One of My Best Ever Gigs

Subject: One of My Best Ever Gigs
From: Sorcha
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 10:47 PM

We played a gig tonight for the local mentally handicapped people. They have a support network that provides a halfway house, jobs, etc. We played, they fed us, then we got to watch them perform. These folks seldom get a chance to entertain and perform, and they had the time of their lives! We saw the Reindeer Chorus sing and dance, then a live Nativity play. Great applause for them, and they loved it and so did we! Very heartwarming. My face hurts from grinning!

Subject: RE: One of My Best Ever Gigs
From: Padre
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 10:51 PM

Sounds wonderful Sorcha. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Padre

Subject: RE: One of My Best Ever Gigs
From: Amos
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 11:25 PM

Dang, the staunch and unstoppable Mudcatters keep turning the season into a celebration !! Way to go, Sorch!


A

Subject: RE: One of My Best Ever Gigs
From: Suffet
Date: 10 Apr 08 - 08:04 AM

Greetings:

We have all heard the Gigs from Hell stories. Here's one about a Gig from Heaven. It was at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York, yesterday, April 9, 2008. Hillel Arnold, Anne Price, and I were hired by the college to provide a one-hour daytime concert of Woody Guthrie songs, free to students, faculty, and staff. Everything was perfect. Well, just about everything. Read on.

• The campus itself is right along the Atlantic Ocean, with a beautiful view out to sea.

• It was easy to reach by highway, with free on-campus parking for performers.

• The concert site was a playhouse, with comfortable theater seating for the audience, a secure green room, and two dressing rooms.

• The sound engineer set us up quickly and exactly the way we had requested.

• There was a printed program.

• The concert began on time.

• The concert organizer, who also served as MC, did a wonderful job of introducing us. She said enough about each of us, and about Woody, without overdoing it.

• The audience of about 80 to 100 were attentive and appreciative. The students especially liked songs that referred to Brooklyn, and they sang along enthusiastically on the choruses of Mermaid Avenue and I'm Living in Coney Island 'Til I Die.

• We were paid well, or at least we will be once the college finance office cuts the checks.

Was there any downside? Yes, just one. The only place to sell CDs was in the lobby just outside the auditorium. We didn't bring anyone with us to handle sales, and by the time we were able to set up our wares at the end of the show, most of the audience had gone. Nevertheless, on a scale of 1 to 10, this gig rates a 9.5.

Anyone else with Gigs from Heaven stories?

--- Steve

Subject: RE: One of My Best Ever Gigs
From: GUEST,Chicken Charlie
Date: 10 Apr 08 - 10:20 AM

Back to Sorcha's original post--people who are otherwise mentally not where the rest of us are [lucky bastards] actually seem to really feel music with a special intensity. We have a niece with some never-diagnosed developmental problem, and she has a very deep feel for music, as well as an uncanny ability to instantly be friends with even the most persnickety family dog or cat. For a few years in a row, my old group got to play at an annual fund-raiser for a special school, and the students and graduates were always our most ardent fans. Knowing that you are giving somebody something that they enjoy to that extent has to be a great stroke for a performer.

CC

Subject: RE: One of My Best Ever Gigs
From: Leadfingers
Date: 10 Apr 08 - 07:49 PM

One I am particularly pleased with was in Singapore - I managed to bread THREE strings on the first song , and replaced all three while singing an unaccompanied song ! Quick Tune up and off we went ! As it was thirty years agon , I honestly cant remember either of the songs !

Subject: RE: One of My Best Ever Gigs
From: Escapee
Date: 11 Apr 08 - 12:32 AM

I play sometimes with a pretty bad group for nursing home sing-alongs.Every time I get fed up and decide never to come back, a resident stops me on my way out and thanks me for coming to play such wonderful music for them. That gets me through a couple more gigs. We don't sound too good, but then we're not playing for me. There's nothing like playing for people who

love to hear you play. is there?
SKP

Subject: RE: One of My Best Ever Gigs
From: Escapee
Date: 11 Apr 08 - 12:33 AM

Where did that big space come from?
SKP

Subject: RE: One of My Best Ever Gigs
From: Mooh
Date: 11 Apr 08 - 06:54 AM

Sorcha...Very nice! Sorry I missed this thread the first time.

I have noticed disabled folks in the front row, or dancing before anyone else, and smiling and laughing first. They show their appreciation quickly, and it should be returned in kind.

I play a local seniors home ("home for the aged") about twice a month, and though they're not very physically demonstrative due to extreme frailties, they do express their appreciation verbally and with smiles. They don't have to attend our shows, but they do, and it's usually a capacity crowd. Word gets around and it's always good, which is very gratifying, but these are also the most heartwarming shows. Someday if I ever have to live in such a place, I hope there's someone who will come and entertain me.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: One of My Best Ever Gigs
From: redsnapper
Date: 11 Apr 08 - 07:00 AM

I can appreciate this. One of my most enjoyable ever gigs was also at a mentally-handicapped teenagers centre. As Chicken Charlie said, they seem to be able to appeciate the music with a special intensity.

RS

Subject: RE: One of My Best Ever Gigs
From: gnu
Date: 11 Apr 08 - 07:02 AM

Very heartwarming indeed!

Subject: RE: One of My Best Ever Gigs
From: stallion
Date: 12 Apr 08 - 02:55 AM

National Centre for Early Music, York. Unamplified the acoustics were out of this world, exhilarating.

Subject: RE: One of My Best Ever Gigs
From: Willa
Date: 12 Apr 08 - 06:49 AM

A small group that I belong to has played several times at a local social centre for young people with very severe handicaps.They are a fantastic, responsive audience and, as we take along a basket of percussion instruments, love to join in when asked.