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The church coffee house- my big event-- is done!
We started sound setup on Saturday. The guys insisted on a somewhat more complicated setup than I requested but we had it working okay.
After a very busy Sunday morning, I came in Sunday afternoon to discover that the guys had added more to the sound setup, and were considering one more bit, but they were unstoppable. Sound checks and other setup were amiably chaotic. My daughter had taken charge of food and venue setup, and was magnificent.
Come event time, we had food for a sweet-loving army or two, an amazing lineup of talent-- and not many people, around 40 non-performers. Of course we jumped right in. I was emceeing, and had some fun by wearing a different hat every time I came forward.
My personal triumph of the night came early. My student Jacob was our youngest performer, so I put him second, after the semi-pro opening act. Last year he utterly melted down, had to be rearranged in the lineup, and made it through his piece but with obvious distress. This year I gentle suggested that he hang out with me before performing, "because I'm afraid your parents make you nervous." He said "Oh! You're right!" He performed really well; one small mistake, but he recovered magnificently.
We had a variety of other musical acts, all very good (Dylan too!), and two spoken-word acts that were shakier (a storyteller who went on forever, and a poetry recitation that was nervously very fast but fun). This was all a fundraiser, so about 2/3 of the way through, I came out in my final hat-- a small stack of plastic cowboy hats to pass for donations (similar hats were already on the food tables). The end result is a very satisfying amount, considering the attendance.
There was an AA meeting in our church library; they were very patient with our noise, slipping through to make their coffee, and I'm pretty sure several late arrivals came from there, which makes me happy.
At the end of the evening, nearly everyone present made a package of sweet treats to take home, and then pitched in on cleanup; I locked the building only 40 minutes after the last bit of music.
Overall, enough of a success to probably mean we do a "third annual" next year!
We started sound setup on Saturday. The guys insisted on a somewhat more complicated setup than I requested but we had it working okay.
After a very busy Sunday morning, I came in Sunday afternoon to discover that the guys had added more to the sound setup, and were considering one more bit, but they were unstoppable. Sound checks and other setup were amiably chaotic. My daughter had taken charge of food and venue setup, and was magnificent.
Come event time, we had food for a sweet-loving army or two, an amazing lineup of talent-- and not many people, around 40 non-performers. Of course we jumped right in. I was emceeing, and had some fun by wearing a different hat every time I came forward.
My personal triumph of the night came early. My student Jacob was our youngest performer, so I put him second, after the semi-pro opening act. Last year he utterly melted down, had to be rearranged in the lineup, and made it through his piece but with obvious distress. This year I gentle suggested that he hang out with me before performing, "because I'm afraid your parents make you nervous." He said "Oh! You're right!" He performed really well; one small mistake, but he recovered magnificently.
We had a variety of other musical acts, all very good (Dylan too!), and two spoken-word acts that were shakier (a storyteller who went on forever, and a poetry recitation that was nervously very fast but fun). This was all a fundraiser, so about 2/3 of the way through, I came out in my final hat-- a small stack of plastic cowboy hats to pass for donations (similar hats were already on the food tables). The end result is a very satisfying amount, considering the attendance.
There was an AA meeting in our church library; they were very patient with our noise, slipping through to make their coffee, and I'm pretty sure several late arrivals came from there, which makes me happy.
At the end of the evening, nearly everyone present made a package of sweet treats to take home, and then pitched in on cleanup; I locked the building only 40 minutes after the last bit of music.
Overall, enough of a success to probably mean we do a "third annual" next year!
