Review: Tom Chapin in Washington Twp.

I was not familiar with Tom Chapin’s work, and I was expecting the worst.

There’s a certain type of children’s entertainment which parents are all too familiar with. It is cloyingly sweet, simplistic, smug, condescending, moralistic pabulum. It is devoid of melodic charm and grace, appealing only to the lowest common denominator of infantile tastes. It is an amusement typically proffered by schoolmarms, aging hippies and purple dinosaurs. I’m come expecting the sickening puerility I associate with too much of today’s children’s entertainment. Something innocuous and mildly amusing maybe, but too bland and neutered to be real folk music. A marshmallow sandwich on white bread.

All the invective I’d prepared to use in this review will have to go to waste. I have none to bestow upon Mr. Chapin.

Tom Chapin played before the less-than capacity crowd on a rainy Saturday at the new Washington Township Center for the Performing Arts. The dour faces of the adults in the audience melted away to smiles before the show was over. The kids seemed to get it before the show even began: this guy is good.

Chapin and his musical accomplice, Michael Mark, presented a lively program of well-crafted, intelligent pop music for children.

He sang a song about a dinosaur who turns into an oil-well, which is then used to manufacture a plastic jug: “R-E-C-Y-C-L-E: the earth recycles and so do we!” went the chorus. He and his partner performed a song-skit about a little boy who refused to apologize for his schoolyard bullying, until hauled before a court of law. They played a fiery banjo/bass duet, which included musical quotations from “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” and “Sunshine of Your Love.” A song about his family tree included an impromptu lesson in sign language. One song warned us, “don’t play with Bruno, Bruno is a dweeb”, and there was a rollicking rockabilly number about shoveling snow.

At one point Mr. Chapin lamented that they had been twice nominated for Grammy awards, and lost both times. One of the awards went to everyone’s favorite Muppet, Elmo. “We were not tickled,” quipped the sideman.

The songs were uniformly clever and catchy, with lyrics that were funny enough to appeal to kids, but full of wry humor and sly intelligence for the adults in the crowd.

In addition to the acoustic guitar/electric bass combo, there were pieces utilizing the piano, the concertina and the autoharp. And they answered that burning musical question: “what does a didjeridoo do?” It is a shame that so few people were able to attend the show. This did dampen some of the audience-participation segments.

Nonetheless, Mr. Chapin and Mr. Mark gave a spirited and fun performance. It was, honestly, a good show. They are true professionals and real troopers. This was the only South Jersey show scheduled for their current tour. Check out
http://members.aol.com/chapinfo/tc/tccon.html
for complete tour information. They deserve better attendance at future appearances.

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Author: Hobby Jones