G&F Band

To Pick or Grin: that is the Question.  When we read verse, we allow poetic license. When we go to the cinema, we embrace the suspension of disbelief.  In the American vernacular of Bluegrass music, we seek the truth… or, at least as we know it…..But, it`s mostly mighty good fun and fellowship, and the BRC founder thanks his band “Gainor & Friends” for over 20 years of pickin` and grinnin` to benefit the Children`s Hospital.  Since 1995, this ensemble of musicians has donated over $17K in gig tips and fees to the Children`s Miracle Network.

Well done, y`all. We are blessed to play this roots music of noble heritage .You guys are the Best.

P.S. From the BRC: Hope everyone had a propitious  Groundhog Day, and check-out the refurbished BRC open back Peace Dove banjo on eBay Feb 7-14.

(graphic per oneCANOEtwo card/Letter Press)

The Gainor & Friends band  recently performed a sunset gig for the Children`s Hospital at a nearby community autumn street festival amidst sweltering Indian summer temperatures.  As darkness quickly enveloped the venue, the perspiring musicians paused for what proved to be a strangely eerie photo next to a disembodied bronze bust.  “We have no eyes,” protested a singer in a subsequent e-mail. “Looks like the zombie apocalypse,” complained a fiddler. “Beware of bluegrass goblins, ” lamented a guitarist gravely.

To placate the alarmed pickers, the BRC founder circulated last year`s reassuringly cheerful band photo at the festival (where chilly  weather had us shivering despite windbreakers and caps).

Still unconvinced that there were not unearthly spirits roaming in the gloaming during this year`s creepy picture, our bassist wondered. “Like a cross, will a banjo fend-off vampires?”

Nope, not a ghost of a chance. Have you gone bats?

True or trite? Wise or wistful? Fact or forget-about-it? Rite or wrong?

The Code of G&F (for the BRC founder`s band ): as transcribed from the original Latin text –

1) “E bandita rehearsus unim dispersus ad infinitum” translates `The band that rehearses together disperses forever.`

2)” Negatori musica populatum diminuendi versus bandita” translates ` Play no music if the audience is smaller than the band.`

Inspiring or insipid? Rules or rubbish? Tagline or out–of-line? Motto or loco?

Slogans of the BRC workshop staff:

1) “All banjos deserve a second chance.” Question- Are older banjo pickers afforded this generosity?

2) “A New Tomorrow for Old Banjos.”  Questions- Will there be a new dawn for aging banjo pickers? Are there banjos in heaven? If a banjo falls in the forest, does it make a sound?

Pictured is the` Gainor & Friends` band promo and gig photo chronicling a recent benefit  performance for the Children`s Hospital which was preceded, as always,  by no rehearsal. By serendipity, the brewpub audience was larger than the G&F band.

Spattering rain and cool temperatures raked over the Children`s Hospital complicating the outdoor Safe Day Kids carnival scheduled in the parking lot. Most of the festive booths were hastily relocated into the Hospital`s mini convention center and its hallways. The BRC founder`s band was consigned, however, to perform outside in the brick car tunnel leading to the Hospital`s main entrance where recently installed metal drums, chimes, temple gongs, and rubber mallets  awaited playful children visiting patients. Despite the forbidding and inclement weather, hundreds of parents braved the constant rainfall to bring their kids to the annual festival.

Challenged by the echoing din of mallet-hammered drums, chimes, and gongs, the undaunted Bluegrass pickers steadfastly played their almost inaudible music for the soggy festival goers.  Where do you find generous  musicians so devoted to performing at benefits for the Children`s Hospital?

“And yet, to say the truth,  reason and love  keep little company nowadays, ” spake Bottom (Shakespeare`s clown) in Midsummer Night`s Dream.