BRC Activities

In the autumn of 2009,  the four year tenure of the G&F band at the underground Artisan Cafe coffee shop ended unexpectedly. The popular student haunt suddenly shuttered its doors leaving the puzzled band and patrons on the sidewalk. The musicians trundled up a nearby alley to the back door of a recently opened brewpub and secured an audition. The management was content with our music and song, and we were consigned to a stuffy alcove next to the stairs that descend from the street level sidewalk of our university town`s main thoroughfare.

Despite the cramped quarters of the alcove, the acoustics were marvelous, and we gigged there on Sunday afternoons for several years. Youngsters would sit nearby to watch our percussionist Mr. Bones step from the alcove to juggle his tambourines during spirited hoedown tunes. As the patronage to the brewpub increased, the management decided to build a stage for us overlooking the adjacent and spacious dining hall. There was some concern to the G&F bandleader that a stage facing this large seating area would impair the tonality of our acoustic instrument and the unamplified voices of our singers, but the structure`s wooden flooring enhanced the timbre of the guitars, banjos,  fiddles, and vocalists. A hammer dulcimer proved to be a splendid addition to our group for several years.

As all tips were donated to the local university Childrens Hospital, the management decided back then to also have quarterly Friday evening gigs in addition to our weekly Sunday afternoon performances. A surviving flyer (above) from that era announces a Friday night performance on the eve Valentine`s Day. The flyer chronicles that for every beer purchased, the management would generously donate a dollar to the local pediatric medical center.

(band pic)

The G&F band has been blessed with the gracious support of the brewpub owners during our 17 year tenure at the family-friendly restaurant. We are pictured above this year on the Sunday afternoon preceding Valentines Day. We affectionately extend our best wishes to all our faithful listeners and our grateful thanks to the generous brewpub owners.

The BRC craftsman grew up in the Northeast folk music scene. In 1960, he built his first banjo, a long neck 5-stringer, from parts left-over at a fire sale. He later procured a decaying pot-belly or “tater bug” mandolin and performed with it occasionally in a folk music duo. The ancient mandolin eventually crumbled in disrepair.

Years later, the BRC musician relocated to the Southland for medical training where he was also immersed in the surrounding Bluegrass music culture. His professional journey eventually settled him and his young family in Mid-America where he discovered a vibrant music scene. His interest in the mandolin revived, so he purchased one in the early 1990`s from a local craftsman/musician who he befriended in a weekly jam session that convened in the basement of a hardware store. The payment check dated Feb. 5, 1992 still resides in his instrument case as a keepsake.

The luthier personally delivered the hand-crafted mandolin to its busy new owner. With its marvelous tone, the splendidly constructed instrument became the musician`s go-to option when a jam session needed a crisp “chop” to focus the off-beat accented rhythm of Bluegrass music.

Mandolin strings are duplicated and strung in like-pairs. As evidenced below, a musician`s fingertips experience double duty compared to when picking the single light-guage strings of a banjo.

When jamming with a younger and flourishing banjoist, the BRC craftsman regularly turns to the mandolin to give a burgeoning 5-string musician room to polish-up some chops.

Above far right, our bassist routinely wears a glove on her right hand to protect her fingertips while manipulating hefty bass strings. She is also a skilled hammer dulcimer player which requires no protective wear. Far left is the BRC craftsman`s Texas son who joins our Thursday evening jam sessions when visiting from the Lone Star State. He also plays electric bass for us when needed.

From the BRC: Happy picking y`all, whatever instrument you play.

Last month, the brewpub band performed at a memorial gathering of friends and family to honor a very special lady who loved music and passed away at age 94 earlier in the summer. It was a bright sunny day, and the home was thronged with visitors. One of the guests (center) was a soprano singer who joined our ranks to augment the group vocals.

The musicians and assemblage of guests enjoyed the blended harmonies of our songs performed in front of the living room hearth. It was an especially lovely occasion to remember a very lovely lady who lived next door to our banjo player.

From the BRC: Peace.

The BRC craftsman and spouse have resided at our lakeside domicile for 4 decades. Since our early years here, we have enjoyed observing a colony of terrapins along our shoreline including two huge tortoises of the snapping turtle variety. We named the oversized twosome Bruno and Brunhilde to invoke a romantic pairing from a Wagnerian opera. These impressive creatures can grow sometimes up to 14 inches long and dwarf the much smaller box turtle species as seen below. Note the baby terrapin perched on the expansive shell of a gigantic half-submerged snapping turtle.

Over the years, Bruno and Brunhilde frequented a favorite recessed area along the shoreline behind the BRC workshop to sunbathe together as seen below. They would promptly flee into the lake, however, if anyone ventured too close for a photograph. These impressive amphibious creatures can live up to 30-40 years or longer. Also noteworthy in the below photo is the shadowy figure of a hefty grass carp in the nearby shallows.

This summer, only Brunhilde has returned to our shoreline, but a new young snapping turtle has surfaced to investigate the aforementioned favorite terrapin sunbathing spot. We will probably name the newcomer Siegfried.

From the BRC:  Wishing you a sunny summer observing Nature.