First Night in Northampton

During First Night festivities, we purchased a button that gained us admittance to one of 17 concurrent performances at the various performance spaces scattered throughout the downtown area. We arrived early at Memorial Hall and were conscripted to help arrange chairs for the "Mother Pluckers". This harp quartet not only played, but also sang 4 part harmony for several songs. It was exciting to hear the changes in the musical textures as voices and harps were added and subtracted during different songs and tunes.

Afterwards, we also heard Banish Misfortune in the Dynamite Space of Thornes Market Place. This group performs their traditional Irish and Old Time music regularly on Sunday evenings at the Northampton Brewery.

Then we grabbed some coffee at Starbuck's on the way to St. John's Episcopal Church where we heard the precise fiddling of Katherine First with Last Night's Fun. They performed many standard Irish tunes. Katherine really shined on the jaunty rhythms
of a strathspey she performed.

At 6:15, everything stopped and everyone looked up at the Fireworks display.

We dipped into the Center for Arts to see the ballroom on the top floor, then zipped into First Churches to see this interior. Then we circled back to St. John's to hear Occidental Gypsy. This 5 member group performed gypsy tunes with a jazz twist. The virtuoso violinist added gypsy flourishes to the jazz standards and original compositions of the groups members.

We changed gears to hear the new "old timey" songs of Rusty Belle at the Unitarian Society worship space. The absolute conviction of each of the 3 members of this group made their performance compelling. Each song, mostly originals, was unique and sung with committed abandon that swept the audience into their musical journey. What a treat to experience the magic and joy of their performance!

We finished our evening back at St. John's to hear Seth Glier. After hearing his performance, one can understand how Seth has recently been nominated for a Grammy Award. For some songs this local boy from Shelbourne Falls sings with a passionately fluid gospel voice, but  then shifts to the honest intimate voice of a folksinger for other songs. Accompanying himself on grand piano with the combined grace of Billy Joel and George Winston and backed by his best friend on guitar and synthesized sounds, Seth filled the sanctuary with his soulful presence. Seth often returns to his elementary music school to collaborate on a songwriting unit with his elementary music teacher, and during the performance he invited his mentor to join him in performing. Seth is a nice guy who remembers his roots and weaves the important stories of his life into songs.