Elderweek Concert

Delaware County Community College
Media, PA

Tuesday, 22 March 2011

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I sang two 30-minute sets for 60 people and played four guitars:

1938 B&D Groton 1; 1926 Maurer Style 493; 1933 Martin

OM-18 (Sandburg); and 1937 Gibson KG-21 (Riggs).

This concert — the second for the Ken Lelen Combo at DCCC — was a pleasure to play. We had a good-sized crowd that was spread across two 30-minute sets. We played in a fabulous room. Best of all, the audience was involved in the music and the vintage guitars. Everyone seemed to enjoy the fun anecdotes or wry asides I used to introduce the songs and carry the program.

     Our sponsor was Elderweek, an adult-education series hosted by Delaware County Community College in Media, PA. Two or three hundred people attended the event, which offers classes on health, finances and lifestyles for seniors.

     Our concert was held in the tall, sun-lit Aerobics Room, a great space for a concert at DCCC's STEM Center. It attracted more than 60 people to the concert, which was held during the program's 90-minute lunch period.

     For this concert I brought and played three vintage guitars: 1938 B&D Groton 1, which originally sold for $15; 1937 Kalamazoo KG-21, which previously was owned by Floyd Riggs (1923 - 2001) of Vienna, WV; and 1926 Maurer Style 493, a mahogany-bodied, auditorium-sized guitar made by Carl and August Larson.

     I sang 18 love songs and jazz tunes from the 1930s and 1940s. I told several stories of stage door johnnies, drugstore cowboys and Tin Pan Alley artists. And our audience was interested in the songs and stories. In short, a good time was had by all.

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© 2011 Kenneth Lelen - All Rights Reserved