Nov. 17, 2025 - STILL STANDING STRONG
We are going to keep this up throughout the rest of the year at all of our jams and for anybody wanting a discount on strings and accessories
We got a big boost for our food drive from our friend Tom Bailey, who held a jam and then brought everything in that folks had donated.
I stopped in the store on Wednesday and saw these young kids lurking outside and even though we weren’t open, I told him to come in. They were from Corning and Elmira, NY and Long Island and they had come to Rochester to see Billy Strings. It was a delight to engage with them.
This young man has been coming in our store since he was just about old enough to walk. He’s been playing guitar for a long time and now he’s interested in restoring vintage guitars.
Benny Bleu, entertaining at Steuben Brewery. It’s always great to see his magic on the banjo
I’m a boss who should be telling his employees what to do and how hard to work, but I love when they play and sometimes I just sit back and am entertained…. I never would’ve made it in the corporate world.
One of our most important values is that we take seriously, the role of the women as leaders. And we better take it seriously because our leader, the person who has most of the sense, knows where everything is located, follows through on everything and make sure that every customer gets the best service is none other than, Julie Ellen Schnepf.
STILL STANDING STRONG
This is last year‘s newsletter. I was looking through my old John’s Corners, which are all available online here. This is from last November and I wanted to let everyone know we are still standing in the same place.
WHERE WE STILL STAND 2025
November 11th, 2024
Good mornings folks,
In light of last week’s election and the turmoil and division that has spawned in some states, cities, towns and families, I thought it would be appropriate if I made a statement about where Bernunzio Uptown Music stands in the scheme of things….whew. No, I am not talking about political endorsements or rhetoric, I am talking about what matters to us. More important than the income we earn (which frankly supports us and our staff in a modest lifestyle), we value the friendships that we have made through the common love we have shared for fine old American instruments. Of course the same goes for the music that is played on them. Beyond this, we stand for equality for those who are different from us because, in fact, we are different. We’ve always taken a different path. Both Julie and I never took the straight and narrow plan for existence, so we support those who are different. Often these are the folks who find their way into our store. We embrace their differences and we want them to know that they are always welcome in the space we occupy.
Another issue that we firmly stand by is immigration. I am the son of an immigrant and I feel strongly about this issue. Immigrants came to America over the course of our history and each time, they performed the hard, physical labor that created our infrastructure. They dug the canal, they cleared the roads, they built the railroads. This is what has made America great and I fear for those immigrants who, in more compassionate times, we called refugees.
Bernunzio Uptown Music stands on the side of education. As a 20 year veteran of the public education system, with two daughters proudly carrying on the tradition, I have strong feelings about teaching children. Some folks are worried that children are getting brainwashed in classrooms today. I will tell you that if we have the ability to brainwash kids, teaching would be a piece of cake. If teachers could control kids minds, then it would certainly be easy to get all the required information in there. It just does not happen. Kids are resistant. Bernunzio has always supported school programs in the city of Rochester as well as private education and teaching studios.
At Bernunzio’s, we believe in protecting environment. We believe that people should clean up after themselves rather than leave a mess for the next generation. We have traveled worldwide and we have seen the effects that humans have had on the environment. As masters of the planet, we must use scientific knowledge to do everything we can to protect the planet for the next generation. We recycle strings at our store.
Next to education, we consider health care to be an existential right of everyone in our country and that it is the duty for everyone to contribute to the common good.
Bernunzio Uptown Music always stands for non-violence. I have spoke my mind many times about war. There never has a war that has really been won. If a war was won we would not still be fighting. America has been at war my most of my 78 years of living, and that makes me feel very apprehensive about the future, not my future, but my grandchildren.
So these are the thoughts that I leave you. It is a statement of our beliefs, which we hope the folks who eventually take the business over from us will carry on.
With peace,
John Bernunzio
I took a trip to Hammondsport on my day off. It’s a tiny town at the end of the lake and there are some great views along the way there.
A beautiful sign on the outside of the dugout at the Little League baseball field In Hammondsport
I am returning to Trapani on December 31st and I plan to be there until the end of March. If anyone wants to join me send me, a private message and we can talk. I’ll be glad to give you a tour.