Three-fourths of Flash Company enjoyed a great afternoon playing music for a good crowd at the Rhinebeck PorchFest in Rhinebeck, NY yesterday (9/24). We drew the best porch in Rhinebeck, by far! It was expansive - we could have fit four or five more bands and still had room for Dancing John Allers to go through his moves. Our host Kathleen was most gracious, and the crowd was friendly and helpful. (Well, ya see, we had a little snafu on the first couple of songs....seems that we forgot to turn up the volume on the main PA. The monitors were working so well, that we didn't realize it until a sympathetic audience member suggested that we turn it up. So, turn it up we did - ALL THE WAY, but still nothin'. Well, the three of us put our heads together after the second song and figured out that the volume controls for the sound system were, um, well, simply off. Once we had that problem fixed, we sailed through a set of mostly uptempo numbers to a lovely reception from our audience. The house also had a large front lawn which was bathed in sunlight on a very hot afternoon....so our audience wisely stayed in the shade, which was to be found about thirty yards in front of us along the sidewalk and street. If we closed our eyes tightly, which we shouldn't do because we're supposed to be watchin' our flyin' fingers, we could imagine ourselves playin' a giant stadium, enjoying the distant roar of the cheering audience. Hooray for us!
We did miss our fourth member, Jim, who was off playing a previous commitment for the afternoon, but we slogged along, though we certainly did miss Jim's whistle playing and witty repartee!
The threesome version of Flash Company is looking forward to a stand at Mahoney's in Poughkeepsie on Friday, September 29 from 5:00 to 8:00. If you're in the area, please do come and join us as we enjoy our first gig at this justifiably venerated restaurant and pub. Truly, it's a great place to enjoy a Guinness (or other favorite beverage that you might be thinking of), some great grub, and some tuneful exhortations from our stage to have one more! Slainte!