March 9th 2004
An intense salmon colored sun was setting behind us as we drove east on 78 near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Susan and I were looking for an outpost of motels to overnight in on the way up to Massachusetts. Frustrated with the lack of services we turned into Bethlehem to try our luck with the older motels in town. As we entered town and skirted the banks of the Lehigh River we came upon the ruin of old steel works.
I had heard tell of this for years and was suddenly thankful for the diversion into town. We beheld Bethlehem’s great totems: five rusting blast furnaces rising seventeen stories from the earth. What once was the lifeblood of a city, which employed 31,000 workers at its peak in 1943, and gave a nation its steel infrastructure of railroads, bridges, and skyscrapers, now lay in a rubble of hulking industrial sculpture. We drove west on 3rd Street past cyclone fencing that contained this other era. Grasses and spindly trees grew up through streets over which shapely street lamps hung and disappeared into the gloom of old sheds and warehouses. As we neared the University neighborhood there were signs of renovation. A restaurant, a multiplex cinema, and shops with freshly laid brick walkways seemed to grow from the ashes of the industrial revolution.
We made our way on a bridge across the Lehigh into downtown as the last light left the sky. The city glowed with shiny lights around and within old buildings. There were no cheap lodgings to be found anywhere, but we fantasized ourselves checking into the swanky downtown Bethlehem Sheraton with its limousines parked outside and a huge chandelier glistening in the lobby… then laughed at what it would cost us! We made our way north and found a swanky-enough Red Roof Inn out by the airport. Realizing there was nothing to eat but the usual strip mall junk we were soon drawn back into the old town to look for some local fare. Walking the streets we came across the legendary folk venue, Godfrey Daniels. We peered into the dark windows, and inspected the concert posters. The English traditional band Broderick, and songwriter Denise Franke were coming soon, and tonight later there was to be a sing-around using the book “Rise Up Singing!”
I first heard of Godfrey Daniels when I was 25 years old and working as a cook at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Massachusetts. This was 1986 and John Gorka was just coming on the folk scene. In the morning while fixing up omelets for the breakfast crowd I’d put on his first and only LP “I Know” on the turntable in the kitchen and listen to it over and over. I heard he came out of Bethlehem and played at a place called Godfrey Daniels. I about fell over one night when I heard him on Prairie Home Companion singing “Heart Upon Demand” – “I dreamed of Judy Garland and of her bottled blues…” A few years later I opened two shows for him at a place called Morgan’s in Monterey, California. I had the chance to tell him how much I loved his music, and that night I found a circle had completed – tonight, I find another one has as well.
Thanks for reading. Keep in touch. Check out the schedule. Buy a CD. See you soon.
Lots of love - Dana