Banjo Rehab Center, Banjo Restoration

Friendships

July 28, 2018

For more than a decade, the local Harley Davidson dealership has been the site of a summertime street party for the Children`s Hospital. The BRC founder`s band has entertained regularly at this annual outdoor festival, and we have enjoyed making friends with many parents, patients, siblings, and health care workers.

About six years ago, we first became acquainted with a special youngster, and she has become our favorite fan.

Over the years, we have fondly watched her grow and listen to our Bluegrass music.

This year`s gig was on a sweltering day, but the band was blessed with a shady cover. We briefly stepped inside the dealership`s air-conditioned shop for a group photo which features a young and capable next -generation banjo picker.

Although this year is the last scheduled summer street fest, we will carry with us memories of valued friendships with the many good folks who share a link with the Children`s Hospital. We extend a very special thanks to Jeanne who tirelessly coordinated all of these successful fund raising events.

Art Shows, G&F Singers

BTW & THX

July 14, 2018

Our community art league recently held its summer open show for members only, and no thematic requirements were imposed upon the participants. The BRC founder submitted a chess game inspired banjo entitled “Make Your Move.” At the gala reception, he explained to interested patrons that the “BRC” on the peg head meant “Bishop takes Rook, Checkmate.”

To guests who puzzled over why a 5 stringer was in an art exhibit, he advised that the lettering on the headstock stood for “Banjo, Remain Calm.” IMG_5629 - Version 2

A few days before the art show opened, the BRC founder`s group “The G&F Trio” gave a Fourth of July songfest on the pediatric ward of the university Women and Children`s Hospital where TJ the Tiger is the kiddies` mascot.

The singers drove through torrential rains amidst flash flood warnings and lightening to perform for the patients and parents. Despite snow and ice in the winter months, the intrepid threesome have been regularly entertaining the kids for a dozen years- while braving all the weather extremes that Missouri has to offer.

From the BRC: By the way, the BRC website search engine hits recently surpassed 900K, and we gratefully thank readers for visiting us. Have a great summer.

Cell Perches & HVO

Too Hot for Turtles

June 30, 2018

A few steps from the back door of the lakeside BRC workshop, a couple of railroad ties float inconspicuously behind a row of four newly constructed banjos. Moored by anchors to the bottom, these hefty timbers serve as turtle roosts for a colony of terrapins that live in the shade of our favorite weeping willow tree.

As many as 20 or more turtles will sometimes mount the ramps in mild weather, but the sweltering mid summer temperatures have driven the tortoises to cooler, deeper waters. Terrapins can live up to 35 years, and one massive but ancient turtle that we call “Bruno” sinks the railroad tie with his colossal frame when he climbs aboard. His mate “Brunehilde” is nearly as large but declines to clamber-up the ramps.

At a recent Sunday afternoon brew pub gig benefiting the Children`s Hospital, an anonymous sketch artist in the audience quietly penned images of our bass player propelling the other jammers who were clustered by him.

After the band`s wrap-up song, the artist shyly handed these sketches to the BRC founder while the musicians packed-up their instruments.

The bandleader appreciatively studied the images in close detail. He then turned slowly, not unlike a turtle, to offer a hearty thanks, but the artist had silently disappeared. We hope someday that this illustrator will reappear in our audience, so we can warmly applaud his drawing skills.

Bio

Up from Ashes

June 14, 2018

Last winter, the BRC founder and his wife were gripped along with the nation by TV coverage of the Thomas Fire that incinerated 440 square miles of central California. This month, we again traveled to the Golden State to attend the annual Ojai Music Festival in this small and friendly township that miraculously escaped the runaway conflagration. A photo from the local tourist guide depicts a malignant firestorm cloud teetering over the mid town music park, but the flames capriciously went elsewhere.

Although green springtime undergrowth has since re-carpeted the landscape, the charred skeletons of trees reaching eerily for the sky like boney fingers abound in the surrounding countryside and map the fiery path of the destructive inferno. The community has rebounded from this cataclysm with “Ojai Strong” determination to help all of its citizens impacted by the blaze. During the music festival, we visited the community museum that features a show by local artists whose “Scorched Souls” exhibit captures the emotionally exhausting features of the California fire with its loss of homes, life, and dreams.

Like last year, the BRC founder again attended a Bluegrass jam session in the neighboring village of Oak View which was also incredibly bypassed by the omnivorous wildfire. In the background of a group photo of the musicians, who experienced the fiery peril first-hand, leafy trees bear witness that Oak View was spared from the Thomas flames and its rogue embers which devoured nearby areas.

At the end of the Ojai music fest, the BRC founder and his spouse attended a unique performance by a string quartet in a small theater where the house lighting was extinguished into absolute darkness for the event. Never has the wooden resonance of stringed instruments been heard with such crystal clarity than in this envelope of complete blackness. Brighter days lie ahead for the good folks of Ojai and Oak View.

Jamming

It was a Dark and Stormy Night

May 26, 2018

In the foothills of the Ozarks resides a village that enjoys a Bluegrass jam session one afternoon each week at a town eatery. Not infrequently, a local nursing home sends a van of clients to the premises for an afternoon of entertainment. Some of the regular musicians recently recruited the BRC founder to join them on banjo for a gig at the nearby community Senior Center at its monthly dinner. That night, a dense stormy weather front hung menacingly over southern Missouri as the band took to the stage. The quartet kicked-off with a spirited and familiar hoedown tune.

Despite a hi-tech sound system provided by the venue, deafening thunderclaps soon began to rumble over the building, and the eyes of the audience were drawn to the windows which were illuminated by ominous crackles of lightening. Although only first a trickle, when the wind and chilling rain intensified, the senior citizens began streaming to the doors to get home before the tempest reached its full fury. The band soldiered on to complete its performance before a nearly vacant hall sprinkled with a few dedicated Bluegrass fans and a couple of dutiful staffers. Driving afterwards on a rain-whipped road through a dark and featureless hinterland, the banjo player was glad to return home to the BRC.

The cold and cloudy weather front slowly dissipated and was replaced a few days later by week-long temperatures soaring into the mid 90`s. The musicians regrouped for a sidewalk gig in front of a popular yogurt shop in our capital city. Passersby paused to sing along with sun-filled familiar tunes heralding the arrival of summer to the Heartland. Signaling the end of Missouri`s annual 72 hours of springtime, a seasonal tide of humidity crept over the Show-Me state, and it will not dispel until autumn. A portion of the buskers` tips were donated to the Children`s Hospital.

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