April 3, 2023 - THIS DAWG IS NO PUPPY!
Several students came in early on Friday and started hammering on guitars quite loudly playing some music that was vaguely familiar. One of them, who is from Korea, told me he is studying economics at University of Rochester, but he loved old time music. I looked at him a bit quizzically and said, "old time?"…. He responded, yeah, like Black Sabbath! They left with a "blessing"…
Customers enthusiastically try out instruments while Overhand Sam Snyder juggles guitars in the background
With the help of Kurt Johnson, we were able to get a group of pedal steel guitars, working, playing, photographed, and sold!
The Antique Inn…. In the 50 years we’ve been coming down to the Finger Lakes, we often past this quaint restaurant on Route 54A. For some reason, we just never stopped there, but last week Julie and I decided to give it a try. The food was very good but the people who waited on us were amazed that we had never stopped there before. When we left, I gave it some thought it said, "I think we never stopped there because the name "Antique Inn" suggested it was for old people. But now that I’m old, I think I can go there and enjoy it!
So much young energy and love.
THIS DAWG IS NO PUPPY!
April 3, 2023
Good morning folks,
After a wild, three days at the store, Julie and I decided to spend a quiet Sunday in Penn Yan, and then attended a concert which was about an hour and a half from home in the town of Geneseo, NY. We have been patiently waiting for the Sam Grisman Project to come to our area. This exciting new band is fronted by the bass playing son of legendary mandolinist, David Grisman as well as highly qualified talent including locally connected musicians, Aaron Lipp, Chris English and Ric Robertson. Of course, Aaron is from Naples, NY and we go back a ways. He’s always packing a guitar or banjo that he got from our shop. He’s a mighty fine multi-instrumentalist and I’m glad he and Sam were able to hook up and I’m glad to call him my friend. Percussionist, Chris English is a graduate of Rochester’s School of the Arts, which is not too far from the store.
Now I had never met Sammy but I remember when he was born. David called me and he said he had a little kid and his name is Sammy. I just happened to have an old Gibson mandolin at the time I believe it was an A-50. Someone had beautifully engraved a silver plaque an added to the peghead. It read "SAMMY”. Well, Dave said he had to have it and I sent it off to him. When he got it, he called with a quite disappointing voice. He say, "this mandolin sounds like crap". I said "well, it’s an A-50 from the 50s, they all sound like crap!". We had a laugh over it, but he did send it back. I forget whatever happened to "Sammy", but it is out there somewhere!
The concert itself was the second night in a row held at the beautifully restored Riverra Theater. The crowd was a mixture of old and young, deadheads, music hounds and LOTS of our family. Julie got tickets for her brothers and their wives and our daughter, Kara and her husband Mike and we all convened on the town of Geneseo. The performance put on by these young gentleman was nothing less than stellar. It has been a long timeI since I have seen musicians approaching their craft with such excitement and verve. The exchange had most of the crowd standing and dancing in the front line for the entire 3-1/2 hour show. They easily moved from psychedelic rock to pure, microphone only, acoustic and approached each with the same intensity. And to add a bit of icing on the cake, they called up our old friend Richie Stearns to accompany them with his mystifying banjo and tenor guitar playing. They closed out with calling up another local Max Flansburg….and the promised they crowd they will be back. So much love and music for one evening…I could barely contain myself. It tied the knot between old time music and rock and roll….they are now one and the same to me.
Sincerely,
John Bernunzio
John’s Corner, a work in progress. Looks like I’m getting ready for a flood!
Ben Proctor’s Saturday afternoon beginner’s jam session is just a gem. The age range spanned about 70 years as did the ability levels! Everyone left with a little bit of "grace".
A photo op after the concert with Julie, her brothers and Steve and Ed and their wives, Tammy and Lin along with Richie Stearns and “Sammy”