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G&F Band

Thanks Again

February 13, 2020

Almost a quarter century ago, the BRC founder and a crew of Bluegrass jam session musicians performed a benefit gig at an outdoor festival and donated all tips to our local Children`s Hospital. An archival photograph of that era depicts the jammers making music at a sunny farm fest in a Missouri River bottomland township.

Over the years, Gainor & Friends has received many gracious notes of appreciation from the Children`s Miracle Network.

We are grateful to a host of faithful musicians, some pictured above at a recent radio station gig, who have shared their time and talent with the G&F band. This month, we surpassed $26K in collections for the Children`s Hospital. Of these monies, 70% has been donated by generous patrons at a family-friendly brewpub which has supported and housed our weekly benefit performances since 2009.

From the BRC, a very Happy Valentine`s Day to each and everyone.

Bio

Our World & Banjo Heaven

January 30, 2020

Nearly three-fourths of the our world`s surface is covered with water. The ocean is a complex biosphere and food source, and greenhouse gases are trapping the sun’s heat causing rising global water temperatures which stress marine and coastal ecosystems. The food chain from plankton up to the great whales is impacted by these climatic changes. As stewards of this Earth, we are obligated to protect the environment and the creatures that dwell in it.

To kick-off the new decade, the BRC founder completed a banjo named “The Dolphin” to portray the ocean which is under siege in its fragile roll as a food source. Although the dolphin is a magnificent creature of beauty, power, and grace, like all things that swim in the sea, it is vulnerable to climate change, plastics pollution, and overly-aggressive industrial fishing. Might we all take heed to the mother of pearl “Save Us” message at the 19th fret space and up-regulate our commitment to recycling and environmental conservation. The Dolphin is a BRC postcard to Mother Earth for Valentine`s Day.

The banjo was marketed via an online auction and sold. In the feedback profile of the auction website, the new owner reported,” Beautiful Dolphin themed 5-string Banjo. Fast shipping, Packaged well, Thanks!”

Departing the snowy Show-Me State, the BRC founder and spouse journeyed to Texas to visit grandkids and attend a spelling bee. As class projects, the new art teacher at their elementary school had her students fashion banjos from construction paper, yarn, paints, and glue.

 

 

 

 

 

Hundreds of these colorful images wallpapered the hallways of the school, including a “Picasso” banjo by an imaginative young artist. Is this banjo heaven?

 

 

 

After days of family fun in the Lone Star sunshine, the grandparents bid farewell to their cheery grandkids and returned home to the wintry Heartland and Missouri grandchildren who live only 3 blocks from our lakeside home and its BRC workshop. The lake is frozen-over, and a resident flock of Canada geese cautiously tread its slippery ice. Trumpter Swans, a protected species and the heaviest extant birds native to North America, visited here a month ago. Our world is a precious place.

 

P.S. Have a Happy Groundhog Day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jamming

WSDE and KOPN

January 2, 2020

This merry group of Bluegrass enthusiasts regularly congregate in the activity room of a burger shop in a rural Missouri hamlet every Wednesday afternoon. During the recent holiday season as pictured above, they performed a couple of times at a nearby nursing home inviting clients to sing-along or try a few gentle dance steps with our clogger (front left in red). Although this jam band has no official name, they sometimes call themselves the “Wayward Sons and Daughters of Eldon.” The abbreviated WSDE appellation sounds like a radio station.

Established decades ago, our university town has its own community radio station KOPN that features diverse talk shows and a wide spectrum of music. On New Year’s Day, the G&F band members were invited to be featured on the weekly “Farm and Fiddle” show which is a program that explores and celebrates life and culture found on farms and in small towns of central Missouri. What could be more enjoyable than cramming into a broadcast booth to play Bluegrass music being aired across the Show-Me State and live-streamed to faraway continents? What a fun way to spend the first day of 2020.

G&F Singers

A Dozen Wintry Songfests

December 19, 2019

 

Every December since 2007, the G&F Bluegrass musicians and singers have entertained patients and staff at the Children’s Hospital and on the psychiatric ward of the University Hospital.

 

These sing-along performances of seasonal tunes are annually favorite gigs with our band members and vocalists who not infrequently must overcome snowy roadways to get to the venues. For these special Yuletide occasions, a generous nurse sews surgeon`s caps with holiday decorations that are gifted to the kids and siblings at the Children`s Hospital.

We are privileged and abundantly blessed to yearly entertain these patients, families, and care-givers. The G&F musicians and singers wish all our faithful BRC website visitors a Prosperous and Healthy New Year.

G&F Band

184/mo+1.07M=Thx x2

December 2, 2019

Ten years ago this month, the Gainor & Friends band began performing regularly at the famly-friendly Broadway Brewery on behalf of the Children’s Hospital. The staff and patrons have been generous in their support of our weekly Sunday afternoon benefit jam sessions. In the last year, our tip donations to the Children’s Miracle Network have averaged a remarkable $184 per month. Eight years ago, the Banjo Rehabilitation Center was established and went online, and website search engine hits have passed well beyond the 1M mark. The BRC founder and the G&F Bluegrass band thank our supporters for their year-round friendship and generosity.

Seated next to the BRC founder with her cello in the above group photo is a welcomed guest musician who occasionally joins our jam sessions. All assembled wish each and everyone of you a joyous Holiday Season filled with music. With the approaching New Year, take a few moments to check-out the below link connecting to a website profiling the “Banjo Rehab Center” which was constructed last month as a project by four university Journalism School students. Enjoy. https://nreijmer2.wixsite.com/banjocenter