BIG CROWD AT RIVER CONCERT

Paul Tracey has seen the heart of America from its very heart: the nation's waterways.

Tracey, a songwriter, singer, instrumentalist, comic actor and folklorist, is a native South African who loves to write songs about communities visited by the American Wind Symphony,

"Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't," said Tracey, who has been appearing with the wind symphony orchestra for the past three weeks, including a Friday night performance along the Mississippi River waterfront in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Friday's sunset concert was enthusiastically received by a large crowd.

The blend of music, from classical to contemporary, kept concert-goers in their lawn chairs and makeshift levee seats until the last note sounded.

Tracey has written eight songs about communities in which the orchestra has appeared during the past three weeks, including Metropolis, Ill., last week.

Tracey will leave the tour following its next appearance at New Athens, Ill. He has appeared with the symphony periodically over the past 25 years.

Tracey, author of a musical show that played six years, including a stint on Broadway, said he occasionally joins the symphony for brief appearances.

"I met Robert Boudreau, symphony director, in 1977," said Tracey. "Since then, I have appeared on the tour in the Great Lakes area and down the Mississippi River."

While Tracey is on this summer's tour for only three weeks, 45 cast members of the symphony signed on for the complete summer tour, which will end in Minnesota.

"I've been playing with the summer tour 10 years," said Josh Boudreau. His dad is director of the symphony.

Unlike the younger Boudreau, Jeff Castle is a symphony newcomer. He will be a senior at the University of Massachusetts this fall.

"It's a great experience," he said. "You meet a lot of people, play a lot of different music and visit different places."

Castle, like most musicians on the tour, is hoping the experience will boost his professional music career.

The experience often leads to careers for performers. Former musicians who have appeared with the symphony can be found in major symphony orchestras around the world.

Tracey, meanwhile, is not looking for further advancement.

Although born in South Africa, Tracey attended schools in England and now resides in California, where he provides educational programs in schools, presenting a mixture of songs, stories and instruments to class assemblies.

Tracey broke into show business at a young age. He and his brother, Andrew, who now manages the International Library of African Music at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, teamed up to produce "Wait a Minim!," for what they thought would be a six-week run in Johannesburg, South Africa.

"The show played in Africa two years," said Tracey. "It played two years in London, and more than a year on Broadway.

"Wait a Minim!," said Tracey, is translated to mean "hang on to a half note," and was a musical based on international folk music.

Tracey has made numerous appearances on television, including on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson and the "Ed Sullivan Show." He has written songs for the Muppets and performed in a number of one-man shows.

It was his work with "Affiliate Group" that led to his introduction to Boudreau.

During the current cruise Tracey also doubles as a navigator when the boat is moving.