Pat Conte did a wonderful demo-show of recordings made on homemade instruments, and concertized on several that he brought along.
It was held at The American Folk Art Museum on Broadway between 65th & 66th streets. He performed in front of three magnificent wall mounted quilts from the Museum's collection. This for those who don't know New York is directly across the street from Lincoln center which contains The Metropolitan Opera House, Avery Fisher Hall, the home of the New York Philharmonic, The unfortunately named David H. Koch theatre, home of New York City Ballet, The New York State Theatre, the Performing Arts Library (thousands of free CDs and dvds, scores, films, choreography charts etc.) . It was fairly well attended and respectfully received. Pat played and sang wonderfully and it was a little magical seeing him do his thing dressed up in an upscale spiffy environment. I would LOVE to see our music move from primarily being heard in bars to concert venues on a more consistent basis. John hammond and his brother in law Benny Goodman had the right idea with the From Spirituals to Swing concerts, (Carnegie Hall 1938) which among other things gave Big Bill Broonzy a new audience, and introduced country Blues to a primarily White audience for the first time. Kudos to Lynette & Geoff of Jalopy for having the vision to stretch out to potentially new audiences in other venues. A very smart and forward thinking thing to do. When they write about the advent of the "Second Great Folk Scare" Lynette and Geoff will figure high on the list of its founders.
Attached are pictures of the Museum and of Lincoln Center.