The Amherst Club

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

 

Notes

When Paul Kaplan was born, his first name was in honor of Paul Robeson and his middle name, Henry, came from Henry Wallace.  So he was a true child of the Left.  He told the Club that he became a folk singer not only because of the deep progressive and protest roots of that movement but also, because songs say a lot with a few words, as a counter to his loquacious older sisters.

He demonstrated how well he found his voice.  As a teenager, he wrote "I've Been Told," a song in the trust-nobody-over-thirty mold.  Playing a Portuguese mandolin called a quattro, he sang "Henry the Accountant," a tribute to the heroes with green eyeshades.  He sang a song he wrote for Amherst's big 250th which nicely nailed with love the quirks and foibles of our town.  He ended with a charming Yiddish ballad about the adventures of an Old Coat.  Charming would be a good word for the whole program.

Rachel Mustin's guests today were her brother, Roger, and his wife, Nancy.  Harry Brooks introduced the Club to Jenny Gallagher, the manager of the new East Amherst branch of the Northampton Co-operative Bank.

Ruth Miller is requesting volunteers to join her at a WFCR fundraising session on May 27, from 4-6:30.  And she is organizing a trip to a Mohawk Trail Concert on Saturday, July 24th.  Big doings at the Renaissance Center this weekend.  Poetry with Stanley Koehler on Friday night; Saturday night at the Globe, and the big Renaissance Fair on Sunday.

 

Michael Greenebaum, Note-taker