Greendale Retired Mens Club, Worcester, MA
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This was a great concert for the Ken Lelen Combo and came halfway in our Spring 2010 tour of New England. We played for an ebullient audience of 250 men seated on metal folding chairs in a large gymnasium at the Greendale YMCA.
Concert publicity, aimed at members of the Greendale Retired Mens Club, was successful in bringing people to the early-morning event. Even at our arrival we could feel the energy and hear the noise of the gathering crowd. And after a few preliminary club functions, we gathered our equipment near a speaker's podium and began a 65-minute, 16-song program at 9:30 a.m. — yes, a.m.!
We opened the concert with "The Lady Is A Tramp," Richard Rodgers' and Lorenz Hart’s tune from Babes In Arms, their 1937 hit musical. The tune has long been known as a witty and sophisticated spoof of New York high society. The Greendale guys loved it — smiling, hooting and cheering throughout our rendition of the song.
The guys also liked to sing and didn't need an invitation to join us. So before we knew it, they chimed in on "It Had To Be You," "You Are My Sunshine" and "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter."
I displayed and played five vintage guitars, including the Floyd Riggs guitar — a 1937 Kalamazoo KG-21 that cost about $19 retail back in the day. Riggs (1918-2000), a native of Vienna, WV and World War II vet who owned 14 guitars and mandolins, played this Gibson-made archtop until the day he died. I’m the second person to own the instrument, which I call “the Riggs”. Lest it go unsaid, it worked well on “Moonglow” and “I’m In the Mood For Love," two swing-era dance tunes.
Our thanks to the club’s program committee which, following a tip, called us out of the blue and invited us to entertain this group. As icing on the cake, several people who attended this concert also attended Vintage Music Concerts we offered later in the week in Worcester and on Cape Cod.
Concert publicity, aimed at members of the Greendale Retired Mens Club, was successful in bringing people to the early-morning event. Even at our arrival we could feel the energy and hear the noise of the gathering crowd. And after a few preliminary club functions, we gathered our equipment near a speaker's podium and began a 65-minute, 16-song program at 9:30 a.m. — yes, a.m.!
We opened the concert with "The Lady Is A Tramp," Richard Rodgers' and Lorenz Hart’s tune from Babes In Arms, their 1937 hit musical. The tune has long been known as a witty and sophisticated spoof of New York high society. The Greendale guys loved it — smiling, hooting and cheering throughout our rendition of the song.
I displayed and played five vintage guitars, including the Floyd Riggs guitar — a 1937 Kalamazoo KG-21 that cost about $19 retail back in the day. Riggs (1918-2000), a native of Vienna, WV and World War II vet who owned 14 guitars and mandolins, played this Gibson-made archtop until the day he died. I’m the second person to own the instrument, which I call “the Riggs”. Lest it go unsaid, it worked well on “Moonglow” and “I’m In the Mood For Love," two swing-era dance tunes.
Our thanks to the club’s program committee which, following a tip, called us out of the blue and invited us to entertain this group. As icing on the cake, several people who attended this concert also attended Vintage Music Concerts we offered later in the week in Worcester and on Cape Cod.
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© 2010 by Kenneth Lelen — All Rights Reserved
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