Alexis
Soloski

March 30, 2015

There were only two dozen people in the audience when the folksy balladeer Gideon Irving performed “Living Here: A Map of Songs,” produced by the Foundry Theater, on Wednesday. But this was definitely a sold-out show. Listeners crammed the snug living room of a prewar apartment on the Upper West Side, which was decorated, like the other rooms, with so many examples of Soviet Nonconformist art that you could barely see the wall behind them. We sat on chairs and sofas and something that was probably a piano bench. Our gracious hosts offered red wine and white wine, tidbits of melon on toothpicks, a bowl of tangerines, a stack of focaccia and what looked like a homemade cake. Sound nice? Too bad. Mr. Irving will probably never perform there again. A strolling player — to be fair, he also bikes, drives and skates — Mr. Irving offers his songs and stories in a different home every night. He’s played 306 places on a couple of continents and said that he very much enjoyed 303 of them. He asks for a bed, though a floor or a futon will do. He often gets dinner and breakfast, too, and donations from audience members that cover further travels.