CHAUTAUQUA! LIARS BENCH GOES TO THE AVE FESTIVAL, APRIL 1ST.

Well, Kind Hearts, the Liars Bench is touring! Several weeks ago, Elizabeth Hay asked for a Liars Bench show for the opening of Andrews annual AVE Festival. As a result, Dave Waldrop, Steve Brady, Barbara Duncan and I loaded up our bench and Bodine, our mascot and drove to the Valleytown Cultural Arts Center on Friday, April 1st. We had a fantastic audience and even got a standing ovation.

Steve Brady not only played 1940's favorites but doubled as a storyteller and did a repeat of comic piece, "Carmen" (based on the opera). Dave Waldrop did his "Smoky Mountain Home" and launched a bit of audience participation with a piece that required a half-dozen members of the audience to become turkey buzzards. I did a history of the Liars Bench (both the traditional one and our own version), informed the audience about how Bodine, our mascot came to be a part of the show, told a few "tall tales" and told an old story about an infamous preacher in Cashiers Valley. Barbara Duncan delivered a haunting version of "Pretty Polly" as well as a rendition of her new song, "Junaluska. Before the night was over, the performers entered into a dialogue with the audience that dealt with topics as diverse as the meaning of "Tradition," the old mountain phrase, "a sense of place," oral history and leaving and returning to the mountains. We ended up with a rousing rendition of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" lead by Barbara with the chorus repeated by the audience. We should be so lucky at any future touring program!

Photos by Carl Iobst.

LIAR'S BENCH GOES TO THE CALHOUN INN, BRYSON CITY

Kind Hearts, last Saturday night at the Calhoun Inn was another delight. The Innkeeper, L. D. Hyde put the Liar's Bench in the parlor and the dining room was replete with refreshments. We had some new folks, like Barbara Duncan who is both a musician and a poet (and a full-time educator for the Museum of the Cherokees) and Dave Waldrop was back with his toe-tapping songs about destructive bulldozers and woodpeckers. Paul Iaggrussi was back with more "old timey music ("Slewfoot" and "Down in the Willow Garden); and I read a short piece from my play, "Outlander" which deals with Kephart and Granville Calhoun (who lived in the Calhoun Inn). Steve Brady and Billy Norton did "Dream of Proctor Town" and "I'll Take My Stand." I described the tragic death of "Bodine," my stuffed dog and the audience was one of the best we have had. We need to go back soon.

THE LIAR'S BENCH AT CITY LIGHTS, JULY 3RD, 7:OO P.M.

This remarkable young man is William Ritter. In addition to providing musical interludes throughout the program with David Brewin, William sang an eerie Irish ballad about a wild (and possibly demonic) hog that had the audience frozen in their seats. Sitting alone on the Liar's Bench with only Bodine, my stuffed dog for company, William sang without musical accompaniment.