May 26, 2025 - DECORATION DAY: MAY 26, 2025
Saturday was the 28th birthday of my youngest child Grace Estelle Bernunzio having a kid at age 50 was a miracle, I think
Rochester‘s finest, John Dady performs at the Hall of Fame "sponsors" night at the Auditorium Theater’s "Cathedral Room"
John, from The Big Mamou Woodworks shows us this incredible bench made with of local wood an interesting type of joinery that requires no nails and no glue. Just a perfect fit.
Leisure time at Steuben Brewery
Julie in the garden…she’s my favorite tomato!
Save the date! Our event: My Guitar Life with Steve Greene is Saturday, June 14th at 10AM…. Call the store if you want to be put on the list.
This "family" of 1930s Bacon and Day Sultana’s came into the store the other day….original tenor, plectrum, and five string…so rare!
DECORATION DAY: MAY 26, 2025
May 26th, 2025
Greetings folks,
Julie and I packed in quite a bit these past seven days and we are taking a few days off to recover. In fact, we will have had six days off in a row together…something we haven’t done in a long time. On Tuesday we ventured to Rochester to an event put on by the Rochester Music Hall of Fame to honor their sponsors. We ran into few old friends and made some new ones AND got to spend a little time with John Dady, which is always so good for my soul. Then on Wednesday, we ambled over to Danny Deutsche’s venerable establishment, Abilene, to see our new friend Diego Geraci, and his band, the Don Diego Trio, playing with our friend Mark Gamsjager of the Lustre Kings. Diego is from the town of Caltanissetta, which is in Sicily and is near the town where my father was born. In fact, it is the sister city of Rochester. They were joined on stage with our friends Brian Williams, Bobby Henrie and Todd Bradley. It was certainly a night to remember.
Each night was followed with a dinner at a fine quality Rochester establishment. The first night was at REDD and the second at one of our old-time favorites, Rocco’s on Monroe Avenue. We got back to Penn Yan on Thursday night and intended to burrow in for a few days but of course Bobby Henrie and the Goners were playing at Steuben Brewery so we had to venture out to the other side of the lake to see them. Hopefully today will be a quiet Memorial Day at home watching the parade and planting the garden. I’ll be venturing to the store this Thursday, Friday and Saturday so stop by and say hello.
Something that’s been going through my head lately: that for every memorial for a person who is honored for serving their country and dying in battle…..there is most likely another person on the other side of the world who is probably killed in the same battle….. is someone memorializing them?
At any rate, I worry about the glorification of war in any of its forms….
SO I SHARE THIS EVERY MEMORIAL DAY
Today in America we pause and reflect on Memorial or "Decoration" Day. It is a federal holiday for remembering the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces. It is said to have begun in nearby Waterloo, NY. which claims to be the founding place of the holiday. In popular culture it is the beginning of summertime, celebrated with picnics, barbecues beer and beaches. The solemness is often overlooked as the intention is to reflect upon those who gave their life in service of their country. Every town has a parade and there is a lot of patriotism, flag waving and fireworks, but we can never fully comprehend the suffering that this ultimate sacrifice bestows upon the families left behind after losing a loved one in war. When I was in High School we read a poem by Wilfred Owen, a 25 year old English infantryman who lost his life in WWI. It had a profound effect upon me. The poem is now over 100 years old and theme of the devastation of war is more appropriate than ever.
Dulce et Decorum Est
- Wilfred Owen1893 – 1918
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime...
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.
The store will be closed today in honor of Memorial Day but of course the online store is open around the clock. Lots of new and interesting vintage instruments have come in this week so check our new this week. Every day we get calls with interesting instruments for sale. Bernunzio’s has become the place to trust for buying and selling vintage instruments at a fair price. These are exciting times for vintage instrument e
With peace,
John Bernunzio
Rochester All Stars including Jimmie Highsmith and John Dady Erin Futterer and Ross Falzone.
The Don Diego Trio with Diego Geraci and Mark Gamsjager….
Bobby Henrie and the Goner’s with Todd Bradley and Brian Williams at Steuben Brewery
The bar at restaurant REDD