Every Thursday, for some thirty years, I have been spending this same time each week wrapping up the loose ends of the day before heading down to the inn to play to whomever and whatever shows up. Tonight looks like a fun night: Maroghini will be with me for his last show before heading back to Jamaica; Seth will be down. We’ve played less with each other the last few months, so it will be good to “get back in a groove’ with him, and hopefully Hatrack will show up, too.
What’s cool is that I never really know who is going to be there or what kind of night it is going to be. I know a few posts back I wrote about the power of the “redemptive moment,” but tonight feels like everything is in place for a great night. I know some folks are coming down; I took the day off from school and feel pretty rested, and I am in the mood to sing. I even sent out an email to my list of folks who over the years have kept me in the business of folksinging.
I had been practicing the Mumford and Son’s song “I Will Wait” this afternoon because Joe, the bartender at the inn, has been asking me to learn it for far too long now, but I will take the reprieve and not spring a song I barely know on musicians that perform on a level far above most of their peers. In that sense, it is a humbling experience for me. I can hold my own on the stage, but when Hatrack, Seth, and Maroghini get going, it is usually wise for me to let them go down their own roads without me screaming…”wait for me…”
It’s a small stage tonight, but it will be a full one.
