Art Shows

An Artist

November 29, 2025

A few weeks ago, the G&F jam band played a gig in the lobby of a local art gallery that was presenting a retrospective show of painter and art professor James Froese (1996-2012). The artist was a visual story-teller who worked through a variety of media.

The gallery was thronged with a stream of visitors who paused in the lobby to video our band and cheerfully request and sing-along with favorite gospel tunes.

The artist`s son (far left) plays banjo in our band and greeted the enthusiastic assemblage.

From the BRC: It was a delightful evening of mixed media.

Bio

The Sky is the Limit

November 15, 2025

A few weeks ago at daybreak, our neighbor across the lake photographed some sun-splashed cumulonimbus clouds that towered over the BRC domicile.As seen below, a reciprocal sunrise photo of our neighbor`s shoreline taken previously from our back deck was softly colorful and suggested a rosy and inviting day was in store. In the foreground, our dock serenely rests in still waters.

Assured by the above photo taken from our home that another lovely autumn day in the Heartland was likely unfolding, the BRC couple embarked on a long walk down a nature trail to the nearby lowland lakes in order to view the migratory birds.

Halfway on our journey, however, the overhead skies darkened and began to reverberate with menacing claps of thunder. Stinging wind-driven rain soon began to pelt us. We cell phoned our nearby daughter to please come and rescue her parents from this tempest, and her car soon appeared nearby to spirit us back to the shelter of our BRC home.

From the BRC: Have a restful  and sunny Thanksgiving.

Bio, G&F Band

Acclimation to Autumn, etc.

November 1, 2025

The landscape of the Ozarks has been repainted with the seasonal palette of Fall. The mighty herons and the diminutive albeit kinetic hummingbirds have fled south to distant climes. Terrapins, once plentiful along the BRC backyard shoreline while sunning themselves on our floating turtle ramp, have vanished into the deep protective waters of the lake for the coming winter. Festively-costumed children paraded through our neighborhood last night in search of Halloween candy.

While visiting our daughter`s family in Chicagoland recently, she took her Dad on a stroll along the nearby Des Plaines River to observe a solitary White Egret that had not yet fled Southward from the oncoming famous Chicago winter season.

Despite the sun-dappled waters of the meandering River, this magnificent snowy white avian will soon venture South to more temperate environs.

At the family-friendly brewpub for our weekly Sunday afternoon gig, the BRC craftsman recently filled-in on bass while our regular bassist was away for 2 weeks on a fishing trip. He holds his Martin BC-15E mahogany bass guitar (seen below) that he purchased in 2001 when the Martin Guitar Company first introduced an inaugural acoustic bass guitar line that featured an electric pick-up. The BRC musician mellows this four stringer`s tone with nylon strings and a sound hole cover, so it does not compete with the other unamplified acoustic instruments in the band. His bass is channeled through a small amplifier, so its sonic output does not overwhelm our singers.

It is the BRC craftsman`s longtime belief that: a band without a bass is a band without a heartbeat.

From the BRC:  Let the beat go on…..

BRC Events

Another milestone & many thanks

October 18, 2025

The G&F bandleader established his inaugural acoustic music group in 1995 and named it ‘The Bluegrass Jammers.”  Performing at picnics and community events, all tips and fees were donated to the local Childrens Hospital. The band`s generic moniker sufficed until the year 2000 when its name somehow morphed into “The Moonshyne Reunion.” In 2005, the group leader began playing solo Thursday noontime gigs at the Artisan coffee house near the University campus. Slowly but surely, members of the aforementioned jam bands began to join him on stage during these midday performances. Soon, this amalgamated bluegrass band began performing regular weekend evening gigs at the coffee shop and then simply billed itself as “Gainor & Friends”.

One morning in the autumn 2009, however, the Artisan cafe suddenly and unexpectedly closed down. We musicians were literally left standing at the darkened and locked front door with our instrument cases in hand. A new brewpub had coincidentally just opened on a nearby street, and so we trudged up the alleyway to its back door and offered our services to the owners. After a few trial showcase performances, we began playing weekly Sunday afternoon gigs at the family-friendly downstairs brewpub. The band was initially housed in a alcove by the steps descending from the sidewalk to the front door; and despite this crowded venue, the acoustics there were marvelous. After a couple of years, the owners built us a roomy stage overlooking the main dining room where we continue to perform today.

The youthful and generous sketch artist featured in the previous BRC website posting of 9-27-25 entitled “Young Artists Emerge” was photographed on stage with the band by her mother who later kindly forwarded the above photograph to us. The musicians are holding the drawing that each was gifted by the talented young artist who stands next to the kneeling G&F bandleader. These drawings are especially noteworthy to the band, as we have just surpassed the $34K milestone in donations collected for the University of Missouri Childrens Hospital. We G&F musicians are grateful to the faithful patrons and generous owners of the Broadway Brewery for their years of joint support of our local pediatric medical center.

From the BRC: Again, a special thanks to our young artist and her mom for their gifts to us.

Bio

Young Artists Emerge

September 27, 2025

Every Sunday afternoon, the G&F Band performs for our university Children`s Hospital at a nearby family-friendly brewpub. During the lunch hour, curious youngsters come to the foot of the bandstand to dance while their parents happily take photographs. Some of the more adventurous kids will wander up onto the stage to examine our musical instruments and sometimes sing along with us.

Last Sunday, a young listener about age 5 years old spent her lunch hour industriously sketching the band. Periodically, after completing a few drawings, she would step-up onto the bandstand and distribute her works to the musicians.  Over the time frame of her family meal, each band member was gifted two sketches. These playful images surprisingly reflected our music and fellowship.

Our banjoist was among the first to receive such an artwork as seen above.

Soon thereafter, one of our guitarists was gifted an impressionistic rendering (ala  Picasso…?) of his instrument pouring-out music.

Our bass player happily accepted an artful representation of her oversized instrument sprinkled with musical notations.

Lastly, and most importantly, we were presented with the young artist`s perception of our happy faces, while we were pickin` & grinnin` & singin`. She anonymously autographed this final work with “Love,  Friend (sic)” In all, we were gifted with about a dozen of her sketches, and the Mom took a photograph of her talented daughter on stage with us grateful musicians. It was a joyful afternoon for all.

The previous weekend, the BRC founder and spouse visited their daughter`s family in Chicago for the local high school Homecoming festivities. Our talented grandson (seen above center) plays horn in the brass section of the school marching band, and he sings and dances regularly in school theatre productions. This young fellow and his friends decided to dress-up as the “Blues Brothers” for the post game evening dance party.

His grandfather instructed the young musician how to play blues harmonica in preparation for the evening of fun. All ready proficient on a wind instrument in the marching band, the kid proved to be a  “natural” on the blues harp.

From the BRC: Our family tree is blessed with musicians.