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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.”IMG_5540

 

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.IMG_0473

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.IMG_5617

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.IMG_5620

 

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.IMG_5618

 

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.IMG_0406

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.IMG_0435

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.IMG_8296

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.

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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.

Art Shows

Solar Rays and Butterflies

May 5, 2018

A Bluegrass quartet recruited from the BRC founder`s band entertained at a weekend Farmer`s Market which recently relocated from its winter home indoors at a shopping center to the plaza`s sprawling outdoor parking lot. The temperature was 49 degrees when the foursome set-up their sound system which proved indispensible because of the backdrop of a four lane interstate highway roaring with Saturday morning traffic. Stationed in the shadow of a gigantic marquee advertising the mall`s attractions, the pickers battled chilled fingers till the sun slowly surmounted the towering sign to warm the musicians` hands. On a previous Saturday, the ambient temperature was 28 degrees at showtime when another band suffered 50% member defections home to warmer environs.IMG_0368 (1)

The shoppers sang along and danced to the band`s tunes and generously filled the tip jar. A curious tourist from Brazil was intrigued by this American genre of music and took the above photograph for the folks back home.  Noteworthy is the grateful banjo guy bathed in toasty solar rays. As usual, one-half of the collections were donated to our nearby Children`s Hospital.

On the morning preceding the market gig, the BRC founder warily entered a banjo into a juried local art show which had mandated “Critters” as its thematic prerequisite .

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While butterflies fluttered in his stomach, he submitted his “Monarch” 5 stringer alongside an acrylic painting of a dozing cat, a graphite drawing of a floppy-eared dog,  and a watercolor of a mare nuzzling her wobbly-leggged foul. In this field of artistically crafted works, he resolved that it would be a surprise if the sunny creatures on his BRC instrument would win acceptance into the competitive show.

The judge, who was from the art faculty of a neighboring university, approved of the winged motif of the “Monarch” which was subsequently hung among a panoply of other “Critters”  for guests and patrons to study at the exhibit`s opening reception.

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A staff member mused that the Monarch was `three dimensional art` when it promptly sold.  Another customer asked to reserve any future BRC instrument that might be potentially destined for the community`s upcoming mid summer art show.