(Posted by Dwight)
Some musical experiences will stick with you for a long time. We had one just last night as we performed at the Temple Har Zion Sisterhood Fundraising evening up in Thornhill.
Over 220 people jammed the synagogue in anticipation of singing along to their favourite folk revival tunes. And sing they did. It's not unusual for audiences to take a few songs to get warmed up, but the Har Zion audience was in overdrive from the first lines of Green Green and didn’t let up until the final "let my people go" of our ‘Tell It on The Mountain’ reprise.
The standing ovation left us breathless.
The fundraiser, organized by the Sisterhood, was in support of the URJ Camp George Health Centre and some of their other projects. The organizing team led by Ann, Fran, and Sharon worked tirelessly to produce a wonderfully successful night. The members of the Sisterhood baked up a delicious array of desserts and dainties and the tablecloths even matched the colours of our poster.
The Folk Songs’ band was in fine form with Michelle and Sue capturing some amazing musical moments and Tony keeping the bass line moving. We also had Dave Lang on board to help keep our sound crisp and clean in the boisterous room. As the crowd left the hall, we overheard one comment, “It was so nice and uplifting to be able to sing along with everyone else. We need more of that“. That will also stick with us a long time.
The Toronto Maple Leafs happened to be playing their hearts out in the playoffs at the same time as our show last Wednesday, but that didn't stop the true folk fans from coming out to the Free Times Cafe.
We had a great bunch of singalongers. The audience was a nice mix of regulars and first timers including a lovely couple visiting Toronto from Tazmania who'd seen a poster on the street, and a wonderful mother and son who said to consider them regulars from now on!
One audience member was celebrating a birthday and in a stroke of creative genius, Michelle came up with a new version of Happy Birthday that will be the standard at all 'Where Have All The Folk Songs Gone?' shows going forward.
Our next show at the Free Times Cafe is on Wed. May 17th. See you then!
