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By James Ensor
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Tuesday, August 16 featured a special show at the Sherborn Community Center with singer and storyteller Davis Bates performing live. His long beard giving the impression of a wizened teller of tales, Bates captivated the audience with interactive stories and songs that both kids and parents thoroughly enjoyed.
“Davis has come here before and he’s always been really good,” said Cheryl Ouellette, Children’s Librarian at the Sherborn Public Library. “I’ve known him over the years. He’s a great performer, and he only had to travel from central Mass to get here.”
To draw the audience in, Bates began with a story of a poor tailor who could only afford to make clothes for others while barely clothing himself. Eventually, he got together enough spare cloth to make a large coat, and he had the audience button up the imaginary coat in front of them, all ten buttons. As the tale went on, the coat was transformed into a vest, with a few less buttons. Then came a hat, this time without any buttons. Next it was transformed into a patch, which the tailor swapped between different pairs of pants until it was so worn that the only salvageable piece of fabric left was so small it was turned into a button itself, and the tale came full circle.
After this fun first story/song, the audience was fully immersed - kids were dancing and adults were clapping along. The event continued, featuring a wooden dog as well as several folk songs. All were encouraged to sing along during the latter performances.
Davis’ mission, taken from his website, is “to get folks thinking about and remembering their own stories and cultural traditions, and to excite them about the idea of sharing stories with others.”
