Blogfinger

Audience arriving for the the concert. All photos by Paul Goldfinger. Click left for enlarged views

The TOGETHER fundraisers were wearing their uniforms and greeting the audience. They were also recognized on stage.

Dr. Dale Whilden, CMA President greeted visitors and ordered bite wings on 40 people.

Outside in Auditorium Square Park, people were setting up chairs for the lawn seats, while ticket holders began to line up, and a grown man rode a scooter.

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor  @Blogfinger

This was an unusual event last night in the Grove. The concert was really eclectic in the variety of musical forms that were presented, but the design of the event did attract a good crowd of perhaps 2,000 people who wanted to help the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association raise money to “raise the roof ” of the Great Auditorium.  In a video that was shown before the concert began, dramatic aerial shots showed  that 30% of the roof had been badly damaged. It was more extensive than I had thought.  In one view you could be inside and look up to see daylight shining through.

The show opened with Michael W. Smith who is a world famous contemporary Christian singer. He performed while playing the piano.  The only other person on  stage was his long-standing  (actually sitting for this concert)  synthesizer player.  It turns out that a large segment of the audience was there to hear him.  He is a soft-spoken singer with a very pleasing voice. There were many of his fans  present who knew the lyrics and were singing along. He did some traditional hymns such as “Amazing Grace” along with other songs that I did not recognize.  The general tone of his segment was subdued, but emotional.   You couldn’t call it “roof raising” in the musical definition of that term, but much of the concert had a similar feel.

The Mattison Hillbillies. I wasn’t allowed to get closer, so I took this shot while hanging from the ceiling of the GA

Glen Burtnik and the Mattison Avenue Hillbillies are hardly hillbillies.  They are a group of 4 male musicians and a choral ensemble of 5 young women in white dresses who perform lined up on stage in a row.  These hillbillies are from New Jersey except for  one singer from England.    Mr. Burtnik is a skilled musician and vocalist, and his repertoire was quite interesting. It was basically country music including accordion and steel guitar parts, but some of it was more like choral singing.  I especially liked the acapella choir singing with multiple harmonic parts by the girls in the white dresses. It was sweet and quite beautiful.  Burtnik  was gracious in talking about how much it meant to him to play in the Great Auditorium, as he mentioned some of the greats who have stood on that stage including Enrico Caruso, Tony Bennett and other famous performers.

Maureen McGovern was on stage with her pianist, but she did get to perform one song with Peter and Paul, and that was a special treat.  Ms. McGovern joked with the audience and, of course, sang her signature song “The Morning After” which won an Oscar from the “Poseidon Adventure.”  She admitted that she would soon be 64 years old, but her voice is in excellent shape as she took on some difficult arrangements. She was dressed in black tights with a orange low cut shirt and, on top of that,  she wore a loose  jacket -sweater  with a wide cinched belt.  She looked very lovely.  (Fashion commentary by Eileen Goldfinger)

Finally Peter and Paul,  (performing now as Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey)  appearing with two other musicians, playing some of their greatest hits.  Mary Travers had died four years ago, and  the group had an agreement not to replace her after she passed, The contrast of her voice was missed. The audience enjoyed their performance.  They have been famous for nearly 50 years, so there was plenty of nostalgic emotion in the room.   Peter said that “Puff the Magic Dragon” was never about drugs.  Here it is by Peter, Paul and Mary (below)