March 27, 2023 - MUSIC IS GRACE IN THE POST-PANDEMIC AGE
How many men can ask their wife to go get the cello banjo off the wall and she knows exactly what and where it was!
And everything is certainly not all acoustic at Bernunzio’s. These two guys, Sam and Sen went through some of the equipment that we had buried away and found all kinds of old electric guitar pedals and effects that we would be selling on our website soon. Their enthusiasm is infectious
In addition to the jam in the back room, every corner of the store was filled with people, trying instruments out and playing with big smiles on their faces!
It’s time for sale!
On Sunday afternoon Julie and I stopped at our old friend AJ Noto’s place, Abandoned Brewery. There we were introduced to Shawn Duchscherer and his lovely wife, Jamie who own Cadence Music in Clarence, NY. Shawn teaches and often plays music at Laurentide Brewery just down the street from us. It was so nice to meet up with him and talk guitars.
We were so excited to run into Brian and Johanna from the Y-Knot Restaurant in Pultney, NY at Abandoned Brewery. We hadn’t seen them in a such a long time. They shorten their hours in the winter and close for the month of March. They will be reopening their wonderful restaurant on the 30th. It’s one of the best kept secrets on the west side of the lake.
Here I am showing off my latest piece of equipment in the battle against immobility. It’s a cane that converts into a little chair. A surprise gift from my dear son, Jay.
MUSIC IS GRACE IN THE POST-PANDEMIC AGE
March 27th, 2023
Good morning folks,
Old time music has been close to my heart for nearly 50 years. I certainly wasn’t born into the tradition, but came upon it accidentally. Getting a banjo for my 25th birthday was the impetus, but exploring the record section in the Rochester Public Library put the icing on the cake. I checked out records by Wade Ward and Tommy Jarrell and Kyle Creed….names that were synonymous with that style of music. I explored the “High, Lonesome Sound" and took lessons in old time banjo from "zen-master" Steve Slottow who played in various string bands in the Rochester area in the early 1970s. But music, like a foreign language, needs to be practiced in a real setting to be mastered. I was never very good at languages and I’m not very good at music. I never became an old time musician and I never even sat in one jam. That was not my destination. While I lacked musical ability, I certainly had been schooled in writing and research and appreciation. Over the years, that was really how I made my living. So today, I am the procurer of all things banjo. My name has become synonymous with selling banjos around the world and the banjo is certainly the instrument that is most associated with old time music. That said, I took a great banjo home this weekend… a 1910, Bacon FF Professional, just like the one played in the movie, Harold and Maude. I may just keep this one. Maybe I’ll learn to play!
Our store provides a place where folks can get together and enjoy music as it should be. Our Saturday jams in the back room are probably the most successful community event that we have created. Each week a different musical theme is represented and the leader of the jam helps people stay on the track and guides the tunes. The jams start at various times and last for about an hour and a half (check the website for the complete schedule). After this week’s jam people didn’t leave. They hung around the store…they visited. The chatted and caught up with each other’s lives. They also tried our instruments and they bought things. I sensed a hunger for companionship that has been missing for so long. Music, made with others, fulfills a need in the human spirit. I could sense from the faces of the folks who attended the jam, that they had received something special by just attending….a kind of "grace".
Last week I said I was going to have a mandolin sale and it started on Saturday. We have been trying to find a unique format for having a sale. Now one of the reasons stores have a sales, is because they have too many of something. We have too many mandolins…. John’s corner is getting a bit crowded. However, manufacturers have minimum advertise prices (MAP), and we cannot advertise below those prices. So the sale is in the store only. You have to come in the store test drive a mandolin, and I personally will give you the very best price. On Saturday I sold three Eastman mandolins. I promise you if you come in the store and see me directly, I will give you an amazing price on an Eastman or other mandolin family instrument…that’s a promise! Saturday is April Fool’s Day and we won’t be fooling around.
Sincerely,
John Bernunzio
I’m doing some remodeling at the store. I’m literally changing "John’s corner". I’m planning on adding a little more furniture. I’ve got a light, an end table and l’m looking for a small sofa. I really need my place of work to be like my living room!
Here is a shot from Saturday’s back room jam. Happy faces on everyone.
As we said last week, spring is the time for planning. Here is Julie on the side yard of our house planning out our new garden. We’re going to try to incorporate a vegetable garden with a flower garden and other native ornamental flowers and shrubs.
The road home can sometimes seem a bit ominous!