Art Shows

A Piecemeal Pax Perch

March 16, 2024

In between art show exhibits, the BRC craftsman often fashions cell phone perches ornamented with inlays leftover from previous banjo projects. These desktop implements are gifted to musicians, kinfolk, and special friends. Click-on Cell Perches in the BRC homepage menu for a chronicle of these items and recipients.

Designed to be decorated with unused inlays from the Heron, Humming Bird, Concordia, and Amity banjos, the frontispiece of the “Pax Perch” was prepared as seen below. These mirror-image inlay patterns were etched into the unfinished face of the perch with a Dremel tool.

After a mahogany stain was applied, the selected laser cut wooden inlays were inset and cemented into the face of the smartphone holder. The central thematic image seen below is the dove bearing an olive branch symbol of peace.

The back of the cell perch (below) reiterates the peace dove theme.

Like all BRC 5-stringers that have an inlay on the heel of the banjo neck for the eyes only of the musician, the Pax Perch bears a familiar and symbolic image of a hand hidden on its undersurface seen below. This smartphone holder was gifted by the BRC craftsman to a boyhood chum who was neighbor years ago and has been an email pen pal for decades. It replaced a previous ill-fated cell perch gifted to this life-long friend, and that tale can be accessed by entering the word Viking in the homepage search engine.

Although not many people have much use for a banjo, nearly everyone could use a desktop smartphone holder.

From the BRC: Have grand and peaceful St. Patrick`s Day.

Bio

A Milestone, A Memory, and Sunshine

March 1, 2024

The BRC craftsman passed another calendar milestone this week, and so he again shares with readers his all-time favorite birthday card sent to him long ago by a sibling:

Playing the banjo for well over 60 years, he has bought, sold, and built many 5-stringers. The only instrument that he ever regretted selling was a circa 1963 Gibson J-200 sunburst guitar that he purchased for $300 while exploring the blues idiom during his college days. Soon drifting deeply into the Bluegrass genre, however, he sold the dreadnaught 6-stringer to a school chum for the aforesaid purchase amount. Although this vintage instrument retails online nowadays for up to $18K, what he nostalgically remembers is the unforgettably deep rich tone of this magnificent guitar pictured below in an archival 1967 home photograph.

To paraphrase Missouri`s favorite son Mark Twain: Good judgement comes with experience, and experience comes with having made bad judgements. Within a year of selling the iconic J-200, the BRC craftsman procured a circa 1964 Gibson SJ (Southern Jumbo) guitar for $75 that he has faithfully kept ever since. It is valued online these days for around $4K. At a recent jam session, a fiddler pointedly admired the marvelous tone of the SJ flat-top.

Felicitous greetings to all website visitors who share a birthday this month with the BRC craftsman and are likewise a year older and wiser. Shortly after this aforesaid calendar milestone, the BRC craftsman and spouse babysat the grandkids` dog at our home while the youngsters visited cousins in Chicago. One morning at daybreak, the hound reacted with barking when a hot air ballon passed over our backyard lake whoosing its hot air jets. The sunrise shared its skyline with another orb as photographed from our upper back deck.

For other photos of dawn at the BRC, enter sunrise in our homepage search engine.

From the BRC: Wishing all our readers a sunny long life, good health, and the very best of pickin` and song.

BRC Activities

Thank you, Ladies

February 17, 2024

Every Wednesday afternoon, the BRC craftsman journeys south to a jam session in a small village near the sprawling Lake of the Ozarks. This picking session has been convening for decades, and in recent years it has been held in the basement of a local church. An admixture of musicians, singers, and a clogger faithfully attend these spirited afternoon get-togethers. In the foreground of the below group photo are three women who grew-up singing in church choirs. They are the core of a folk music quintet that performs at nearby venues.

Although the BRC craftsman handily plays an assortment of different musical instruments, his foremost enjoyment is harmony singing. The three female vocalists above can sing lilting harmony parts with zero rehearsal. It is a prime joy for the BRC craftsman to accompany this talented trio on Wednesday afternoons and blend his baritone and bass intonations with them.

From the BRC: Thank you ladies for your delightful music, dance, and seraphic song.

Jamming

A Tradition Endures

February 2, 2024

Several decades ago when our Thursday evening jam sessions were convened in the basement of a local hardware store, a tradition was established regarding the arrival of brand new musical instruments. Whenever a picker introduced a new stringed instrument to the get-together, it was required that the proud owner provide a celebratory ice cream treat for the group. Recently, our banjo picker had a fancy new pot and resonator applied to his 5-stringer. This was deemed sufficient to warrant an ice cream break in the evening assembly which had gathered despite a wintry snow storm outside.

Surrounded by smiling faces, our banjo picker showcases his newly upgraded instrument after a pause in the evening`s music and song for an ice cream treat.

From the BRC: In the traditional spirit of Gobbler`s  Knob, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, have a happy Groundhog Day. Springtime cannot be far away.

Art Shows, BRC Activities

Sweet Sustenance

January 20, 2024

At the beginning of each new calendar year, the inaugural exhibit at the community art league gallery is themed on the subject of food. This January, the so-called food show is entitled “Devour” and focuses on artists` perceptions of appetites and favorite culinary delights. In February, this exhibit will host a yearly fund raising event called “Let Them Eat Art” which is catered by local restauranteurs in a competition to produce the most flavorful finger food and beverage as determined by the voting of gallery visitors. The BRC craftsman constructed the “Honey Bee” banjo for the juried art show.

The peghead and fretboard display the busy honey bee, its hive, the queen`s crown, a honey jar, and nectar-filled flowers. In scientific nomenclature, the honey bee belongs to the genus Apis of the bee clade. These industrious winged creatures came from Afro-Eurasia to North America in the early 17th century, and they are commercially valued producers of honey and wax. Honey bees sting usually in defense of themselves or their colony, and they are fated to succumb shortly after inflicting a sting.

At the gala food show opening reception on a wintry night, visitors closely study the Honey Bee which garnered  a ribbon in the adjudicated competition. During his initial decade of banjo building, the BRC craftsman installed only mother of pearl inlays; but in recent years, he has converted to laser-cut wood inlays made mostly of  birch.

Like all BRC 5-stringers, the heel of the neck on the Honey Bee bears special inlays for the eyes only of the musician. On the rim nearby is an inscription (inverted) indicating that this instrument is the 102nd banjo built in our shop. Since 2016, over forty BRC banjos have appeared in local art shows.

From the BRC: Enjoy the best of food and health in 2024.