The Hoot, another reason to love the Berkshires

Sometimes the best thing about living in the Berkshires is the occasional very pleasant surprise. Last night, as I am prone to do from time to time, I dropped into the Guthrie Center for the Thursday Night Hoot. I think the Hoot is by far the best entertainment value in the Berkshires. Anyone can bring an instrument or their voice and perform. It's an open mike night with frequent audience participation and a mere $5 admission if you are not performing or are not a Guthrie Center volunteer.

There are a few very talented regulars who often anchor the night's
performances and are the mainstay of the HOOT. Many are performing singer/songwriters in their own right; sometimes working on new material, other times just there because they love to sing and play and they love the Guthrie. Performers have included folksingers, opera singers, poets and even a belly dancer. At the Hoot, one never knows what will occur.

Then there are the surprises. Last night we had two very pleasant ones. Unfortunately I did not think to grab my camera until I had completely missed the first GC newbie, a guy named Frank who was referred to our shindig by one of the regulars, a master guitarist named Azim (or Azeem?). I don't yet know the last names, but will in the future, I promise. If he chooses to Hoot with us again, there will be more on Frank in later posts.

The second was Marta Pacek, (www.martapacek.com) a traveling professional Singer/Songwriter who (with her side man, Frank Koran) rushed over from an earlier paid gig in Easthampton, MA. Marta actually arrived after the usual "Closing Ceremony" in which all the night's performers are invited to the stage for a group sing of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Our Land." Not wanting her trip wasted, Jimmy harte, the Guthrie Center's sound man, reconnected all the necessary wires and Marta sang. I have posted a video of one of the pieces she did for us.

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