String band disappointing  at Pastorius Park concert

by MICHAEL CARUSO

The fates that govern the weather weren’t kind to the Quaker City String Band last Wednesday evening out in Chestnut Hill’s Pastorius Park. In fact, one might suspect that they have a cruel — even wicked, dare I say? — sense of humor.

Early on into the Mummers’ second set when the band was starting to perform that grand old anthem of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first run for the presidency in 1932 — “Happy Days Are Here Again” — those opening and fateful lines were sung: “Happy days are here again, the skies above are clear again.”

As it turned out, not quite right. Virtually as though on cue, the skies — rather than clearing — opened up with rain, scattering the already small audience as the band picked up the tempo. Promises were given that only a short break would be taken, but I didn’t hang around to hear if they were kept. I’ve learned through nearly two decades of “first-foot” experience that the grounds in Pastorius Park quickly become one big broad expanse of mud once the rains begin.

It hadn’t been an altogether successful concert, even before the rains came. As mentioned already, the crowd on hand was small even when judged historically. When compared with the previous week’s audience — that heard the marvelous Irish traditional band, Solas — Quaker City’s fanciers were few in number. That might have been the result of the day’s threatening weather.

I was a bit surprised to find that the concert hadn’t already been moved to the Springside School’s auditorium as a precaution against the possibility of a storm sweeping across Northwest Philadelphia. Of course, hearing a Mummers band indoors is probably mildly dangerous for the well-being of one’s ears, but moving the concert would have prevented what actually did transpire from happening.

There were other problems last week. The band failed to provide the Chestnut Hill Community Association with a program list from which its roster of pieces were to be drawn. This, in turn, may have been responsible for an inordinate amount of narration coming from the stage separating one number from the next. Because Quaker City’s arrangements all tended to be short in duration as well as repetitive in form, the result was nearly more talk than music and previous little variety within the repertoire.

All in all, Quaker City’s appearance last week was a disappointment on every level. Now might be the time to consider taking a hiatus from Mummers’ visitations to Pastorius Park.