House of the Rising Sun: First Church in MIddletown

Fred Carroll & The Band.

ROCK of AGES
on Court Street 
Saturday night was a night to remember.  Local icon Fred Carroll owned the newly refurbished Sanctuary at First Church on Court Street with his explosive drumming and strident vocals, as First Church Minister of Music Shari Lucas accompanied him on keyboard and organ, and Old Man Rick chimed in on harmonica in the Rock of Ages concert.

Opening with "I Like Black Coffee," a muppet-worthy rant, and I suspect a Fred Carroll original, The Band paced through a long set that included a cover of "Spoonful," the “Theme from Peter Gunn," and other familiar numbers, then drew up to closing with an epic round of "House of the Rising Sun" that truly shivered the 150-year-old timbers of the sanctuary and almost had one wishing for earplugs! 

First Church Sanctuary showing Fred & The Band, center stage, in
renovated sanctuary--new carpeting, repositioned pews. refurbished organ.

Believe me, you haven't heard anything until you've heard "House of the Rising Sun," with Fred Carroll wailing to the sound of First Church's magnificent, newly refurbished Austin pipe organ! ... Its tones blessed us all as Shari orchestrated its thrumming thunder; and Rev. Julia Burkey listened, enraptured like the rest of us, from a pew in the center-left aisle.

But it was entirely Fred's show: Hair whipping, elbows jutting, sticks flying—not unlike Animal of Sesame Street fame, I thought. The event was attended by a select and rambunctious, but not disorderly, audience. —