About 13 years ago, Travis Puntarelli stumbled barefoot and shirtless into Marc Haggerty’s backyard on Seventh Street.
Haggerty looked down at Puntarelli from 30 feet in the air — he was practicing an act on the trapeze in his yard. The Bloomington local is a musician, activist and patriarch of the "Flying Haggertys” — a family of trapeze artists.
He invited Puntarelli, who’d been walking around with a mandolin strapped to him, to join him in the air. To Haggerty’s surprise, Puntarelli did. After seeing the young musician freely swing on the trapeze, Haggerty said he knew the kid had something special.
Since their acrobatic meeting years ago, Puntarelli and Haggerty have been friends and musical collaborators. In 2016, the duo even went on tour, playing dozens of shows out west from the San Francisco Bay Area in California all the way up to Canada.
On Wednesday evening, the pair performed together again for the first time in two years at Cascades Inn on North Walnut Street — notably, without any rehearsal beforehand, Haggerty said.
There’s a multi-decade age gap between the duo — Haggerty is 75, Puntarelli is 37. Haggerty said he was drawn to Puntarelli, though, because of the way he wrote music. Though he was only in his mid-20s when they met, Haggerty said Puntarelli wrote like a wise, old sage.
Now, when Puntarelli heard him say this, he turned the praise back to his friend.
“He’s my supreme advocate,” he said of Haggerty. “He’s a poet.”
Four years ago, Puntarelli moved to Ashland, Oregon, but he comes back to Bloomington, his hometown, once a year. Wednesday evening was a musical reunion for the singers.
The pair set up chairs and microphones in the middle of the inn’s brick courtyard, surrounded by a garden of yellow and pink flowers. They strummed acoustic guitars and sang, joined by Pat Otto on mandolin, with vocal harmonies from Dave Lasuertmer and Liz Moudy. The group played original folk songs, as well as some pieces from bluegrass and folk artists like Indiana singer-songwriter Bill Wilson.
Despite the time that had passed, the duo performed with a comfortable familiarity. Puntarelli smiled and waved as people trickled into the courtyard during the set — he said he knew almost all of the nearly 40 attendees.
He and Haggerty riffed between songs throughout the two-hour performance. Puntarelli said he finally visited Salida, Colorado, like Haggerty had been telling him to. Haggerty mentioned the music he writes nowadays has begun to sound like his friend’s.
“I’ve taken to writing songs and blaming them on you,” he said to Puntarelli.
The set melded plucky, quirky tunes with heartfelt songs about death, love and loss. Haggerty led a sing-along about a lineage of ironically “bad” dogs who chewed tobacco and chased little kids. Puntarelli sang about falling in love with witches and west coast women.
Many members of the audience seemed to know one another. Puntarelli said the crowd was made up of local artists, musicians and actors. Some attendees broke out into interpretive dance while the band played — local actors and artists Sydney Johnson and Ethyl Ruehman swayed and twirled all night.
Haggerty said he was glad to be a part of this slice of the Bloomington community.
“I’m so lucky,” he said. “These people are doing things, all of them.”
Toward the end of the evening, one of Puntarelli’s young children stumbled up to the makeshift stage. Tired, the child let his father know it was time for the show to end. Throughout the last song, the toddler spun the microphone around its stand, pushing it away from his dad.
Puntarelli thanked everyone for coming, and said he missed them all. He lamented the fact that he wouldn’t have time to sit and talk with everyone who came.
“I think we owe that to airplanes,” he said. “I can get here really quick, but then I gotta go back really quick, and that’s nice but it’s also not slow. I’m both very grateful and also totally discombobulated by that.”
Before leaving, members of the audience folded up their chairs and hugged each other goodbye.
To stream music from Puntarelli’s band, Balladir, visit Spotify, Apple Music or Bandcamp.
