Jamming

For many years, Bluegrass musicians have gathered to jam at a yogurt shop in our capital city just a few blocks from the state legislative building which overlooks the Missouri River. In the fair weather months as seen below, music would be performed outdoors on the sunny sidewalk to entertain customers and passers-by. Our clogger (red shirt) would instruct youngsters on traditional dance steps while parents looked-on happily. These festive street scenes mostly disappeared during the deep pandemic months.

With apparent ebbing of the covid infestation, the musicians have lately returned to the eatery. One of the co-owners of the shop (mandolinist) reports that the premises have found a buyer and will be sold. We gathered recently (below) for what may be our last jam session at the friendly neighborhood venue. It will be missed.

From the BRC:  A recent visitor to the BRC Mailbox offered gracious feedback for information provided on his vintage banjo, “Dear Barry, The extraordinary time you spent to furnish information on my banjo has not gone unnoticed and is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much, S.G.”

“Now is the winter of our discontent,” spake the Duke of Gloucester, in Richard III, Act 1, Scene 1, by William Shakespeare. This prescient observation captures the seemingly endless covid season in a weary world.

With the arrival of Springtime in the Heartland, our too long journey through the pandemic tunnel may have a twinkle of light glimmering at the end of it.  Jam sessions are beginning to cautiously resume. A Wednesday afternoon picking session that recently reactivated in a nearby Ozark village church basement is a mid-week reunion of treasured friends.

Thursday evenings mark the resumption of a jammers` rendezvous that has been convening for more than a generation as seen below.

On Sunday afternoons, the weekly benefit gig for the local Children`s Hospital has reassembled on the local brewpub stage. This decade long fund-raiser sometimes merges musicians from the two aforementioned get-togethers.

In the Show-Me State, the tulip trees are unfolding their crimson blossoms while walkers and joggers repopulate the streets waving to each other. “April, dressed in all his trim, hath put the spirit of youth in everything.” -Shakespeare

From the BRC: With fingers optimistically crossed for good luck, let us hope for a renewed and healthier world with covid receding in the rearview mirror.

For years, our so-called Rock Island McPickers band has jammed inside and outside of a yogurt shop on the main thoroughfare of our capital city in the shadow of the Missouri state legislature building. Like all  social gatherings, the global pandemic has sharply curtailed such musical get-togethers for well over a year. This autumn, as the curve of the recent delta surge has been flattening, the Bluegrass pickers elected to reembark on outdoor picking sessions on the shady afternoon sidewalk in front of the popular snack bar.

Passers-by were cheered by the reappearance of our street side singing and picking which offered glimpses of pre covid normalcy, and local townsfolk of all ages danced to the spirited music.  A newspaper photo journalist happened upon the scene, and a picture of the musicians appeared the next morning on the front page of the Jefferson City News Tribune.

Our mandolinist, the jam hostess and co-owner of the yogurt shop, is poised to sell the enterprise, and so will bring an end to this venue of sidewalk entertainment (not to mention free yogurt for the musicians). We thank the proprietors for generously providing a performance platform for many years where faithful and appreciative audiences came to hear Bluegrass music and cell-phone video the festive scene.

P.S. A special thanks to the shop owners for pistachio yogurt- a BRC banjoist favorite.

From the BRC: Be safe, be well, be picking.

Got the “Delta Blues” from the pandemic mutant infestation? During the first wave of this global affliction, the G&F band migrated outdoors to jam weekly on the patio behind the BRC workshop where they paused (below) for a dock photo taken one year ago. We navigated the subsequent winter months by retreating indoors and picking in a heated and ventilated garage, and we rejoiced when Springtime finally blossomed and returned us to outside jams.

Our brewpub music for the benefit of the Children’s Hospital was on hiatus for more than a year, and we resumed performing Sunday afternoon gigs for a couple months until the delta variant arrived. We have now migrated back to outdoor jam sessions on the patio behind the BRC domicile as seen in the recent photograph below. The expansive wood porch surmounting the patio brings welcomed shade to the musicians and provides marvelous acoustics for their stringed instruments.

It has been a goofy journey, but all the G&F musicians remain healthy, vaxed, and eager to play Bluegrass music. Our shared fellowship is enjoyed in this safe environment where overhead a young bald eagle frequently patrols the shoreline. Lakeside neighbors text message the BRC spouse their appreciation for the music that floats over the water on Sunday afternoons. We count our blessings whenever one of us kicks-off the “potatoes” intro to signal the tempo of the next tune. As the leaves paint their seasonal changes around the lake perimeter, we wish the very same to you.

From the BRC: Be well, be safe, keep on picking.