Doc McCaulley of Perry, recently reelected city council member and former superintendent of the Perry Community School District, received a warm hometown reception Sunday from a crowd of about 80 for his Perry Fine Arts concert of popular Christmas songs and hymns.
McCaulley, who was joined at the concert by his wife, Marsha McCaulley, and their grandchildren, has been a keyboardist and vocalist since his college days. His Christmas program at the Perry Performing Arts Center proved a fast-paced, family-friendly romp through 16 holiday favorites.
Most of the holiday favorites — ranging from “Away in a Manger” and “White Christmas” to “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” — were played on the PAC’s Steinway piano, but McCaulley played an electronic piano to good effect on a pair of numbers, including his own composition, “Who Do You Say that I Am?”
McCaulley’s deft piano stylings were on full display in his rendition of the traditional Appalachian folk song, “I Wonder as I Wander,” and in the jazz-tinged turns of the African-American spiritual, “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.”
The choice to cover Lance Stafford’s infelicitous revision of the lyrics to Leonard Cohen’s iconic anthem, “Hallelujah,” introduced the evening’s only sour note.
When not sitting on the Perry City Council or chairing the Perry Economic Development group, McCaulley finds time to perform a Christian music ministry for churches across Iowa and to promote his new album, “Until He Returns.”
McCaulley will perform in Perry again Jan. 11 in the cellar of La Poste.
The Perry Fine Arts concerts are free and open to the public. Donations are gratefully accepted. The Perry Performing Arts Center is handicapped accessible.
Upcoming Perry Fine Arts concerts include the Trio de Colores mariachi band Jan. 21, the Freedom Winds U.S. Air Force Band of Mid-America quintet Feb. 11 and the BusBoys musical group March 11.
Many of us like that version of the Hallelujah. I didn’t find that “a sour note” at all.
You raise a good point, Merrilee, and the review of Doc McCaulley’s concert has been moved to the opinion section of ThePerryNews.com, where it should have gone in the first place. Needless to say, opinions will sometimes differ in this as in most other things. Stafford’s lyrics are no doubt edifying and uplifting, but as poetry goes they are a very poor substitute for the original, in my opinion.