Block Street Music Coming To End

NEW LOCATION SOUGHT FOR FAYETTEVILLE CONCERTS THAT HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT LOVING TUNES

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Make a list,” I said to myself a few years ago, when locked in a struggle with the city over some issue or another (there have been several).

The list was to remind me why I wanted to live in Fayetteville at all instead of just throwing up my hands in frustration and moving somewhere else. But aside from not wanting to deny some folks the pleasure of putting up with me, I’ve always known in spite of occasional squabbles, this place was where I wanted to be.

Among my top fi ve reasons on that list is “GoodFolk Productions,” or as some more fondly refer to it, the “Block Street Concerts.”

If you live in a town long enough and do anything at all that causes more than 50people to know your name or recognize you, you might eventually get to be called a “town character.”

Mike Shirkey certainly is one of our town’s more appreciated characters. What other choice does someone, who hosts house concerts in the living/dining area of an old home on Block Street for 22 years, have than to become somewhat of a town legend? He received the Folklife Award in 2011 during the Governor’s Arts Awards presentations, so his work has been acknowledged statewide as well.

Of course, being liked hasn’t hurt Shirkey’s status as an audience pleaser, and hundreds have come to that house over the years toenjoy what he has provided for us: bluegrass, jazz, folk, reggae, country, western and blues music performed by a continuous stream of top-notch local, national and international talent.

I would also add another category for comedic musicians because of their unique ability to bring laughter to our human condition. Whether it’s our local marvel Emily Katz, The Austin Lounge Lizards from Texas or others, when you attend one of their gigs, you enjoy glorious relief from the world’s woes, at least for a couple of hours.

Now to have to croon “all good things must come to an end” is just about more than my soul can bear, but alas, Shirkey’s shows in that location will end tonight after the Slaid Cleaves concert. That dear old house is entering another phaseof its “life,” most likely to become a home again.

So what’s next? How or where will we, the wandering audience in search of a place to sit and listen to wandering troubadours, gather again for that thing that is unique about Shirkey’s productions?

In this life a lot of things happen because of who we know. Mike knows hundreds of performers, after more than 30 years of hosting the “Pickin’ Post” (7 p.m.

Saturdays on KUAF) and from welcoming singers and musicians to play in Fayetteville for more than two decades. His knowledge of this music and the people who write it and take it on the road has created such a diversity of performances listeners get to discover new talent he brings in or enjoy the comfort of favorites returning to his stage.

What is needed is a place with low overhead because there is not much money to be made where food and drink are not served and where audiences are usually no larger than 50 or 75 people. Shirkey has said, however, with a larger venue, he feels he could attract larger audiences.

If a location could be found that could seat 150 people and have a working toilet and a heating and cooling system, that’d be great. As audiences go, we aren’t a picky bunch, although for me, I have to admit, another old house would be sublime. Shirkey is open to suggestions, so if you have any ideas, visit goodfolk.org or call him at 521-1812.

If those walls could sing, that old house would echo with amazing words that tell the stories of hundreds ofwriters whose voices have filtered through its wooden frame, stories that are also about each of us, of course, else why bother to tell them at all? These musical moments in time have been some of Fayetteville’s best.

Shirkey has always kept it simple, serving cookies and cider at intermission for whatever you want to put in the hat, and being helped by friends to whom he’s deeply grateful, who clean, set up chairs, make brownies, take admission, etc.

These concerts have always been about the simple pleasure of loving music. As Mike says, “People just came to listen.” FRAN ALEXANDER IS A FAYETTEVILLE RESIDENT WITH A LONGSTANDING INTEREST IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND AN OPINION ON ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE.

Opinion, Pages 13 on 06/17/2012