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G&F Band

Cell Perches & HVO, G&F Band

Welcome Fiddler

December 9, 2023
Violinist and harmony singer Sara joined our band earlier this year. Although her background included classical training and membership in the string section of the civic orchestra, she was drawn to the Bluegrass music genre and our fun-filled Thursday evening jam sessions where she is seen below kneeling front right.
Sara devotedly studied and promptly mastered classic fiddle tunes while seamlessly merging into our ensemble with her songbird voice. As pictured below (far right), she has become a regular and valued performer on Sunday afternoons at our brewpub gigs benefiting the Children`s Hospital.
In recognition of her upbeat and skillful commitment to the G&F band and its musical endeavors, Sara was recently presented with a hand-crafted BRC workshop smartphone holder during one of our weekly evening jam sessions.
Our newest fiddler is seen below holding her gifted cell perch (arrow), and we are all grateful that she has brought her music and song to us and our listeners. Away from the band, she is a busy equestrian and falconry aficianando.
Stage center at the feet of her animal-loving master, Sara’s dog named “Peanut” rests quietly while the band performs a Sunday afternoon gig at the brewpub. Despite upbeat hoedown tunes, throaty group vocals, and rounds of solo musicianship, the canine dozed and was unmoved by the onstage hubbub.
From the BRC: Happy Holidays to all our readers and Best Wishes in 2024.
Art Shows, G&F Band

Back at the Brewpub

November 20, 2021
The G&F band began performing weekly gigs at the family-friendly Broadway Brewery in 2009 and donating all tips to the Children`s Hospital. With the Covid plague blanketing the globe last year, the musicians were driven from the stage on the Ides of March 2020. Jam sessions were thereafter conducted at the BRC bandleader`s home for well over a year. In mid-May of 2021, the pickers ventured back onto the brewpub stage and were welcomed by the entertainment-starved customers who longed for signs of normalcy. By late August, however, a surging delta viral variant caused the band members to retreat once more from the venue.
     With the recent availability of vaccine boosters and seasonal flu shots, the G&F band has again returned its music to the Brewery during the Sunday brunch hours. Our percussionist nicknamed Bones, a showman and audience favorite, happily holds his rhythm instruments aloft.
  
 In the meantime, we await a foreseeable future when hopefully the G&F Singers can again serenade kids and families at the Children`s Hospital, and the band can perform on the psychiatric ward of the university hospital during the Holidays. Time will tell, but we remain optimistic. We wish you renewed optimism and good times ahead, too.
Recently, the BRC craftsman donated a banjo to the yearly Columbia Art League fundraiser exhibit. At the “Patron`s Party” reception, he puzzled and amused potential buyers by counseling them that each BRC banjo had a threefold purpose. It was first and foremost a musical instrument. Secondly, in an energy crisis, it can be used as firewood. Lastly, in the event of civil unrest, it may have utility in home defense. Amidst a gallery filled with 76 paintings, sculptures, and multi-media works, the “Autumn Leaves” 5-stringer was the second item promptly sold in the gala evening affair.                                                               
                                         
From the BRC: Be well and have a restful Thanksgiving weekend.
BRC Activities, G&F Band

Milestone & Music & Monarchs

September 10, 2021

Since its inception in 1995, the BRC banjoist`s Gainor & Friends band has entertained listeners with Bluegrass music and donated all tips to the local Children`s Hospital. The Broadway Brewery graciously began hosting our Sunday brunch jam sessions in 2009, and we are grateful to this family-friendly brewpub for its generous community spirit. After a music hiatus during the 2020-2021 pandemic months, our performances resumed in the springtime, but we are again on-hold because of delta variant issues. This summer, nonetheless, our total collections for the Children`s Miracle Network surpassed $27K. Almost three-fourths of these monies have been donated by the faithful patrons at the Brewery. We salute them all as partners in achieving this milestone, and we look forward to stepping-up on stage once more sometime soon to entertain them again. For a while, the G&F pickers (below, all vaxed) will be jamming Sunday afternoons on the back patio of the band leader’s lakeside home.

During a Spring visit, the grandkids had occasion to pause with their BRC grandfather on the brewpub stage (below) to welcome the brunch hour guests while their mom Lisa and Grandma looked-on.

The BRC craftsman is especially thankful to his daughter Lisa (pictured above) for upgrading the BRC website last month and giving its format new wings by making the content much more accessible to our faithful readership. With much appreciation, Grandpa Doc.
In the meantime, our historical Thursday night jam of 3 decades duration is currently on hiatus with the pandemic, but the Wednesday afternoon outdoor picking session in a small village nestled in the foothills of the Ozarks remains active. Last month, however, the blistering August sun not infrequently drove the above musicians into the air-conditioned basement of a nearby church.
 
 As the monarch butterflies migrate south to Mexico and autumn draws near, we thank all these musicians for renewing and sustaining Bluegrass music during our shared and strange journey through these unusual and shadowed times. Peace.
From the BRC: Be safe, be well, mask-up.
CD songs, G&F Band

A Bluegrass Valentine

January 31, 2021

February is the special month when we share our warmest affections with loved ones, extended family, and favorite friends. The BRC founder is blessed to be surrounded by a throng of devout Bluegrass pickers and singers who dedicate their music and song to benefit the Children’s Hospital. With heartfelt gratitude, their images are shared below.

 

The BRC banjo builder authored a song entitled “Old Mexico” for his first CD in 2004 to benefit the pediatric medical center. It is a tale of an aged cowboy who reflects on a long lost love from his distant youth, and he undertakes a final determined journey to find and reconnect with his beloved of yesteryear. The chorus contains the nostalgic refrain, “If I could be young one more time…” which our senior pickers sing in hearty unison at jam sessions and performances. Enjoy the below sound file. All music and vocals are by the author..(copyright 2004).


From the BRC: Happy Valentine`s Day to All our readers. Be safe, be well, be loved.

 

G&F Band

Be It Resolved: 2021 Reaffirmations

January 1, 2021

For the dawning New Year, let us pause and renew our dedication to preserving the joy and tradition of Bluegrass music performed live with jam session friends. While acknowledging this calendar milestone, it is fitting to remind ourselves of two Gainor & Friends mirthful mottos as translated from the original Latin:

E bandito rehearsus unum dispersus ad infinitum. Which translated is, “The band that rehearses together disperses forever.” The local press found this maxim to be noteworthy.

Negatori musika populatum diminuendi versus bandito. Which translated is, “Play no music if the size of the audience is smaller than the band.”

 

Over the years, the G&F band members have faithfully adhered to the first above dictum but seldom to the second injunction. Many masked musicians have appeared on this website in pandemic era postings. In thanks for their unflagging dedication to Bluegrass music, they are featured here sans face coverings as seen in pre-covid photos. Together, we enter the New Year continuing as fellow travelers on a shared journey through the corona virus tunnel to emerge somewhere ahead into sunlit uplands. The G&F pickers look forward in 2021 to resuming Sunday afternoon jam sessions at the Broadway Brewery on behalf of the Children’s Hospital.

We also look forward in the coming months to reuniting with our Bluegrass pals in the activity room of a village burger shop in Eldon, Missouri, for weekly jams..

 

 

Alas, one year ago on New Year’s Eve, we cheerfully gigged at the local radio station not knowing the world was only only weeks away from the Covid-19 global pandemic. Better days now await us.

From the BRC: Be safe, be well, be together again soon.