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Poughkeepsie Chapter News
Volume 21, Issue 1: September & October 2000
Newsletter segments:
Kingston chapter news, Patterson chapter news, Poughkeepsie chapter news, and other articles.May Report by Bill Wemmerus
An enthusiastic and appreciative audience was at Poughkeepsie for the May coffeehouse, and was treated to a lot of good music and a lot of humor. The feature was Mike & Emmy Clarke, doing a set composed of largely Mike's originals. Mike's sense of environment and environmental issues comes through clearly, as does his clever usage of language. This, as well as his effective delivery, is clearly shown in "Bring 'Em Back", dealing with species extinction, and "Maryland Blue Crab", dealing with, you guessed it, Maryland Blue Crabs. Emmy stepped forward to do George Gershwin's "Summertime", and she did it very well. Emmy's voice blends so well with Mike's, and together they get some great harmonies.
Stephen Rhodes played the set with Mike & Emmy, and added some intricate guitar work, one of his own originals about fishing, and lead vocals on Mike's "Fast Food", a clever song that has become practically a signature song for this group. Stephen's inimitable sense of humor added a lot to the performance - I hope he continues to perform with them. A well deserved encore resulted in "The Night Pat Murphy Died", a toe tapper if there ever was one, especially with the addition of Steve Otlowski and his bodran.
Gershwin was also covered during the open mike segment, with the not-so--solemn Hamburger Brothers (Eliot Zucker and Frank Tettler), with manager Marti Tettler, doing "Blah, Blah", before finishing with "Praise the Lord for Showing Me the Way". Bob Dylan was also performed (much to the dismay of John Becker) by Kevin & Carol Becker doing "Tomorrow is a Long Time", and newcomers Chuck & Mike, aka Cowboy and Shirt Sleeve, doing "You Ain't Going No Where". The Becker's were joined with their sons John and David for "Pass It On", the title cut on their latest CD, and Chuck and Mike also did a Grateful Dead Song, "Friend of the Devil".
The great Canadian song-writer Stan Rogers also was covered, first by Blair Shepard doing his wonderful love song "Forty-Five Years from Now", and then joining Steve Otlowski for "Barrett's Privateers". Blair also treated us to "The F-word Song" (he didn't use it), and Steve entertained with a fine song about the non-existent "Girl's of Neil's Harbor" (a tiny fishing port on the north coast of Nova Scotia).
Phil Miller came on an did a couple of originals for us, "Such a Beautiful Day", and a tribute to his wife, "Lovely Lee-Ann". Kathy Walker stepped out from behind the refreshment table to deliver moving a capella renditions of Eric Anderson's "The Morning is in Your Eyes", and Richard Farina's "Pack up Your Sorrows" a song which soon had the audience singing along.
Rebecca Martucci sang a song composed locally by Mike Borok of the New Middle Class, called "Give It Back", accompanied by husband John on piano. John then closed out the evening, exercising his prerogative as out-going Poughkeepsie Chapter president, by doing, with the assistance of Rebecca, Denise Finley, and Kevin Becker, four songs: "Saints", "Swing Low", "Crawdad", and "Comin' Round the Mountain". The trick was that all four were sung simultaneously. The audience was required to sing, but had their pick of songs. You had to be there to believe it.
Denise Finley kept the evening moving as a charming and witty emcee, and showcased her versatility with powerful delivery of two original blues numbers. Chris DePalma capably handled sound. Yours truly got a chance to perform early in the evening, doing with banjo accompaniment, the Burl Ives standard "Blue Tail Fly", and the hilarious parody of the "Garden Song", celebrating the triumph of woodchucks, squirrels, and rabbits over man's feeble attempt to grow a garden.
(Editor's Note: the Poughkeepsie Coffeehouse season ends with the May edition--CAR)
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