Mid-Mo Banjar | Banjo Rehab Center, Banjo Restoration

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2014 declared `International Year of the Banjo` by our CEO

January 1, 2014

Three generations of the Banjo Rehabilitation Center clan recently assembled for an annual photo to re-dedicate their workshop to our motto: All banjos deserve a second chance. Year after year, our staff defies annual budget deficits in order to bring restored 5 stringers to entry level pickers at bargain basement prices. Our cherished payback: uniformly positive customer feedback, a busy <banjorehab.com> mailbox of queries, and over 10K website visits per month.

To celebrate the indomitable élan of the BRC staff, our young CEO (front row center in red plaid shirt) declared 2014 as the `International Year of the Banjo` to the cheers and approval of all pictured above.

In a prescient film clip, three siblings of the Marx Brothers strum banjos enchanting a nation of moviegoers in the timeless comedy classic “Duck Soup” pre-dating the International Year of the Banjo by 70 years.

G&F Band

`Tis the Season

December 20, 2013

The BRC founder`s band “Gainor & Friends” performed its annual holiday concert this week for the in-patient children and adults at the University psychiatric center. Festivities included a mixture of hoedown fiddle tunes and classic Seasonal sing-a-longs. Staff and patients enjoyed the fun get together and community spirit. The concert was concluded with a rollicking “Jingle Bell Rock” followed by a nostalgic “White Christmas.”

After the grateful patients personally thanked us for the music and good cheer, our mandolin player remarked that this gig was his favorite performance each year.

BRC Events

CFO announces `Peace Dove` banjo as BRC signature model

December 1, 2013

Although our sturdy little CFO has not yet attained the vertical stature of a banjo, he has declared our `Peace Dove` 5 stringer as the BRC workshop`s signature product. Our Senior Vice- President of Sales, his older sister, stands fully behind him and his visionary proclamation.

The Peace Dove banjo bears the bold mother of pearl `BRC` identifier on the peg head, and snowy white doves take wing along the fretboard. As seen recently on eBay, this particular instrument featured a custom made black walnut tone ring snuggly perched on a circa 1930`s vintage Gretsch pot.

Our CFO and staff wish Peace on Earth and Good Will to All this Season.

BRC Events

Myth of Violin as Devil`s Instrument dispelled by BRC executive

October 13, 2013

At a Sunday afternoon jam session at the local micro brewery, our fearless CEO demythologizes the fiddle as the Devil`s legendary music maker by standing boldly among a quartet of violinists and emerging unscathed.

In the Soldier`s Tale, classic composer Igor Stravinskiy chronicled the Faustian story of a Soldier who trades his fiddle (metaphorically, his soul) to the Devil for a magic book and disaster ensues. Country rock fiddler Charlie Daniels told another deal-with-Satan fable in his “Devil Went Down to Georgia” hit tune. Appalacian fiddlers traditionally put rattlesnake rattles in their violins to charm the infernal instrument. Doesn`t every burgeoning banjo player struggle to conquer the melodic fiddle tune “Devil`s Dream”?

As Halloween approaches, the young executive smiles and dismisses these scary tales as “fiddlesticks.” Bluegrass musicians everywhere take heed and fear the violin no more, thanks to our plucky CEO.

P.S. Congratulations to Howard Marshall for his recent publication “Play Me Something Quick and Devilish: Old Time Fiddlers in Missouri.”

(BRC update: Check-out the BRC `Peace Dove` banjo on eBay Nov. 23-30, and our new Hall of Fame inductee- a bass player!)

Cell Perches & HVO

Banjos North and South

October 4, 2013

For decades, the BRC founder and spouse have attended small concerts at the historic Senior Hall on the campus of a nearby women`s college. In the entry way of the antebellum building hangs an intruiging photograph of a 1920`s school jazz band featuring an open back 5 string banjo.

Legend has it that a student hid her her boyfriend, a wounded Confederate soldier, in the bell tower of the Hall while Union forces searched for him. The two lovers later eloped on a stormy night but drowned crossing a swollen river. Their mournful ghosts allegedly haunt Senior Hall.

When these apparitions roam the hallways, maybe they gaze nostalgically on the jazz band photo remembering the banjo as a favorite musical instrument enjoyed by Yankee and Rebel soldiers alike.