by Maryann Simmons
“Groovin in New Fairfield,” by Maryann Simmons
Groovin in New Fairfield Coffee House on July 26, 2008 was such
a great evening for the sold out audience that attended! The place
was filled with music lovers from all over the area despite vacations
and other distractions. Those lucky enough to be there gave for
the first time ever, not one but two, standing ovations to “Little
Toby Walker” the unique accomplished fingerstyle guitar
virtuoso who had us dazzeled with his guitars that were singing!
Toby played “Ride This Train” on a steel guitar with
sounds of the train, whistle of the train and a horse galloping
beside the train, all coming magically from the steel guitar!
Toby’s snappy blues comedic “On Line Relgion at GOD.com”
made us all want to stay home for church services! Fingerpickin
away was ”Better Luck Next Time” and Toby had us all
singing along with him! Toby also did a guitar workshop on Saturday
afternoon and according to Ron Statler, they had to take the guitar
out of his hand as he went a half-hour overtime. Ron said they
learned old Mississippi blues songs by Jack Owens, one of the
best from Bentonia, Mississippi. Jeff Main, also in the class
said it was the best workshop he ever attended as you really learned
the songs. Jeff said Toby transferred the knowledge with ease
to include a song from Skip Jones also. Elliot Merkle also said
just a terrific workshop to learn in. Toby loved our coffee house
and said”great venue to play, has all the right ingredients,
easy to find and has all great volunteers to help make it run!
We will have Toby back at some point! Our showcase performers
were just as great! We’ll start with Don Lowe who also doubled
as our Master of Ceremonies and did a great job! Gave us a little
humor with musical overtones. Don has appeared at the Coffee House
before and said” it was an honor to be here again, and the
spirit here is fabulous!” Don had us memorized with his
rendition of Harry Chapin’s “Taxi”, if you closed
your eyes, Harry was right there with you. Don did a wonderful
job with that song and another one “Out of Range.”
Next was Nichola Maria O’Donnell whose angelic voice took
us through songs like “Beside Me, and “Solitude”.
“Rainy Day Ephany a love song for her husband had us all
in a very romantic mood. Nicola’s rendition of “Black
is the Color” was a very pretty Celtic ballad version. Nichola
said “great atmosphere here for her telling stories songs
where the audience can really listen to them” Jordan Ginsberg
was another great talent, great voice and great guitar player.
Jordan entertained us with original like” My Allergy”
and “Berlin”, both with great lyrics. Jordan loved
being able to play in the town he lives in and loved the audience.
Last but not least was one of our Groovin members, Ron Statler.
Ron switched off playing a National steel guitar, Ovation and
Martin acoustic and made them all sound great when he did”
I Don’t Care About My Baby” and “When You Look
that Way. Our audience itself was loaded with great comments,
Margaret and Peter Gobbo from Pawling, “loved the entertainment,
food and the company”. Sheba Olenik from Patterson, first
time said , “nice concept for a Coffee House. Third timers
at the Coffee House, Dominick and Elizabeth Ricci that live in
New Fairfield, Terry and Joy Voss, and Laura and Bill Rice all
love the atmosphere, food and music. We have had Jamie Ratzken
here entertaining himself and he just loved all the music and
especially the tribute to Harry Chapin. If you missed this Coffee
House, watch the newspapers, flyers and posters for our next one
on October 25th and don’t miss it!!
For more information on the artists who have performed at this
and other Coffee Houses and for direct links to their sites and
their music or for more on Groovin’ in New Fairfield itself,
visit our brand new web site:
www.groovininnewfairfield.com.
Groovin’ in New Fairfield is a N.F. Parks & Recreation
program.
