Sunday was a mixed bag at the LVMA festivities.  Nice to see old friends, hear some new folks, and not pick up my LV Acoustic Performance Award.  It was a jumble of awards, music acts and food, as well, and, though there were hitches, it was a noble effort, and the folks pulled it off.

Craig Thatcher’s new band did a nice version of Zep’s Kashmir, Dina Hall was on stage quite a bit, a solo opera singer was an artistic surprise, etc.

My new pal and fellow Acoustic winner Peter Scapegrace attended and commiserated about the non-recognition, and I chalked it up to the overwhelming complexity of the afternoon/evening, but I would have like to have my street cred in the LV recognized. …so it goes…..

Ron and I trekked off to Simsbury for Robert Allan’s open mike, and the folks really came out for this one.  Nice to see some familiar faces all gathered to celebrate.  Worth the trip, too.

I performed at Abbey Hill Theater in Easton Saturday night, as part of a FMZ-TV taping for play on Dec. 13th in the Lehigh Valley.  I met up with Peter Scapegrace who I met at the Acoustic Performance contest in Nov.  I remain impressed with his songs and his playing. 

I did 20 minutes with Mary Had a Baby, my zither tunes, Zat You, Santa Claus, and Pay Bo Diddley.  It wasn’t perfect – I got lost in the tunes, and had slight tuning problems in Bo Diddley, but I’m the only one who knows for sure.  Anyway, a chance to play with lights, sound and video in a beautiful acoustic space (former church sanctuary). 

Off to LV Music Awards on Sunday afternoon in Allentown.

I performed with a bunch of other LV folks at a theater near Lafayette in Easton.  A fine studio, ex-church and venue.  WFMZ-TV is filming a series of Holiday shows, and I did a four song set for rebroadcast on Monday, Dec. 13th.  Nice to meet up with Pete again.  It was an interesting evening, with lotsa video ups and downs, but a great arena.  I look forward to working in the space again.  Back to GD’s for Bruce Katz Band and LVMA tomorrow afternoon.

I headed to PA (for a hair cut) and then to Pennington, NJ for an evening library gig.  The downtown section of the burg was closed, due to a holiday event in the center of the town.  So, I couldn’t drive past the barriers.  I pulled up to the cop there, and explained that I was scheduled to play down the street.  He said, “Are you the folk singer?  We’ve been expecting you.”  ..oh, boy, finally I get a police escort, … or something worse…  Anyway, he asked me what I play, and I mentioned banjo, and he said, “I play banjo, too.”  Damn.  How cool was this?

It was a fine time at the library, with lots of families bundled up for the cold. 

I noticed that many families left early, for many reasons.  But I wondered why folks don’t take in the whole performance, that ‘shows’ can be walked out on before the artist brings the event to its close.  I acknowledge the family situations, but what does that say about artistic events. 

Scratch my head and be glad folks had a good time.

The Lehigh Valley Christmas Concert (14th) was fun at Allentown’s Symphony Hall.  Great sound and stage and a comfortably full house.  I emceed early on, and played later.  I did ‘Santa Assassin’ from Kent Aldrich, and it went over very nicely, with a nice build and finish.  And I reprised ‘Zat You, Santa Claus’ and got everyone in the hall to furnish their own trombone part.  Very nice reception and always good to see my LV friends and musicians taking part. 

RockRoots a 9 am in the morning.

I headed out to my first Christmas gig in Bethlehem’s Christkindlmarkt, a big tented event  in the Christmas City.  Lots of nice crafts, food and music. 

It turned out to be a very family affair, with some returning families, and familiar faces, eager to get up on stage with me and ‘play’.  So, I passed out the ryhthm instruments early on, and the kids danced and played, regardless of the tune.  I didn’t know ‘Away in a Manger’ was such a get down tune! 

Many grandmoms up and dancing with their grandkids. (How often does that happen at your gigs?)  One grumpy (slightly) grandmom was mildly saying, “Oh no, not that song…)  Seems she has CD shock.  Anyway, I started “Peanut Butter” and she got up and walked away.  I yelled out at her, “Get me some coffee while you’re up!”  She yelled back, “Cream and sugar?”  I said, “sure!”

She came back and walked up to me with a very fresh cup o’ Joe.  The Christmas Spirit at work.  and memorable.

I found out that singing these semi-familiar carols at home is easier than in front of lots of people who really know (and can sing) the words and tunes.  I shall have to capo up two, to account for a tenser throat.  Always learning.

Day off between the tent and Symphony Hall on Sunday.

RockRoots hit the stage at 9:07 am for our first of three shows at a middle school in Bala Cynwyd: 6th. 7th, 8th grades.  Three shows is usually a grind, but today, the band hit for all three shows.  I was exhausted, though, having to keep my train of thought and my mouth and my instruments and my band in order.  Phew…. 

It is a pleasure to play with these guys.  We are ‘on’ 99 % of the time, and that is rare.

RockRoots hit the stage at 9:07 am for our first of three shows at a middle school in Bala Cynwyd: 6th. 7th, 8th grades.  Three shows is usually a grind, but today, the band hit for all three shows.  I was exhausted, though, having to keep my train of thought and my mouth and my instruments and my band in order.  Phew…. 

It is a pleasure to play with these guys.  We are ‘on’ 99 % of the time, and that is rare.

A very fine open mike at Thomaston on Friday night.  Lou set up some nice sound, and it was run smoothly for a change.  Surprises abounded, with Patti W. there for the first time, Knott Bros., Ron Anthony, Cece and Ruth, and other good friends.

A funny moment happened when we went into our “Ruth, Ruth, Ruth” cheer when she went up for a duo with Cece.  Cece commented that the Ruth cheer sounds so good, and I chirped up, “better than Cece, Cece, Cece (cease, cease, cease…)”  I played Smokin’ Babies and Sailing Shoes.  A good, strong set.

RockRoots returned to Wall Middle School for our annual 6th grade assemblies this morning.  This is a great age group for us, with fewer inhibitions and open minds.  The kids like to get up and dance.  The band played well, in spite of a late night by Kevin (the Bogata in AC the night before), and my early departure from CT at 4:30 am.  It’s a pleasure to play with these guys.

I enjoy taking professional development seminars, when they come around, so I attended a ‘Boot Camp for Teaching Artists’ one in Philly today.  Marketing, branding, negotiating gigs, and lots of ‘why am I doing this?’ moments.  They fed us and filled our heads with deep ideas, and we got to connect with others in the biz.  Long day, but good work.

Listen Live Music, in Zionsville, and Martin Guitar sponsored the LVMA competition for best Acoustic Song and Performance on Saturday night.  I entered the performance part with ‘Giants’, though I had practiced ‘Smokin’ Babies’ and ‘Black Jack Co. Chain’. 

I figured that I’d work the audience and the space into the acoustic experience, and it was a nice effect.  I ‘broke the plain’, so to speak, between the stage and the room.  I won the event, and got to hear some fine new folks and songs.  People doing their best stuff, and good sound and tight production of the show.

A nice moment:  A second grade fan of mine from St. Mike’s School in Limeport was with her mom displaying jewelry in the hall outside the venue.  We had a good time mixing it up over the course of the evening, and I told her I was going to do ‘Giants’.  She was tickled.  After the show, house lights up and folks chatting and saying hello and goodbye, she came over and said, “Yea!!!”.  I laughed and realized she had expressed my inner kid.  snap shot….  great.

An honor.  I’ll be at the LVMA ceremonies on Dec. 5th in Allentown.  I guess I’d better show up. 

I finally was in town for my first Buttonwood Open Mike of the fall.  A fine night with good pals Cece, Ron, Rick, Ruth, Bob, Stan, Dave, ……  I had been working on ‘CT 29th Regiment’, so I got to crank it out in front of real people, and got it closer to being real.  It’s a tough song to pull off.  I also relaxed with ‘Names to the Animals’ with my kids’ lyrics and my normal permutations.  A good set, and a good time to reconnect with my CT roots.

Another early morning in NJ, leaving Bethlehem crack o’ dawn, this time with Sam, the dog, in tow.  We’ve played here numerous times, but now with a new auditorium.  The first show was 3rd and 4th grades, and they were greatly responsive and physically active.  The second group was the 4th and 5th, of course, greatly (and tragically – though not fatally) more sophisticated and sedate audience.  I’m kidding, kind of,,,,

Sam, the dog hung out in the car, with frequent visits and walks, and made the trip home to CT in the afternoon with no problems.  On the road…. and home.

I had a night between gigs, so I booked a library gig with my favorite librarian, Martha Vines in Emmaus.  A small but mighty audience of kids, dads and moms, and the Lady from the Library Board (as I found out later).  Just a fine time mixing it up with folks.  I actually ‘picked’ on the LLB woman through out the evening, making fun of noise, dog sounds, rude DF jokes in a LIBRARY, of all places.  She had a great time, and really chuckled when I found out her position of respect in the library.  Cool.  Off to RR in NJ tomorrow.

Fifth Sunday of the month means Vintage Open Mike at Godfrey’s, and on Halloween, too.  Uh oh.  I got to play ‘Giants’ for the 3rd time today, and got to play ‘Voodoo Druid Chile’, too.  Some old and somewhat vague friends showed up, including Pete, from my Lehigh days in the early 70’s, Dr. Squeeze on the Chenier-laced accordian, Fontaine with his new musicality on harp and his old jokes, Bill Hall with his barefoot beautiful songs, Jackie and her chat, and others.  It is fun to do an occasional open mike, and I’m still amazed with the quality of new folks playing music live.  Emmaus Library tomorrow.

I had the honor and opportunity to play in my old home church in Bethlehem, the UU Church of the LV.  Larry Lipkis, the musical director and Moravian professor of music (whoa!), invited me to play for the service.  We both thought that Halloween would be appropriate.

Don the Minister covered for me when I ran into the hymn ‘I Cannot Think of Them as Dead’, a killer 18th century song – later interpreted by a UU.  I tried, but it made no sense to me.  BUT, Don plays jazz guitar proficiently and said he’d lead it. 

I did ‘Giants’ in the sanctuary, and I brought out the Waldzither for the ending piece.  Good to reconnect with quite a few elder UU friends, all asking about the kids and Kim.  A nice fall morning in North Bethehem.

Don’t fight the Halloween Parade.   So, we did an afternoon family concert anyway.  A few kids with their foster parents, and several friends from the congregation were on hand, but it was, as always, a nice time to celebrate our common youth.  My friend, Hope Wesley Harrison, put in a lot of time to make it happen, and though a small turnout, it was a community event in our lives.  The kids danced and played and we all shared the music.  Cookies, too.  Open Mike at Godfrey’s tonight.  I need a nap.

A good friend and long time band mate of mine, Beau Jones, died a few weeks ago, and the memorial service and life celebration came together on Friday.  The service at the Presby Church in Allentown was good, and the celebration that night was very good.  Rick Levy put together many friends and musicians for a jam at Mango’s and it was an honor to play some music in Beau’s memory.  so good to see former band mates, Chris, Hub, Jeff, and some new (to me) former band mates of Beau’s – Wax, Limits, etc. – show up and play.  A wonderful history lesson for me.  Beau introduced me to the ‘Beau Factor’ – allow extra time for the bass player to show up for the gig, especially if the gig is close to home.

Beau Jones, a wonderful and intelligent human being and a friend.