We are just a few days away from Saturday night’s show at the Danville High School Dick Van Dyke Auditorium. Folk singer Judy Collins is coming; on a combined effort from the Danville Public School Foundation, led by Bob Richard; and the Danville Library Foundation, led by Peter Blackmon. As Blackmon explains, the goal was to have something unique in Danville, so the foundations could show their appreciation to the community and their doners.
AUDIO: The whole point of it was to bring somebody to town who otherwise normally might not play a community like Danville, just based on size. And again it’s a ‘thank you’ to the community. More than anything it’s a ‘thank you.’
Musician and songwriter Ari Hest is also part of the show. In fact, he and Judy Collins recorded an album nominated for a Best Folk Album Grammy called Silver Skies Blue. Hest, you might say, is to Judy Collins what Alison Krauss is to Robert Plant; a very unique talent collaboration. Blackmon knows Hest, and saw this as a wonderful chance.
AUDIO: We kind of went through Ari and then turned around and asked if he would open the show. And then he’ll actually be on stage with her for about maybe half the set. It is different. I mean it’s not something you just see, or in your head you visualize. So, Ari’s been all over the place, for example, with rock albums, and then kind of pulled back and became a singer-songwriter. There’s a tendency for talent to sort of gravitate towards each other.
Tickets for Saturday night’s show at the DHS Dick Van Dyke Auditorium are available at the door. Doors open at 6 PM.
