Cell Perches & HVO, Jamming

Back among the Outback

May 28, 2022

In the sprawling Lake of the Ozarks countryside, a small village burger shop nestled in the foothills has hosted a mid week jam session for decades. Noontime featured a classic country music songfest, and bluegrass musicians stepped up for the afternoon hours. Eventually, the country pop jammers dwindled away, but the bluegrass pickers endure to this day. The pandemic, however, silenced all music at the eatery for nearly two years- until now. With the apparent waning of the covid infestation, the weekly acoustic jam session has happily revived. Customers enjoy the renewed live music scene while our clogger (striped shirt) tutors patrons` children and grandkids to dance to the festive rhythms.

To celebrate the long-awaited revival of this southern Missouri jam session, the BRC craftsman fashioned an “Ozark Wilderness Cell Perch” smartphone holder with leftover banjo fretboard inlays to portray the hilly outback that surrounds the rural village where the burger shop resides. The table top implement is decorated with flora and fauna images including the occasional bald eagle and bobcat that inhabit the nearby rugged Show-Me State countryside.

The cell perch is destined for a community end-of-summer “Scapes” art show which will be thematically focused on the world of escapes: landscapes, seascapes, and dreamscapes, etc..

From the BRC: Keep on picking,  no matter what.

 

Art Shows, Cell Perches & HVO

The Inside Story

May 14, 2022

For the theme of the Spring exhibit, the community art league challenged its members to “explore their own understanding of the interior: interior design, interior thoughts & feelings, interior to our bodies or minds or buildings and spaces, inner circles of trust and community, and more.”

For the BRC craftsman, who plays Bluegrass with picking pals, writes songs, and builds 5-stringers, identifying his interior life was a no-brainer: music. These invisible sonic waves that we call music enter our inner ears and are miraculously converted into audio perceptions that entertain, comfort, inspire, uplift, and not infrequently transport us by touching the heartstrings. The gift of hearing is a wondrous blessing which brings us a cosmos of music and its myriad genres of  style.

For the Interiors show, the BRC founder crafted the “Inside Bluegrass “banjo which featured laser cut wood inlays representing most of the principal stringed instruments heard in this unique acoustical style of folk music.

At the gala evening reception in the gallery, curious art enthusiasts closely study the open-back instrument.

Also recently constructed was a “Zodiac Cell Perch” smartphone holder which was decorated with celestial inlays left over from the “Not in the Stars” banjo that was built in the BRC workshop last year and exhibited in the “Hindsight is 20/20”  springtime show. It was gifted to the BRC craftsman`s daughter who had skillfully redesigned the BRC website format, inside and out, last year.

Upon receipt, she texted, “Ta-Da! Thank you, it`s gorgeous and just my style.” With the message, she included a photo of the grandkids on her smartphone taken while it was perched on the table top implement.

For more details on the materials used in the Zodiac Cell Perch, enter “retrospect ” in the search engine on the website home page to view the “In Retrospect” posting of May, 8, 2021, which features the aforementioned astrology-based banjo.

From the BRC: Hearing is believing, so listen-up and count your lucky stars.

Jamming

Swan Song

April 23, 2022

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.”

 

Jamming

In the Rearview Mirror?

April 9, 2022

“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.

 

Art Shows

Refreshment & Resolve

March 26, 2022

Last month, the “Let Them Eat Art” culinary fund-raising reception at the community gallery featured a beverage concocted by the co-owner of a local micro distillery. The cider-based refreshment was based on the motif of a BRC 5-stringer in the exhibit:

The mixologist and BRC craftsman pose (below) with his “Moonshine” banjo and her cordial elixir. The libation was supplemented with distilled spirits to meet the taste of any erstwhile bootlegger who might have been milling about in the throng of guests.

This month, however, the subsequent annual “Tiny Things” art show evening reception was threatened by a surprise late winter storm. Determined art fans, nonetheless, resolved to brave the snowy wind-blown streets and attended the gala event.

After trekking through the wintry weather to the gallery, guests closely studied the 147 diminutive exhibit entries on display which were all limited in dimension to 8 x 8 inches. The “Tree of Life Cell Perch” seen above is a smartphone holder decorated with left-over leafy mother of pearl items from the BRC workshop inventory.

From the BRC: With the refreshing arrival of Spring, resolve to pause and pray for Peace. Enter “peacemaker” in our website search engine and scroll down.