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Art Shows, Cell Perches & HVO

Peace

October 22, 2022

An annual weekend juried competition held every October since 1959, the 63rd Boone County Bank Art Show presented a potpourri of works this autumn by artists from central Missouri. The BRC spouse entered an oil painting from her studio into the exhibit. Based on the belief that not everyone wants a banjo, but almost everyone can use a cell phone holder, the BRC craftsman submitted a smartphone stand entitled the “Peace on Earth Cell Perch” to the show. It was ornamented with fretboard inlays from previous banjo projects.

In the adjucated competition, the BRC spouse was awarded a blue ribbon and cash prize for her oil painting which promptly sold. A retired nurse and self-taught artist/instructor, she is no stranger to first-place laurels. But, to our mutual surprise, the BRC craftsman’s  “Peace on Earth Cell Perch” also won a blue ribbon and cash prize. Below is a lobby photo of visitors studying the curious red oak desktop implement and its shiny topical imagery. Following the weekend show, both of the aforementioned  blue ribbon-winning items were selected to be exhibited in The Bank lobby for six weeks.

To survey other cell perches from the BRC workbench, please enter “smartphone” in the website search engine or click-on Cell Perches in the menu. Peace-themed items are not new to the BRC workshop. A “Freedom Eagle” banjo was fashioned several years ago and can be accessed by entering “freedom” in the home page search engine. It was gifted to a son-in-law. A posting on a related  “Peacemaker” 5-stringer can be viewed by entering the word “pax” in the website search engine. The “Peace on Earth Cell Perch” will be gifted to our youngest daughter.

As all BRC instruments are one-of-a-kind products, a third peace-oriented banjo neck (above) crafted recently was installed as a decoration over the entrance of the BRC workshop to welcome visitors.

From the BRC: Peace

Antique Banjos

A Signature Banjo

October 9, 2022

A local jam session picker, who is a discerning estate sale browser, brought an antique 5-stringer to the BRC workshop recently for some minor work. The instrument proved to be an A.A. Farland circa 1915 “Black Beauty” banjo. Alfred A. Farland (1859-1954 ) was an innovative banjo designer and skillful musician who performed a classical repertoire to much acclaim. He was a teacher and a musically progressive thinker. Although his name on the peg head mother of pearl inlay had nearly worn away, his signature appears throughout the features of this instrument that was manufactured by Rettberg and Lange.

The dowel stick (below) in this open back 5-string antique bears the name of the model, the price tag, signature of the designer, and location of the manufacturer.

The interior of the pot offers a photo image of Farland and his explicit guarantee that no metal tone ring is present in the architecture of his endorsed instrument. He firmly preferred and advocated a woody banjo tone.

The tailpiece is embossed with the initials of Alfred A. Farland surmounting an undated and abbreviated patent (pending) stamp.

Farland cleverly devised an internal cable-pulley system, so he could mute his banjo in mid performance. This device was operated by a thumb lever inside the rim which is absent in the below photo. The mute pad located below the bridge area of the head is also missing, but its supporting metal pedestal is still present. A black thread traces the course of the cable. For more details on this unique muting system, please Google “disassembled AA Farland mute” for a posting on the Classic-Banjo.com website to observe the integral parts this curious Rube Goldberg apparatus.

Farland was a very successful performer and wore a tuxedo when on stage. Visit YouTube to listen to ancient recordings of  “A.A. Farland plays the Carnival of Venice” which reflect his virtuosity. One of the archival sound files is very scratchy but clearly demonstrates his skills. The other audio clip has better quality but was evidently recorded later in his career when age and hand problems affected his digital dexterity. He was renowned for his proficiency with tremolo phrasings.

From the BRC: Enjoy

 

Art Shows, BRC Activities, Cell Perches & HVO

Yet Again

September 17, 2022

The autumn art show at the community gallery was entitled: Repeat. This theme challenges the concept that repetition is a fundamental part of visual language and is used to create movement, stillness, confusion, or order. Repetition shows up all over the art world through imagery, process, color, and subject matter thus adding deeper meaning to the work. To meet this vexing format, the BRC craftsman fashioned the “Starry, Starry Knight” banjo (below) to echo a metaphor of the iconic night sky painting by Vincent Van Gogh.

Also recently crafted with an equally repetitive theme was a smartphone holder decorated with left-over fretboard inlays from previous BRC banjo projects. The desktop implement (below) was named the “Eagle Bluffs Cell Perch”  in recognition of a nearby avian wildlife preserve along the Missouri River. This patch of backcountry is located adjacent to a county road and not far from a now defunct pub where the BRC founder jammed with Bluegrass pals for many fun-filled years. These musicians appear in the final pages of the nature book “Where the Pelicans Fly” by author Paul Sinrud Johnson who celebrates the wonders of nature  found in the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area of Boone County, Missouri. Enter “Sinrud” in the website search engine and scroll down for further details.

The American Bald Eagle, our national symbol, is the only eagle native to North America. The Eagle Bluffs Cell Perch was gifted to a friend as a token of thanks for her service in the US Armed Forces.

At the gala evening Repeat Show reception in the exhibit hall seen above, gallery visitors puzzle over the Starry banjo and yet again contemplate the age old question- what is art? For an earlier discussion of this philosophical issue, enter the word “abstruse” in the website search engine and scroll down.

From the BRC: Some folks say art is in the eye of the beholder.

Jamming

Autumn Harp Tones

September 3, 2022

With the arrival of autumn, students have returned to the campus, and the average age of our university township has fallen to 21 years.  E-scooters traverse the leafy streets and sidewalks while the trees artfully repaint their foliage. The local music scene is slowly reviving itself. On a recent Sunday afternoon, a blues harmonica player (yellow T-shirt below) sat-in with the G&F jam band at the brewpub.

Bluegrass music is no stranger to harmonica players. Earl Taylor played the mouth harp with Flatt & Scruggs in the 1950-60s. Doc Watson not infrequently played a mouth organ, or so-called French harp, on a neck holder simultaneously while picking his guitar. Jimmie Fadden, drummer for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, is heard playing the harmonica throughout the ground-breaking 1972 “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” album.  Grammy Award winning and multi-instrumentalist Charlie McCoy is probably the most famous and recorded country harmonica player in Nashville.
When our guest musician above is not playing blues harmonica, he is a full-time oil-on-canvas painter whose impressive brushwork is exhibited at the Columbia Art League gallery on a regular basis.

Lastly, the BRC archives corroborate that the Harptone Manufacturing Corporation made instrument cases for C.F.  Martin Company guitars in the mid 1930`s.

From the BRC: Keep on keepin`  the blues away.

 

BRC Activities, Cell Perches & HVO, Jamming

Amigos & Pals

August 20, 2022

This has been an off-center summer with blanketing heat waves almost everywhere, a global omicron surge, and troublesome wildfires out West and beyond. Although local musicians have been sometimes scarce to find during the current and previous calendar year, pickers and singers are slowly emerging from covid hibernation to volunteer and entertain at the mid-town brewpub on Sunday afternoons in support of the Children`s Hospital. On a recent weekend, a trio of physicians took to the stage for a benefit performance and described themselves as the “3 MD Amigos.”.

A very special pal of the Gainor & Friends jammers is a secretary at the University orthopedic hospital who for many years has supervised the monthly forwarding of all collected jam band tips to the Children`s Miracle Network.

In gratitude for her devoted administrative management of these monies, she was gifted a “Paws for the Cause” smartphone holder earlier this month celebrating the total G&F donations which had recently surpassed the $28K milestone. A treble clef inlay is seen on the back of the sturdy red oak desktop implement signifying the homespun music that brings the tip money to her desk for the benefit of our pediatric medical center.

To view other similar items from the BRC workshop which are decorated with banjo fretboard spare-parts, enter “smartphone” in the webpage search engine and scroll down.

Sojourning a 130 mile round trip to our University township, Bluegrass musicians from a weekly Wednesday afternoon jam session in a rural Ozark burger shop trekked north a few weeks ago in the middle of vacation season for a Sunday gig at the brewpub. Afterwards, all enjoyed a BBQ picnic at the lakeside BRC domicile. We applaud the generous civic spirit and fellowship of these pickers and singers seen below.

From the BRC: Who could have better pals than these good amigos?