March 2026 VOCAL Songwriters Showcase

Singer/songwriters Matt Manion, Glenda Creamer and Mark Daniel were the triple play performers at the VOCAL Showcase on March 23, 2026 , held on the fourth Monday at O’Toole’s since the previous Monday was the neighborhood pub’s build up to St. Patrick’s Day.

Matt Manion
Matt stepped up first to use his expressive tenor and solid guitar work to lead the attentive crowd through well-crated tunes, both old and new. “Libretto Lactosio” was a wry meditation on the sour subject of lactose intolerance where “tummy troubles catch up to you a little farther down the line.” He used some clever word play to explore the recent development of this pesky food allergy, now having to dodge dairy when “we used to have the freedom to eat anything we wanted.” “Little Vanities” was about people who “need a little look at me.” The singer assured listeners that “you can show me your vanity” in behaviors and fashion. “The Last Laugh” was a rumination on the cultural and economic pressures that produced the series of monuments on Richmond’s renowned residential avenue. At the conclusion, however, only the one erected to honor Richmonder Arthur Ashe had the “last laugh.”

Matt’s “Don’t Forget the Good Times” was a lament to a breakup where “my heart never quite got over you.” Although the singer can still recall the parts of the relationship that were happy, the memory is tempered by the painful things the lost lover said and did, yet “love once was there and we survived.” Next, we heard “sometimes I feel like the ‘The Last Man on Earth’.” In this tune, the words tumbled out over the bluesy arpeggios of John Ellis, who accompanied Matt. Under verses and between, John’s brisk fills supported the rapid-fire lyric lamenting lonesomeness despite existing personal connections. The final “O Rolling Sea” also featured John’s supporting guitar work in a slow and pensive description of waiting on the waves to produce a ride. Is the singer a sailor? A surfer? Who is observing the ocean’s timelessness, stretching back to the beginning and still powerful in the present?

Glenda Creamer
Glenda took the stage next and treated us to tunes of deep personal context and whimsey. Her familiar soprano and light guitar work wove spring into just about every tune, starting with her “I Think That It Is Spring.” She looks outside to see the blooms, listens to the birds, awaits her partner to get home to her “thoughts of love.” The final 6th chord was a nice conclusion. “Frogs” was a characteristic Creamer tune, cheery, imaginative and with a nice place for the audience to join in on the chorus noting “slimy, scary frogs make some people…jumpy.” There was also room for croaking, whistling and other froggy sounds. “Prayer” was suffused with the desire to feel the presence of the Lord when “You are with me in a world filled with noise.” Observing nature’s sights and sounds as an expression of the divine, the singer waits for the Lord to appear. “The Honey Extractor” was organized around her remembrance of her father’s tool used to produce honey from combs in bee hives and extended it as a metaphor for “love me, baby, be my honey extractor” that would squeeze the sweet love from her heart.

“Dumplin” was an unexpected veneration of a plus-sized woman, who affirmed “I got meat on my bones” and “you can call me dumplin,” cleverly turning what might be a condescending nickname into a proud personal pronouncement. I had never heard “Rubenesque” used in a song before Glenda sang it. “Lift Up Your Feet” warned us to watch out for things in the world that might hurt us because “you got to be careful on bumpy ground.” “That’s What Country Kids Do” excused the roughhousing of “mud-bogging” pickup trucks and their drivers as just “what country kids do.” The song celebrated “wheel spinning, big grinning, crazy truck driving in the mud.” Glenda wrapped up with a story from her past which made the point that “Mrs. Grizzard’s Wringing Machine”, while primitive for the job it was doing, was certainly less of a problem than more modern equipment. Through this song we learned about the four soaking tubs, big agitator, old canoe paddle and wringer that was a paragon of reliability versus the troublesome college laundromat and malfunctioning automatic washing machine she purchased.

Mark Daniel
Mark completed the Showcase with a half dozen solidly crafted tunes delivered with authenticity in his resonant twangy baritone and supported with expressive and tasty guitar work. Among his performance he wove in clever stories and encouragement to all the VOCAL members to proudly call themselves “American songwriters.” “White Plastic World” told of land that was “not a farm anymore but a place where there’s more nuts than squirrels.” “When Autumn Leaves Fall”, he explained, had received a lot of attention when it was released. It was about the season and memories attached to past love “when lonesome came to call.” His “Ghost of Oscar Mellinger” was accompanied by a history lesson regarding the use of bear traps in Kentucky at the turn of the 20th century and Mr. Mellinger who had lost his life while accidentally captive with one of these untended snares. Part fact and part legend, Mark’s tale explained that, should you leave one of these dangerous traps in the woods without checking on them, “the sheriff might come looking for you and the ghost of Oscar Mellinger’s coming along, too.”

“Much Too Warm To Go Out In The Cold” described that it was very difficult to climb out of a warm bed to do anything on a cold day and featured excellent bluegrass picking to propel the tune. “My love is the real thing” was the refrain to “The Real Thing” about first courting his wife-to-be. The story explained that while she did not keep the date for his initial visit to her home he was determined not to be discouraged by her mistake. “The Devil’s Water” was written as a letter to a friend serving time and encouraged the man to quit abusing whiskey. The singer repeats “there’s rock bottom and below” in a place “that’s worse than hell on earth.” Mark wrapped up with “Waiting for Daylight Again” where the singer is living though the broken world and longing for “daylight to ease my pain.” This tune was another that benefited from clever guitar work under Mark’s straightforward delivery.