Grammy award winner Jon Vezner (left) and Don Henry harmonized together at the Unplugged concert held over the weekend at the North House Folk School campus. Vezner is ending a 15-year stint as the organizer of Unplugged, but the good news is that he has vowed to come back and assist with the fundraising event for the folk school.
A steady rain beat on the white tent top as Jon Vezner hurriedly came in and out of the tent carrying equipment for the Saturday night Unplugged concert. The rain didn’t seem to faze him.
Three hours before the concert at the North House Folk School campus and the Grammy Award winning Vezner, the lead performer and event organizer, was busy setting up sound checks for the other singer/ songwriters who would later join him on stage. He hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. A friend had to leave town to deal with a family emergency and another friend stopped by at 2 a.m. to visit. “I had to take a little nap today,” he quipped.
The concerts are always exciting, hectic events. One year Vezner’s electric piano quit working after the Friday night performance and he scrambled to find a replacement in Grand Marais. There are those unexpected things that can happen and you have to deal with them as they come, said Vezner.
It has been this way for the 15 years of Unplugged. Vezner recruits performers and plans the concerts, taking care of the details and working through the problems so the throngs of fans can hear world-class music performed in Grand Marais. For example, this year the lineup included Tom Paxton, Lisa Brokop, Pat Alger, Gretchen Peters, Jonathan Brown, Don Henry, Amy Speace, and Kim Richey. But this was his final year heading up the fundraiser.
People came from near and far to listen to the top-rate singers and musicians who performed at the Friday and Saturday night concerts held at North House. The performers who gifted the Unplugged stage with their talents included Jonathan Brown (top) and (L-R) Amy Speace, Tom Paxton and Lisa Brokop.
“This will be my last year in charge, but not my last year at the event,” Vezner said. “I will continue to help in the future, just not to the extent that I have in the past.”
While Vezner worked to place mikes and speakers on stage, his soundman ran a variety of colored electrical cords to the array of equipment on stage. Once everything was ready the sound check began.
Amy Speace was first, tuning her guitar and filling the tent with her hauntingly beautiful voice. After a few minutes Kim Richey did the same, her guitar and vocals different but as beautiful as Richey’s. Next Don Henry adjusted his harmonica head set and played a few bars while strumming his guitar. He broke into 100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall and was joined enthusiastically by the others on stage. Kim quipped that she might break into a “scat” solo during one of Vezner’s songs and Vezner replied, “Great. But only if Amy gets up and does an interpretative dance during the performance.”
Following a good laugh Vezner set up his Casio piano and soon the foursome was playing the Beatles, “Lady Madonna children at her feet. …”
It went on this way for more than an hour, tuning, singing and playing. At some point the rain quit and the sun came out. Vezner jumped up from his piano and went in and out, in and out, bringing more equipment and gear for the concert, a smile on his face and music filling the tent as the sound checks went on.
What has Vezner meant to North House?
The question seemed to stun North House Director Greg Wright. “It’s hard to say thank you in a way that could give credit to Jon for the joy he has brought to us and the impact he has had on North House.
“When Jon discovered North House we were four years old and had $25 in the bank. We had dreams of growing, powerful dreams but they were just that, dreams.
“When Jon discovered us he saw something that he believed in and he fully got behind us. Over the course of 15 years the Unplugged events have raised $150,000 for our endowment fund. Think of that.
“We had $25 and no thought of having an endowment fund. It’s been tremendously impactful and a fiscally important event for us, but it’s been more than that. Think about all of the people that have become friends of North House because of the Unplugged concerts. People that have found us through this event and helped to support us, it’s amazing.
“I would say that this has been one of the key puzzle pieces to the growth of North House. And, I might add, it’s been a great event for the local community.”
Leave a Reply