Dear Jerry--

You DO come up with such good thread topics!

Last year and this, Reynaud and I played Christmas music with a couple of friends at a Baptist nursing home where the mother of one of the friends lives. We've played there 3 times in the year she's been there, and the residents appreciate it so much.

Mudlark--You Are My Sunshine is always a hit, even with folks who don't seem to remember how to talk. The Christmas carols also seem to resonate with these people too. And the people who have all their mental faculties intact sing and clap along.

In another direction, we also play several benefits every year. We played one for the Local United Network to Combat Hunger and we're playing one on 4 December in New London to benefit a local food bank and one on 18 December in Pomfret to benefit the Northeast CT food bank. We play for free, so the entire door goes to the agency. We're sort of transmuting music into food...

V