Playing Acustic, sort of

This weekend I had three gigs, one in Lebanon, New Hampshire, one in Bretton Woods, also NH and the other in Fairlee, Vermont.  The one in Fairlee is at Ohana Family Camp, a wonderful organization.  I have been going there weekly and this weekend was my penultimate performance for the summer.  I have had a great time there and my telling has been deep, telling stories I do not always get to normally tell for one reason or another.  Another weekly appearance I have been making is at Mount Washington Resort.  Here we have had some young kids, some older kids and one week, a couple of weeks ago, just adults, as their children rolled down the embankment for an hour!  That night I saw a bear on the drive there, a fox who has visited three weeks in a row and that week got VERY close, and a coyote on the way back home.  The tales I told there were also deeper (for older ears) than I normally tell and it was so satisfying to do so.  There is something so magical about going deep into a story, and pulling the history attached to the story to the front and center so that the message is so much stronger.  I really felt that I was deep in another world, time and place, like the characters in Verne's "Land That Time Forgot".

But it is the 'gig' I did on Saturday I really want to talk about. It happened at the Coop at Centura Place, Lebanon and was part of the Producers' Faire there.  I had thought to show up early and set up, to be relaxed for the 10 am start, but when I got there I realized that I was due to start at noon!  Better late than never, better early than late, but by three hours?

As I wandered around watching folks set up their stuff, I got to chat with the band who were also playing there.  They were a band who play acoustic style, music that was both covers and original.  I talked about bringing my bodhran over and sitting in for a while.  When they said yes, they explained that they had no drummer, although the guitarist sometimes does that role.  I volunteered for that too, but they were a little more hesitant about me playing the drum and cymbal they had!  Any musician knows what I am talking about!  I let them set up to explore the rest of the vendors. I got to check out the "Producers" showing their wares, which is something I do not normally have had time to do in the past as I have been performing, and I sampled some things I would never have thought to buy in the past, bought some and brought them home later that day. As I was walking back the band asked me to sit in with them, which I did.  I had a great time!  The band members whose names I sadly and shamefully forget, were great folks.  The music they played included Dylan, Beatles, Young, some of which I had heard, some I knew, a great deal I had no idea what I was doing, but I made it through.  It is a rare occasion that I get to play with other musicians, and certainly to such a wide range of music - their original stuff was very different, but played really well with their cover versions.  It turned out the four gents all lived locally - Piermont, Lebanon, Lyme or Hanover, NH, and Bradford, VT.  And they took my number!  So I suppose I wasn't that bad!  I take a humble bow and say "thank you" to the guys who were a sandwich short of a "Picnic"!