March 11, 2024 - OLD FRIENDS…NEW FRIENDS
Frank Solivan of "Dirty Kitchen" gives Alex Patrick a demonstration of his new flat picks. We were so delighted to finally meet this iconic figure of progressive Bluegrass.
Mike Mumford, banjo wizard, also of ”Dirty Kitchen" stopped by to try out the Gibson All American… in the course of conversation, he paid me such a compliment. He said, "you know, John, I still have all of your old paper mailing lists from years and years ago.
Our VERY OLD friend, Mike Cloonan finally stopped by to visit and pay homage to the All American
One of our very first repair people, is the son of my cousin Rick. Even though he lives out of town, Robert Mortillaro was here for a visit… and to bring back some fine repairs including a beautiful A. C. Fairbanks first year Tubaphone No. 3 that he restored for us.
Old friends, Brian Williams, and Bobby Henrie stopped by for a gypsy jazz jam.
OLD FRIENDS…NEW FRIENDS
March 11th, 2024
Good morning,
Making friends has always been an important part of owning our own business. It’s probably one of the reasons we opened a store. When we were a "mail order only" business, working out of our house for 30 years, we had friends, but they were limited to people we met in the course of our cloistered life. After having a store for nearly 20 years, our "friend basket" has grown immensely….and our lives have been enriched because of it.
But old friends are often OLD friends…and with that comes many of the typical discussions of aging. No one is going to get out of this world alive…we are all on the slippery slope of the aging process. That’s just a fact of life that we all accept. Instead of sharing our pains and aches and suffering, though, we tend more to discuss our solutions…things that work well and things that help us to get through the day. That’s what real friends share. Pain is just a part of aging and sometimes it just requires a mental shakedown. On Friday, I had a doctor’s appointment at the Pain Clinic where I have been going for several years in order to deal with chronic back pain. The advice and treatment there has been excellent but now I am at a crossroads. There are no more treatments… at least none that I’m willing to have to spend a year and a half recuperating from. Instead I’ve taken on a philosophical treatment… one that begins in the mind…and that was a good part of our discussion with "old friends" on Saturday. We were all in agreement that playing music, conversing with friends, positive thoughts and movement were crucial parts of combating chronic pain and mental "lapses" that come from aging. These are not cures, but they are simply activities that make life much more tolerable as the years advance.
So people….grab a friend, grab an instrument, go for a stroll, plant of flower, listen to some old tunes, read a book, call an old friend and fight the battle…you’re not gonna win…but at least you’re gonna go down singing!!
With peace,
John Bernunzio
PS: THE STORE WILL BE CLOSED THIS SATURDAY, MARCH 16TH IN RESPECT FOR THOSE CELEBRATING THE SAINT PATRICK’S PARADE.
The Keuka Outlet Trail has definitely become an "old friend"… and during the recent warm spell, we traversed the trail a few times to inspect spring bursting forth.
"Friends" on the move in Yates County.
A Gypsy Django Jam in the back room at Bernunzio’s on Saturday was one of two great jams we had that day.
On the way back for a doctor’s appointment on Friday, I stopped by Holy Sepulcher cemetery to visit my grandparents and my uncle Charlie and Aunt Pauline. Everything seems to be in order in their world.