THE TOM PAXTON BENEFIT CONCERT (#30): One year ago, on Saturday, February 1st, all of the hard work of the Universalist Unitarian Fellowship SMA and John Sievert paid off with a Benefit Concert for Caminamos Juntos featuring American Folksinger/Songwriter Icon TOM PAXTON and the Two-time Grammy Award Winning duo of Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer.
Diana Ekizian and Fred Dannen took over for Jon and things went smoothly. Fred Dannen was a hero, stepping in as Producer and thanks to Fred and Boleto City, the Ballroom at Hotel Real de Minus was full. Diana Ekizian, in addition to much more, organized the many UU members who sold and took tickets, acted as ushers, and did whatever else was need.
As Impresario, Fred welcomed our guests and told them about Caminamos Juntos, which provides support to deported Mexicans and their families who are struggling with the impact of deportation and do not have a strong local support network in Mexico. This is an admirable and very important cause.
Fred then introduced Tom, Cathy, and Marcy. Cathy and Marcy opened, and their strong, beautiful vocals, and masterful performance on the guitar, banjo, ukulele, and Marcy’s cello banjo captured the hearts of the audience.
To a standup round of applause, Tom Paxton came on stage and played with Cathy and Marcy. They backed Tom as he sang some of the the songs we grew up loving: “Bottle of Wine”; “The Last Thing On My Mind”; “Rambling Boy”; “Whose Garden Was This”; “The Marvelous Toy”; and many more. They all thanked Jon from the stage and said they wished they had been able to meet him. Jon would have loved the concert, and I like to think he was watching.
John Bohnel recorded the concert with help from me, Colin Liston, and Pachi. Fred Dannen arranged to have Diego Vargas, a top notch audio person set up the sound system and he also make an audio recording for us. Diego was going to handle the sound for the Jon Sievert Memorial concert that Jon Bohnel had organized for March 15th at Paprika. When John wisely cancelled that concert due to the Covid-19 outbreak, we never imagined we would have to wait so long to reschedule.
I want to take this opportunity to once again thank Colin’s wife, Jessica Liston Frick, for all she is doing to help keep us safe with her Covid-19 SMA Facebook page. She was a comfort and a huge help when Cathy was sick.
Tom and Marcy had traveled with Cathy Fink who was coming to SMA to visit her cousin, Sue Edelstein. Sue put the group in touch with UU and Jon. Tom, Marcy, and Cathy were staying at the home of Sue and her husband, Bill Spence, who hosted a dinner on Thursday. I went in Jon’s place, excited but also sad because I knew how much Jon had been looking forward to spending time with Tom. It was at Thursday’s dinner that I realized what kind and caring people Tom, Marcy, and Cathy were, and that Fred and Diana had things very much under control.
I talked to Cathy Fink and got permission to video the concert on the condition that she approve any video used. The lighting looked fine at the concert, but not so great on the video. Cathy was also concerned that Marcy’s instrument mic wasn’t working properly. I did get permission to use two songs and I’ll share one today and one tomorrow. It wasn’t quite what I’d hoped for, but it was great experience for CAST Of CHARACTERS Productions.
My Cathy and I had a chance to talk to Tom after the concert. Tom is a big sports fan and was looking forward to the Super Bowl. We invited the group to our house for a Super Bowl Party, and to our delight Tom accepted.
Continued tomorrow.
Note: I added the photos with Tom Paxton’s approval. Many are sad, some are graphic, but they all are true. As Americans we should demand immigration reform!