submitted by Mary Lou Walters
The Petersburgh Sunshine Seniors are still reeling from the success of The Tribute to Johnny Cash Concert on Friday, May 9. An appreciative crowd of over 200 packed the hall as Harold Ford and Laurie Lucy belted out hit after hit. The music spanned both of their careers and their lives together.
It was difficult to remember that the man on the stage was not Cash himself. When he did that Cash characteristic hum, there was a collective groan of pleasure from the women in the audience. Laura Lucy was sassy and did more then right by June Carter Cash’s songs.
After the concert it was learned that Ford is originally from the southern Eastwick Press area. He was raised in East Poestenkill as Harold Bashford and was a classmate of Walter Walters in the one room school house there.
Also of interest is that Ford said that the Petersburgh Veterans Memorial Community Center was one of the best venues he has ever played in. The stage, lighting, acoustics and intimacy of the hall impressed him. He said, “There should be music here all the time.”
Old timers remember when the Hall was an echo chamber. Ron Bartus said you could say something in the Hall on Monday morning and come back in the afternoon and still hear it. This was remedied when the Hall was restored and architect Dave Sadowski had acoustic panels placed on the ceiling. He did this on the advice of his former RPI professor who had designed the Sidney Opera House. It paid off because you couldn’t have gotten better music anywhere then what was heard on Friday in the PVMCC.
