Frank Meyer, 74 / Siobhan McGuire, 68
The Parkside Poets simultaneously note a sense of loss and responsibility of new promises
By John Addyman
Frank Meyer and Siobhan McGuire organized concerts featuring regional songwriters as the Parkside Poets. Those concerts have ended, the last being enjoyed in Canandaigua. Meyer & McGuire still perform locally as a singing duo, but are waiting for a new generation to take over the Parkside Poets legacy.
Q. You held Parkside Poets concerts featuring local songwriters and performers for 13 years. Now the concerts are gone. What happened?
A. “Truthfully, we aged out,” said Frank Meyer. “We were getting tired. It takes a lot to put those concerts on. We wanted to do something else.
“We started in 2012 at Buffalo Bill’s Restaurant in Shortsville. When the owners retired, we went to Rio Tamatlan in Canandaigua. After COVID, we came here, [to our back yard] in Canandaigua.”
Siobhan McGuire added, “We had friends who were songwriters and performers — we wanted to get an audience for them. The series of friends we had, the core, basically 20 people, was all we really needed to get a decent audience. Anything more than that was great.”
Q. What was the role of the Parkside Poets for local music?
A. “We wanted to see songwriters,” McGuire said.
“Because we love songwriters,” Meyer added. “We like to promote them. So many people don’t get to see them and their work. These songwriters play at various bars and restaurants, but a lot of time they’re playing cover songs or playing things that are familiar. So, the songwriters are somewhat of a background, an addition to the venue. We have so many talented people in this region who write songs. We just wanted to promote songwriters and give them a space to play their original
material and be heard.”
Q. But your core group of audience members melted away. What was the effect?
A. “The core group — one woman got brain cancer — she and her husband had brought other people with them,” Siobhan explained. “We had longtime friends in their 90s. Their daughter and son-in-law brought them, and brought other people. One person got Alzheimer’s and died. A core guy who brought people with him doesn’t go out anymore.
“We don’t have a lot of old friends; this is something for a younger group to take over and continue it. It’s time to pass the baton. We go out and see younger performers just to support them — that’s our role now; a real trip for us.”
“It was good and it was fun,” said Meyer. “Now we’re getting the feeling that it’s not personally fun for us anymore. It might be time to let it go and let someone else pick it up.
“As far as a sense of loss, I guess the loss would be all those friendships.”
“The sense of loss would have been stronger if we had kept doing it and kept watching our friends getting sick and passing away or just not able to come any more,” McGuire said.
“We had so many good times with those people when they were here,” Meyer said. “A sense of loss of the people who attended the programs. We’re at that stage in life where we’ve lost a lot of friends; it’s happening more and more.”
“There were a lot of good times and good memories here,” McGuire added.
Q. You’re still performing as Meyer & McGuire, so you see some of those old friends. What is in your future?
A. “I’m a person who believes endings bring beginnings,” Meyer said. “There’s something new for us to pursue. We’re kind of in that mode. Now it’s our job to go out and support people who perform. You just never know what’s around the bend.”
“If somebody else does what we did, we’d be happy to go,” McGuire said.
“Hopefully someone will pick up the baton and carry on,” said Meyer. “Maybe some songwriters who are in their 50s will decide to do this.”