Sometimes I am amazed at all the different ways I get to enjoy and experience music. Last Friday night was one of the best musical experiences I've had, and I didn't play a note!
For 10 years I've been involved as a board member of the Mohawk Valley Bluegrass Association, a local group dedicated to preserving and promoting Bluegrass music in the Utica Rome Oneida County area. It's been a lot of fun and I enjoy being involved in a lot of the behind the scenes activities. I do a good portion of the PR and promo for the group, and have enjoyed the press releases and seeing the results in the local papers. I also have raised a few $ over the years for the group, and had the privilege of playing at many of the groups events over the years with my bands - the Sailcats and Flophouse String Band.
One of the neatest things that happened was when we were discussing events last fall for the association at one of our board meetings. Our group has done a few events at the Captiol Theater in Rome (a classic old movie house from the 20's that is one of the area's premier venues for concerts). I suggested we get a younger newgrass type group for a concert there to promote our festival and the board heartily agreed. Unfortunately, this band had an agent and the agent would not return my calls.
So at the next meeting I had the idea that we would turn the Captiol show into an "Indoor Bluegrass Festival" and ask the Bands we were inviting to our summer festival to volunteer their services. Our sound person for the festival also agreed to donate his services, and the fundraiser was born.
Since it was my idea, I did all the setup work - lined up the bands and the Capitol, and also agreed to MC the show. I was amazed at the quick and enthusitiac response from some of our bands and their willingness to support this event. Also, the Capitol was most helpful with all their promotion. And the local papers (espically the Rome Sentinel) jumped on board with quite a mentions and editorials besides the press releases I had sent out. We also got great support from our local Mr. Bluegrass, Bill Knowlton, on his sunday nite radio show, and he came out personally to support our event.
I spent about 4 hours preparing for my first real MC gig - reading everything I could about the bands, scripting each break, and rehearsing some pretty lame jokes - it's just like rehearsing a musical performance - maybe even a touch more challenging because you are out there solo.
So we were off and running! I can't tell you how nervous I was when I arrived on show nite about 2 hours ahead to make sure things with the sound were set and to greet the bands and discuss the show. The folks from all the bands were just great - they made it real easy for me (Bluegrass folks are among the best) and you could tell they were ready to rock.
People started coming in about an hour before the show and with about 15 minutes before showtime the place was filling up nicely with a lot of folks I had never seen before at one of our shows) It was working!!!!!!!
When I walked out to start the show it felt great - the lights were so bright I could not see past the front row, but you could hear the buzz. We had a big, receptive audience ready for some Bluegrass. The jitters were quickly gone and I welcomed everyone and tried to keep a nice warm vibe going through my portion, but more important move quickly to the music.
The show went off without a hitch - our sound man (George Harrington) did a great job, the MVBGA members pitched in all over, the Captiol volunteers were there to do a lot of the work as well, and the Bands put on 4 real fine performances - I can't say enough about the quality of the performances by Lake Effect, Diamond Someday, Off the Wall, and The Atkinson Family.
It's pretty satisfying to see one of your ideas turn into reality, and more important to see the effect it has on folks. My head is full of thoughts on what we will do for next years festival - stay tuned.
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