Saturday Social

Saturday Social (mp3) (pdf) (pdf harmony)

The enormous tragedy surrounding the COVID19 pandemic puts something like this blog into a new perspective. I haven't been sharing music online as often since March but I've been playing and writing quite of bit. Today's tune is one example.

I played my last public gig, with Erik Sessions, on March 11 at Toppling Goliath Brewery here in Decorah. We knew we were pushing the envelope and that we might not get to play in public again for a long time. We had a great turnout and, as far as we know, no one passed any virus on to anyone that night.

Exactly two months later, on May 11, Erik and I played in our local bookstore (Dragonfly Books, a first rate shop) to an audience of two who were recording us for Bookstock 2020, a fund raising event to benefit small, local bookstores, and musicians, around the country. This time Erik and I stood 6 feet apart and wore masks. Playing six feet apart from someone who normally stands right next to you was harder than you might think. Further complicating that gig was the fact that I was suffering from a hearing issue that had only recently cropped up, I had been to local ENT that afternoon.

The Bookstock event  was streamed/broadcast the weekend of  May 15-17. You can view our set (warts and all), broadcast on Sunday morning, here. We had the unexpected honor of being grouped in the same "Act" with the phenomenal Rushad Eggleston. His one minute performance is not to be missed.

"Saturday Social" is the result of another online gig. Tapestry Folkdance Center is an amazing place for dancing in Minneapolis and I have played there regularly (most often with our band Contratopia) over the last 20 years. Dancing at Tapestry temporarily came to a halt in March but the resilient contra dance regulars at Tapestry have instituted a Saturday Social Hour using Zoom as a tool to allow people to get together and socialize on Saturday nights when they would normally be dancing together.

Each Saturday one (or more) of the many musicians who play for dances at Tapestry are invited to play a 15 minute live set as part of the fun. I was honored to be invited to add some music to the May 9th social and I wrote this tune to play in my set.

The vast majority of time I write a tune and then spend a long time trying to think of a title that fits. This was a rare case of me having the title first and writing the tune to fit the occasion. I finally got around to writing a harmony part and recording the tune yesterday. I hope you enjoy it.

The photo was taken near the end of May during a walk along the Upper Iowa River.