Bio

As hints of Spring  slowly melt the polar vestiges of winter in the Show-Me State, early March quietly marked another birthday for the BRC founder. Looking back on picking the banjo for 54 years, he reflected, “After all this time, I should be better than I am.” Blessings are myriad- a nice lakeside home, a lovely wife (who once endured 14 banjos in the house), great kids, wonderful grandchildren, currently 9 banjos on site, and challenges of the perennially revenue-negative BRC workshop.

Attached is an all-time favorite (Hallmark) birthday card received a few  years ago from his beloved spouse.

Humbly offered below is a  link for your springtime reading enjoyment:

Arts in Health Care 08 (1)

In the marketplace  of Orccha, a small township in central India, villagers perform a traditional song while chanting a mantra. A friendly musician graciously invites the BRC founder to play the ektara. This East Indian instrument is a single string Hindu banjo. It has a gourd pot and a bamboo stick neck. The ektara is a rhythm instrument used to accompany folk songs in Punjab, Bengal, and Rajastham where this photo was taken. Click photos to enlarge for details.

Later, at the entrance of the Taj Mahal, a national landmark tightly patrolled by military forces, a security guard confiscated a copy of the Banjo NewsLetter that was poking out of the BRC founder`s coat pocket (I am not making this up). Inside the walled grounds of the spectacular monument, a wintry fog enveloped the Taj Mahal. The BRC founder, now sans his BNL, is pictured with his spouse, as they stand a few steps from a soldier with an assault rifle slung over his shoulder.

At departure from the UNESCO World Heritage site, the BRC founder recovered his contraband NewsLetter when a street wise local tour guide assistant retrieved the confiscated periodical from a souvenir shop just outside the main gate and returned the wayward  Banjo NewsLetter to its surprised owner.

Check-out the below Comment.

Three generations of the Banjo Rehabilitation Center clan recently assembled for an annual photo to re-dedicate their workshop to our motto: All banjos deserve a second chance. Year after year, our staff defies annual budget deficits in order to bring restored 5 stringers to entry level pickers at bargain basement prices. Our cherished payback: uniformly positive customer feedback, a busy <banjorehab.com> mailbox of queries, and over 10K website visits per month.

To celebrate the indomitable élan of the BRC staff, our young CEO (front row center in red plaid shirt) declared 2014 as the `International Year of the Banjo` to the cheers and approval of all pictured above.

In a prescient film clip, three siblings of the Marx Brothers strum banjos enchanting a nation of moviegoers in the timeless comedy classic “Duck Soup”  pre-dating the International Year of the Banjo by 70 years.

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. 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.