and, at the same time, she got a call from the office wondering where the kids were for dismissal. Seems the clock did stop. Sheesh. So, quickly, we packed up and headed out.

Still, a productive session.

Thursday, January 20th, 2022

Fountain Hill ES Residency – week 1

It’s great to be back in the classroom. I’ll be doing four Wednesday’s after school at Fountain Hill ES working with ten 3rd and 4th graders working on a project called Big Plans. We’ll be focusing on developing a world-view for these kids, to imagine what they can be in the future. We had a good start. I started by saying that this is my job. I play music. I introduced the tools I need for this job and talked about my guitar.

I started with the idea I Am and I Can. I want the kids to posit their name loud and proud, and then posit what they can do well. I led with the example “I am Dave Fry” and “I can make the best grilled cheese sandwich!” It surprised the kids. And then I asked, “What kind of cheese sandwich?” and the kids responded with cheese, sausage, etc. The point of the exercise is to think quickly and creatively. It worked. We went around the circle and did I Am and I Can, with interesting responses but emphasizing volume and quickness, something I’m going to hammer into these kids. Be creative and don’t think about it.

I played I Like Peanut Butter to get the kids to sing and move, again, to break them out of their shells. I followed with Down By the Bay to work on rhyming skills and creative writing. They did well, and I got the glimmer that these kids will do well as we go through the weeks.

At the end, I broke out the scarves and did Jelly In The Dish, to get them up and dancing, moving and experience the colors and movement and the dance. It was a great way to bring the session to a close.

Just before we dismissed for the day, I always ask for reflections and they all loved the scarves.

I’m lucky to have Mrs. Rachel Lynn as my teacher/liaison. She’s the art teacher (and we’re in the art classroom) so she’s already primed to create on the spot and is eager to add to the community discussions.  Another good sign for the success of this program.

For next week, I hope to expand on the I Am I Can, introduce some clap response to the I Am part with vocal support from the class to help with my learning the names and creating a support system for the individual kids. Something new for me.

I’m always learning through experimentation, and the reason I love doing these sessions.

Thursday, December 2nd, 2021

RockRoots at All Kids First Preschool in Vineland

All Kids First Child Care Center in Vineland, NJ

This was going to be a challenge for RockRoots. First of all, Vineland is over two hours from the Lehigh Valley, with three vehicles with musicians at the wheel. Second, we had two shows for 120 three/four year-olds and then another for 80 four/five year-olds. These ages present some major situations for me and the band.

I left at 6:45 am for the 10 and 11 am shows. I know a fairly good (non-Philly) route and got there in plenty of time. I’ve played this school a couple of years ago with my solo folk show, so I felt at home. It’s a well-run and friendly group of teachers, with Miss Carole, the founder and principal of this private pre-school. Class rooms are spread throughout a campus of small buildings. We were in the main building, carpeted and filled with great art.

A wonderful and comfortable assembly space.

I set up the PA and waited for the band. Kevin called in to let me know when he’d get there and arrived w/ twenty minutes. Not a problem for us. Nick and Wayne arrived with 4 minutes to spare, and I said to Nick that a call would have been nice. (grrr…) Still, we were ready to go at 10 after, and the little kids and their teachers started coming in.

Three and four year-olds sat in awe of the band, some cupping their ears – only a couple, but understood. I don’t believe many had ever seen such a thing. That’s powerful stuff.

Kevin’s drums set and wall art. Nice!

I started by introducing the players and their instruments, a good and friendly way to ease our way into the show, and give them some things to concentrate on and some knowledge. Then, we did Rock and Roll Music as a band. The teachers were now at ease and ready to have fun.

We rolled through our simpled-down set: African rhythm, Irish mandolin tunes, Fishin’ Blues, Charlie Stone (the vocal trombone got their attention), Mojo and Battle of New Orleans. We’ve been putting in a kids’ song at this point and today we did We Gave Names. Again, simple song for the band (they get to have some fun while I’m dealing with the audience interaction and educational aspects.

I cut out a lot of the historical rap, a few medleys, cut to My Girl (with audience singing – mostly the teachers) and headed for the finale – today it was All Around the Kitchen. Get ’em up and dancing. It worked like a charm. Amazing, actually. The kids were all up and moving, teachers dancing. After a few examples (including the new Car Dealership dance), I bring selected kids (I ask for three and get six… and that’s okay) and have them demonstrate their moves, always surprising and delightful for the band and the teachers. I then do the last dance by selecting a teacher (I always have my eye on the most likely culprit), who, in turn, gets to pick two other teachers. That always amps up the energy immensely and the teachers (especially in this age group) always knock it out of the park. The first show featured the two male teachers, and I remarked that they were Chippendales. That got a chuckle out of the teachers.

We finished up the two shows, got some great thankyous from teachers and Miss Carole, who said she’d like us back next year.

Why does it work, even for such a novel audience?

  1. Let’s face it, a large part of the audience is the faculty and staff. They really appreciate the talent of the musicians, my dry commentary and asides, and the educational content and delivery of the material. We are the real deal.
  2. Even if the spoken material goes over the heads of the little kids, some things stick like city names, instruments, genres, etc. But, they get to see a live band. Life-changing.
  3. The band members are good people and enjoy each other’s company. No small thing.
  4. We show up and, for the most part, start on time, end on time. We are professionals and represent Young Audiences well. Our liaison Donna at YANJ headquarters also is extremely friendly, helps promote RockRoots and can negotiate any weather concerns, schedule snafus in a friendly manner. We are professionals in every way.

The long day and intensity of running two professional and entertaining show, five-plus hours of Jersey driving took its toll and I feel it, even a day later. Gettin’ old, but still gettin’ better at the job I love.

Thursday, December 2nd, 2021

Steppin’ Out! at Godfrey’s – Day After Thanksgiving

It’s been a couple of years since our last gig at Godfrey’s. We’ve managed a few rehearsals locally this fall, but none with Reid. That’s no big deal. Reid is a rock.

We got together earlier on Friday, checked in on our recent health escapades (old guys, ya know…) and went through the set I had prepared. We were aiming for an hour and a half set, so I did my best to figure out how to balance each lad’s voice, diversify the rhythms, genres, etc. and add in old and new songs. It’s a long process preparing for rehearsals and the gig.

Anyway, it was a fairly good session, and several times we remarked to each other, “Hey, this is a good band!” We were in good shape for the show after three hours together. Amazing, actually. Some of the tunes sounded better in the afternoon, too.

We did an extra sound check with Jason, stepping up himself to cover our show. He had the whole board set up for him from the morning, so he as prepared as could be. Nothing like going into the studio with 12 tracks and a live band. (It’s unfortunate that we weren’t able to get a good tape of the show. Jason was a bit overwhelmed to think about the recording.)

Choo Choo Cha Boogie, and we are away in style. Don’t Call Me Early, Got What It Takes, Payday Blues, How Can I Miss You and Bloodshot Eyes, all relatively familiar tunes that got us comfortable. Still, often a crap shoot as to who’s lead it is. That’s when we miss the tightness we used to have, or could rehearse several times ahead. Again, old guys with old brains.

Kris did Waits’ Til The Money Runs Out, staking out his corner in this band. Water of Love was a new one for the band, good but not great. The new stuff usually gets the lads’ creativity up. Tornado, Giant and Delilah followed. We were getting louder…

Hub’s spotlight was You Don’t Know Me with Reid and the others chipping in atmosphere. Twenty-four Robbers got me on mandolin for the first time tonight. Jeff followed by stepping out from the drums (catch that?) and fronting the band for Old Cowhand, Ooh, Baby Baby and Too Old To Die Young, last two new songs for the band.

We headed for the final stretch, back on our regular instruments and I did Heart of Saturday Night, another Waits’ tune and a new one for the band. It was solid but their was some fatigue on our parts, and, frankly, the audience. Sluggish applause.

We tried Good Hearted Woman, and, per usual (I get one mulligan), I screwed up the key and we started over again. (Last time it was Angel from Montgomery as a waltz. We actually pulled it off.) I did Santa Assassin, Reid did Shorty (loud) and Lessons from Pete. That came out really nice with lots of controlled spaces for leads and dynamics. We quickly begged for an encore and did a spritely Texas Swing. Good night, all.

Immediately after steppin’ off stage (again!!), a friend and long-time supporter said, “You were too loud.” Yes, we were. We’re old guys who get together every year and crank it up. But she was right, too. Too Loud!

By most standards, we put on a good show and played well. We all could have played better individually, and could have shaped our sound better. It would have been nice to have a better and more complete recording (we’ve got a very small archive of tapes).

The important thing is that we could celebrate our friendships. We are all good, good friends, still able to gather to make fine music, put on a show, and share our scars from the last two years. Deep love, actually.