by Donn Frank, Philadelphia, PA

Working the performers’ sales at the annual Philadelphia Folk Festival for the past 28 years, besides helping at other venues, all has given me a chance to see some interesting things happen. Most often the things that matter are small and get missed by most people.

One of my favorites was the night that Stan Rogers last performed at the ‘Festival, back in 1982. After the show that Sunday night, he and his wife stopped back at the Record Sales Booth to pick up what of theirs we hadn’t sold and to essentially straighten out their account. While she sat down at the table to take care of business, he came over to our rack of tapes where I was working. He explained to me how they often drive for hundreds of miles between shows with worthwhile radio stations not usually available to listen to. So tapes were important to them. And he went over our rack like the proverbial kid in a candy store. Pulling tapes he wanted, asking if I had heard this or that, he handed me a stack of about ten tapes. Then his wife came over and said it was her turn, while he went over to the table to finish up their business. She checked the tapes he had chosen and added about five more.

By buying those tapes, together, they supported the other performers and the ‘Festival, and not just worked there. In all of my years, that tendency has repeated itself to some extent among a majority of the really great performers that I have seen.