By Bill Lockwood
By Bill Lockwood
PLAINFIELD — Plainfield resident and entertainment manager Thom Wolke came to this area to be director of the Claremont Opera House in 2000, a position he held while continuing his management of various entertainers through 2003.
“Life was coming back to Claremont then,” Wolke said.
He created a website for the Claremont Opera House and brought in some of the entertainers he had been booking. He named Susan Vega as one of them. Wolke says he “
“I felt very welcomed in town,” Wolke said. “I had a lovely time running the Claremont Opera House.”
After that he continued working with a children’s theater and other entertainments at the Town Hall Theater in Plainfield.
Now, in the wake of the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic’s effect on the entertainment industry, Wolke is transitioning to a new phase of his life and going on the road to tour across the United States.
He plans to leave on June 1.
There are a few drivers behind the change in scenery, including the aforementioned impact on the area and national entertainment industry.
“All of it ended,” Wolke said. “All of it evaporated.”
That, and the fact that his landlord is now selling the house he has been living in, has brought Wolke to seek a new adventure. Unlike Jack Kerouac in the ‘50s or John Steinbeck later, who both produced best selling books of their adventures on the road in the U.S., Wolke hopes to create a YouTube channel called Folk US America, a play on words with “focus America,” which he will fill with interviews of musicians and others he meets in his travels telling how things have changed and how they have adapted to it. He has already bought and equipped an RV with all he needs for WiFi connection to everywhere. He has named his RV “HAR-vee,” another play on words of RV and “Harvey.” It is the title of a play his father, a long time summer stock actor, became known for appearing in.
Continuing with family participation, one of Wolke’s two daughters has painted the name on his RV. His other daughter lives in Portland, Oregon, and Wolke hopes to get to visit her at some point on his adventure. He also hopes to start booking entertainers again reviving his Twin Cloud Concerts, Inc. company in the fall using his internet connection as he travels along.
Wolke said that he could see himself returning to the area, but the future is as vast and unknown as the roads he is about to travel.
“I don’t know that is my plan,” Wolke said. “Anything could happen to me on the road. I could be offered a job, meet the next Mrs. Wolke… Basically it is a transition in life.”
Wolke, originally from New Jersey, has had a “varied career” and said his first concert booking involved the Washington Squares at The Ledge which was in the old student center at Rutgers university, and he was also involved with the Perth Amboy Blueberry Festival. He then became involved in Pete Seeger’s River Friends of Clearwater organization, the environmental movement on the Hudson River north of New York City. He gained some fame when he represented the opening singer/songwriters for Don McLain at the Tarrytown Music Hall on May 2, 1986. The act was John Gorka singing with Shawn Colvin, and Lucy Kaplansky, all who have since made names for themselves and frequently toured in New England. His credits also list a concert there with Hot Tuna and David Lindley as recently as 2008. Also working with the Sloop Singers, the musical arm of the Clearwater Environmental Organization, Wolke met acoustic blues singer Guy Davis. They have worked together with Wolke managing him officially since 1993. Wolke remembers an event at the Latchis Theater in Brattleboro where he had Davis and Pete Seeger performing for a Strolling of the Heifers benefit that also featured an appearance by Senator Bernie Sanders.
Davis returned to perform for Wolke again last Saturday in a farewell outdoor concert Wolke put together for himself in a tent he had erected on the Hughes Ball Field at the end of Stage Road in Plainfield.
Wolke says Guy Davis has a popular following here.
“People have been pent up for such a long time,” Wolke said. “Moving is not only a transition for the person but also for the people not moving… “It’s nice to have the long good-bye”
Wolke is proud that he was able to use his RV “HAR-vee” to power the equipment for the event. He sees that as a sign that all is ready for his next big adventure.
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