Last night we went to a concert in Hilton Beach. Valdy was here! The OTH is a neat venue. Seating for about 200 so everyone is close to the performance. Lots of pony tails and gray hair in the audience but a few younger folks and some even brought their kids.
He started right on time and put on a great show. He has been doing this for a long time and the patter is funny and offers good stories. He manages to drop a bunch of names ranging from Prince Charles to John Prine, an eclectic group. He talked about kids and literacy and nuclear waste, causes about which he obviously holds passionate views.
His singing is still good, it doesn’t sound like he has to strain to hit the notes and most of all I could understand every word he sang. I have never seen him play before and i do not own any of his recordings but I was surprised how many of the songs I could sing along with and he repeatedly invited us to join in any time we felt like.
In 6 months we have attended three very different concerts; in November we were among 10,000 or so who went to see Bob Dylan, I still have mixed feelings about that one. In February we went to see the Bare Naked Ladies. It was ok. But last night was my kind of night. It doesn’t have to be Valdy, it can be almost anyone with a guitar who has the balls to get up in front of folks and entertain them. I love to sit close to someone who can make music on an acoustic guitar, play it well. I love to hear the stories about where the person has been or where the song came from.
I may be a little sappy but some of the songs he sang spoke very clearly about experiences and feelings I have had and mistakes I think that I made over the years.
All in all a wonderful evening.