Former Congressman John Hall, a one-time front man for the rock group Orleans, will be returning to the stage this weekend for a show at The Town Crier Cafe in Pawling.
Hall was defeated by Nan Hayworth in 2010. This Sunday’s show marks his first live performance since leaving Congress.
“It’s good therapy for me,” Hall said in a brief phone interview. “Hopefully it will also be a good way to put food back on the table.”
Hall said that this weekend’s solo show will kick off a number of related musical acts, including some concerts with Orleans over the summer and others with Gulf Stream Night, his post-Orleans act.
When Hall was exploring a run for Congress in 2006, he was advised by his campaign team to play down his musical career, but later he ended up leaning on his friends from his years on the road, including Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne to help raise money.
He said that a return to music did not mean that he was giving up politics. Democrats in the area have been asking him to challenge Hayworth in 2012. Hall said that no decision has been made.
“I haven’t made up my mind. Nobody even knows what the district is going to look like,” he said. “I am going to think long and hard about it. I have spent ten years of my life as an elected official. Ten years of anybody’s life is a long time.”
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Mr. Hall, I am humbled, and I am so pleasantly surprised to find
you. I could tell you a million stories about the past, but the present is
where we should all be fighting….On a recent reunion trip to THE HAUNT in Ithaca NY I tried to
explain to a fellow younger musician (I was 15 in 1973!!!) the incredible
talent and GREATNESS of seeing you perform with Orleans many times. …at the Salt City Play
house/ Jabberwocky at Syracuse
University in 1973 0r
maybe earlier…and the inspiration you were and are to so many musicians…
Please never forget that…Yeah, I know, you were are a Congressman too, But No knowledgeable
musician (I play Jazz) will ever not include you in the History Of Great
American Musicians, Along with your songwriting, singing, and fender Strat
licks on the FUNKIEST WEHITE GUYS around in 1973, I will always be amazed at
how tight Orleans was in 1973, having seen one of the BEST shows you ever put
on in Syracuse…Hundreds of people here still remember that show!!!
I want to sincerely Thank You for everything you have done
both and politically ( I couldn’t as far as I know ;vote for you in any
election as I wasn’t registered in NYS when you ran) in your life.
I want you to know: (no pun intended) that you are a truly Great
American, A Great Musician, and a true real person in this age of Phonies, Cronyism,
and Liars. I can hardly believe that 36 years later (you were a main
inspiration to me as a budding “not songwriter / singer” Instrumentalist…You
are a purveyor and a lover of REAL music, Orleans live was the BEST white Funk ensemble
for a budding guitarist / pianist in the early seventies) and I have all your
solo work with your wife Johanna… I’m now trying to find more info about you
and help spread the info, history, and same ideas you have shown to support in Congress
to the more apathetic and politically correct morons I encounter on Facebo, in
my travels as a Roadie / Tech, and all over NY state and the country… I have
nothing but respect for you as a musician, ( I can’s say that about many 70’s
musicians and all the recent POP world)
You are a True Statesman and Politician…In a word, I am not just a fan, you
make me proud to have a conscience and be American…
Steven Locurcio
would love to have you in Congress again!