The piano concert in May in New York City in the elegant concert hall of the Liederkranz Club was a big hit with the audience and brought a welcome $1,000 boost to the anti-fracking efforts of the Chapter!
The magnificent performance of pianist Dan Franklin Smith--featuring jazz, tango and classical music--had us all dancing in our seats while listening so attentively you could have heard the proverbial pin drop.
His brief remarks between pieces oriented the audience to works that were generally unfamiliar but nevertheless accessible, exotic and beautiful. He even managed to include a reference to fracking.
There was a festive atmosphere both before the concert as people gathered in the lobby and after the audience's standing ovation for Smith, when Gusti Bogok, co-chair of the Chapter Gas Task Force, gave a brief talk about the hazards of fracking and the threats from Spectra pipelines and mandated gas conversions to New York City in particular.
Then the audience was asked to rise and gather around the piano with anti- frack signs for a group photo, attached here. Many penned their signatures on the large sign telling Gov. Cuomo not to frack New York, and that sign, along with the group photo, was to be sent to the governor together with a letter telling him about the concert and the sentiments of all attendees.
Stephanie Low