Alumni Bulletin - Winter 2009 - (Page 25)

When Beatlemania swept the United States in the 1960s, Dave Fry—like so many kids during that era— bought his first guitar. He learned to play and eventually formed a garage band. So when a high school career test revealed that he was well suited to be a musician, it was hardly surprising. Nor was Fry’s response. “I discounted that at the time,” he recalls. Instead, he chose the more practical field that the test also identified as a good fit for him: mechanical engineering. Fry headed off to Lehigh University, where he majored in mechanical engineering and earned his undergraduate degree in 1973. Even at Lehigh, there were signs that the conventional career path might not be for Fry. He added philosophy as a second major, and got involved in what was quite literally the underground folk music scene on campus. But when the time came, like so many other eager young college graduates before and since, Fry prepared to enter the job market. He went on his first interview for an engineering position in Phillipsburg, N.J., and, in an effort to show he was wellrounded, casually mentioned that he enjoyed playing guitar. “So, you’re a free spirit?” his interviewer remarked. It was as if the proverbial light went on over Fry’s head. Yes, that’s just what he was. A free spirit. And at that moment, he tossed aside the idea of a normal 9–5 job and decided to follow his passion. Thanks to one offhand comment during a job interview, Fry has gone on to carve out a long career as a musician, children’s performer, actor, solo recording artist, and—perhaps most significantly for generations of Lehigh University students and the Bethlehem community—founder of Godfrey Daniels, a 100-seat coffeehouse and listening room on the South Side, one block from campus, recognized as a precious and increasingly rare gem within the folk music scene. Since Fry founded Godfrey Daniels in 1976, it has been home to budding and internationally renowned folk musicians alike, as well as comedians, poets, and storytellers. Performers who have played Godfrey’s form a Who’s Who of the past four decades of folk music, from Eric Andersen, Tom Paxton, and Townes Van Zant, through Bill Morrissey, Chris Smither, Steve Forbert, and Slaid Cleaves. From its humble beginnings, Godfrey Daniels has grown into a recognized nonprofit organization with a board of directors, 700 members, and a bevy of 250 volunteers running it. It’s hard to describe the spell that the intimate club casts on its audience, but musicians who’ve played there swear by it. “There’s nothing fancy about it,” says John Gorka, who first discovered Godfrey’s as a young Moravian College student and went on to become the venue’s resident emcee, soundman, and musician in the late 1970s before emerging as what Rolling Stone hailed as “the preeminent male singer-songwriter of the new folk movement” in the mid-1980s. “A good performer,” Gorka adds, “can transform that room and make it magical. I’ve seen it go from a small brown room into a concert hall with an electricity in the air that would make the windows steam up. For me, I never felt like I had to go beyond that coffeehouse because I found that magic.” Steve Forbert, a critically acclaimed singer-songwriter who burst onto the music scene in 1978 with his aptly named debut album Alive On Arrival, is another big fan of Godfrey’s. In fact, he chose the venerable coffeehouse to record his 2002 live CD, Steve Forbert: Solo Live in Bethlehem. Godfrey’s records all shows for their archives and for live broadcast on community public radio station WDIY, also several blocks from the listening room’s “Positively Fourth Street” location. “It was the right combination of my performance, the audience, and a time when I was looking to update what I was doing,” Forbert says of his live CD. “Many places don’t record or have the ability to record.” His fondness for the venue he has played so many times through the years is obvious. “Traveling troubadours like me just hear about it when we’re out performing solo,” Forbert says. “Godfrey’s is the quintessential place for the folk scene. It’s the real deal. There are only about 10 similar places in the winter 2009 25

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Alumni Bulletin - Winter 2009

Lehigh Bulletin - Winter 2009 Contents From the President's Desk Mailbox On Campus Research Arts & Culture Sports Teaming Up to Tackle Global Challenges Positively 4th Street A Sweet Job From the Publisher's Desk Alumni News

Alumni Bulletin - Winter 2009

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