I found my attention wandering at a crowded community event in Grand Forks. People were chattering in small groups, inattentive of the formal program. I was glancing often at my watch.

Amidst the chatter and persons wandering about with coffee, a man with a guitar mounted the platform and sang two songs. When the last chord faded, some fool was standing, clapping, stomping and shouting, "WOO! WOO!", unmindful of stares from nearby people whose conversations he was interrupting.

Alas, it was me.

I'd just heard Dave Soroka for the first time. And I'd learned that Dave may not give out what every ear wants to hear, but for many, he cuts through to the places where a soul is reminded that it's alive. Every word is clear; every verse meaningful. His voice, like a cello, conveys poignancy with intimacy. His Bruce Springsteen bearing and passion as a performer made me suddenly appreciate what young people mean when they say a singing star is "COOL!"

Soroka doesn't buy this "COOL!" perception. Self deprecation is a vein he works with wonderful good humour in some of his lyrics. A few of the obviously biographical song lyrics make it plain that Soroka has no wish for fans to mistake him for other than the nerdish poet that he thinks he really is. Listen, feel and laugh at the anguished honesty and chagrin he expresses to an adoring young female fan who inspired his song "This Close To Cool":

"If you study the rules
The clause regarding fools
Well you'll see that I
Am destined to be
Just this close to cool."

And listen to "Josie", a hilarious appeal to a disappointed girlfriend who has been willing to creep away with him for a tryst. As searching friends are approaching, he begs her to pull out her shirttail, muss up her hair and save his false reputation as a lady's man.

Whatever the truth about his "COOL!", there is no mistaking the authority, talent and power of Soroka's songwriting. And no mistaking his ability to provide sustained entertainment. At the end of a three-hour solo performance at Curlew on May 9, he brought the crowd to its feet twice, begging him to continue. When he protested that none of them would get to bed that night, the boisterous audience erupted in cheers for the idea.

Every song on his CD, "The Ladies Of Summer", is wonderful. I've heard of others than myself who play it over and over. In "Ladies", he is backed by other voices and instruments...