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BRC Events

CFO announces `Peace Dove` banjo as BRC signature model

December 1, 2013

Although our sturdy little CFO has not yet attained the vertical stature of a banjo, he has declared our `Peace Dove`  5 stringer as the BRC workshop`s signature product. Our Senior Vice- President of Sales, his older sister, stands fully behind him and his visionary proclamation.

IMG_2773 - Version 3

 

 

The Peace Dove banjo bears the bold mother of pearl `BRC` identifier on the peg head, and snowy white doves take wing along the fretboard. As seen recently on eBay, this particular instrument featured a custom made black walnut tone ring snuggly perched on a circa 1930`s vintage Gretsch pot.IMG_2763 - Version 2

 

 

 

 

Our CFO and staff wish Peace on Earth and Good Will to All this Season.

BRC Events

Myth of Violin as Devil`s Instrument dispelled by BRC executive

October 13, 2013

At a Sunday afternoon jam session at the local micro brewery, our fearless CEO demythologizes the fiddle as the Devil`s legendary music maker by standing boldly  among a quartet of violinists and emerging unscathed.IMG_0033 - Version 2

In the Soldier`s Tale, classic composer Igor Stravinskiy chronicled the Faustian story of a Soldier who trades his fiddle (metaphorically, his soul) to the Devil for a magic book and disaster ensues. Country rock fiddler Charlie Daniels told another deal-with-Satan fable in his “Devil Went Down to Georgia” hit tune. Appalacian fiddlers traditionally put rattlesnake rattles in their violins to charm the infernal instrument. Doesn`t every burgeoning banjo player struggle to conquer the melodic fiddle tune “Devil`s Dream”?IMG_2698

 

 

 

As Halloween approaches, the  young executive smiles and dismisses these scary tales as “fiddlesticks.” Bluegrass musicians everywhere take heed and fear the violin no more, thanks to our plucky CEO.

 

P.S.  Congratulations to Howard Marshall for his recent publication “Play Me Something Quick and Devilish: Old Time Fiddlers in Missouri.”

 

(BRC update: Check-out  the BRC `Peace Dove` banjo on eBay Nov. 23-30, and our new Hall of Fame inductee- a bass player!)

Cell Perches & HVO

Banjos North and South

October 4, 2013

For decades, the BRC founder and spouse have attended small concerts at the historic Senior Hall on the campus of a nearby women`s college. In the entry way of the antebellum building hangs an intruiging photograph of a 1920`s school jazz band featuring an open back 5 string banjo.IMG_0598 - Version 2

 

 

Legend has it that a student hid her her boyfriend, a wounded Confederate soldier, in the bell tower of the Hall while Union forces searched for him. The two lovers later eloped on a stormy night but drowned crossing a swollen river. Their mournful ghosts allegedly haunt Senior Hall.

 

When these apparitions roam the hallways, maybe they gaze nostalgically on the jazz band photo remembering the banjo as a favorite musical instrument enjoyed by Yankee and Rebel soldiers alike.

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In 1864, war artist Winslow Homer painted an unforgettable image of a banjo player on the front lines at the Siege of Petersburg (see below link).

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Winslow_Homer_-_Defiance,_Inviting_a_Shot_before_Petersburg.jpg

Bio

A Fun Banjo Week…..aren`t they all?

September 24, 2013

The Royal Couple of the banjo community were featured artists at our local Blues & Roots & Barbecue Festival last week. The husband and wife duo of Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn skillfully performed a perfect and magical marriage of claw hammer and 3 finger Bluegrass picking styles to a spellbound and appreciative audience.IMG_2260 - Version 3 Proud parents of a 4 month old boy, the two spouses enthralled their listeners with warm and joyful music, song, and humor in an sunny outdoor concert under a clear autumn sky.

 

 

Meanwhile, back at the Banjo Rehabilitation Center, students from the nearby university school of journalism interviewed the BRC founder in his workshop for a radio story on the 5 string, its music, and musicians- like those mentioned above.IMG_2696 - Version 4

 

Cell Perches & HVO

Of Mandolins…..

September 7, 2013

The little  guitar? The mighty mandolin is a powerhouse Bluegrass staple valued for its `bark` and pulsing off-beat chop. In comparison, a Bluegrass resonator banjo has a `pop`, and the open back 5 string has a `tubby` sound coveted in the old timey genre. A flattop guitar is called a boomer or a cannon if it is a `banjo killer`. Describing the tonal qualities of a BRC banjo on eBay is a seller`s challenge in descriptors: resonance, sustain, bright, twangy, plunky? This handsome hybrid banjo, recently auctioned online, had a `mid-range` tone because of its uncommon open back and arch top design

Although the text of a melody can be described onto scaled paper, only the sonic actuality of its performance on an instrument can translate the unique character of the music and the instrument. A few years ago, an e-mailer from New Zealand queried us about the sheet music for a You Tube mandolin solo picked by the BRC founder (see below link) at a coffee house gig for the Children`s Hospital. Our polite response: what is sheet  music? The knack to play music by ear, however, is a fanciful myth. It is best described as being a bard who does not know the alphabet. Listen to the BRC founder`s mandolin solo (at 1:48 mins) on “Glendale Train” per the below link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4tLaA7ZZdY&list=PLBADC586625A34D06)The

Check-out the below link for a neighborly thread about the Banjo Rehabilitation Center as offered by our brethren at the Mandolin Cafe. The BRC founder has long hoped to author a mandolin-friendly book entitled `Why Banjos Matter` but has been unable to set pen to paper. Is this a description of writer`s block?

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?73475-Funny-Banjo-Repair-Site

P.S. See the new Hall of Fame member- a mandolinist!