Between the Banks

Our church band taped a show for public access TV last week, at the invitation of the "Acoustic Voices" producer, Norm Schaffer. You can see the show by going to the following link and clicking on "Watch Now": http://www.pittsfieldtv.net/Cablecast/Public/Show.aspx?ChannelID=1&ShowID=9906

Overall I think we did pretty well. One of the singers (Liz, the tall blonde at the end) is new to the group and had only rehearsed with us once, and Brian (the tall guitarist) has been out of town and missed a couple of rehearsals, too. So for a fairly new ensemble with two even newer members, we comported ourselves respectably—and had some fun, too. I'm not keen on being on that side of the camera, preferring to be behind the lens rather than in front of it, and it requires a hearty imagination to relate to a theoretical audience when all you can see is 3 cameras and a bank of hot flourescent lights. So studio filming is not my idea of Great Fun. But we went out for eats and drinks afterwards, and that was great Great Fun!

Two nights ago another combination of musicians, including Norm on bass guitar, joined us for our first annual Thanksgiving Eve Festival of American Music and Arts here in Pittsfield. It's something James has done every year since the mid-1980s at whatever church he's pastoring at the time. I've been part of it since we were in Cleveland in the late 1990s and all 10 years in Tucson. Last year we had just moved into our new house 3 weeks earlier and had only been at First Church in Pittsfield for a couple of months, so we didn't try to put together a Thanksgiving Eve service. But I'm really glad we were able to get it going again this year—I missed it! And all the musicians and artists and 45 other folks who showed up had a great time. Our sound man, Paul, taped it and will make it into MP3 tracks—if they come out any good, I'll post them here!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE! And welcome to Advent…