Seventy Per Cent Chance It Won't Rain For Good Brothers

SITTING IN THE MISTY MORNING LIGHT - SOUTH MUSKOKA IS COOLING DOWN

     AFTER DOING THE MORNING RITUALS, GETTING READY TO PUT IN ANOTHER DAY IN THE ANTIQUE SHOP, AND SETTING OUT THE PROVISIONS FOR THE NEW SHIFT, I SNUCK A FEW "ME" MOMENTS, AND ADMITTEDLY, DIDN'T ANSWER SUZANNE'S CALLS.....KNOWING FULL WELLL THIS MOMENT OF SOLITUDE WOULD BE LOST TO THE BUSTLE OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD, IN A MATTER OF A FEW MINUTES MORE. SO I WAS DISLOYAL TO SUZANNE, AND FOUND A LAWNCHAIR INSTEAD, TO ENJOY ONE OF THE RARE MOMENTS AROUND HERE, SO SPECIAL THIS TIME OF THE YEAR. SILENCE FOR ONE THING, AND A MIST OVER THE MOOR, THE OTHER.
     FOR ABOUT TEN PERFECT MINUTES, I SAT OUT ON THE LAWN, ONLY A FEW METRES FROM THE BOG, AND ENJOYED BEING CONSUMED BY THE COOL, SHIFTING MIST, COMING FROM THE LOWLAND. ACTUALLY, IT'S SENTIMENTAL FOR ME, BECAUSE IT'S HOW I USED TO GO TO SCHOOL IN THE AUTUMN AND SPRING MORNINGS, WHEN I LIVED IN BURLINGTON, ONTARIO. IT WAS SO NEAT TO HEAR THE FOG HORNS OF THE FREIGHTERS OUT ON LAKE ONTARIO, AND FEEL THE MYSTERY ATTACHED TO FOGGY DAYS GENERALLY. HERE THEN, MINUS THE FOGHORNS, WAS A BEAUTIFUL, DRIFTING MIST, ABOUT TWENTY FEET HIGH, WITH TRACES OF SUNLIGHT COMING THROUGH THE VAPOR IN A MOST ENCHANTING WAY. IT WAS SO NICE AND QUIET, AND SOOTHING. WHAT A GREAT WAY TO START THE DAY. I COULD HEAR THE NEIGHBORHOOD KIDS LIFTING THE GARAGE DOORS TO FREE-UP THEIR BIKES AND SKATE-BOARDS.
     WITHIN MINUTES, THE LATE-FOR-WORK CROWD WAS DRIVING FAST UP THE LANE, AND IT DIDN'T TAKE MANY VEHICLES BEFORE THE WIND THEY RAISED, HAD CHANGED THE DIRECTION OF THE MIST, BACK OVER THE BOG, AND THROUGH THE PINE AND BIRCH FOREST ON THE OTHER SIDE. SUZANNE WASN'T PLEASED I HADN'T CALLED BACK, EVEN IF I HAD WANTED A WEE RESPITE FROM THE MORNING CHORES. "I THOUGHT YOU'D HAD A HEART ATTACK, YOU OLD FART!"
     I DIDN'T HAVE A HEART ATTACK. SHE WORRIES TOO MUCH ANYWAY. I HAD TEN MINUTES TO RE-CONNECT TO MY OWN SLICE OF WALDEN, HERE IN GRAVENHURST, AND IT WAS LOVELY. I LIKE ANTIQUES, BUT I LIKE THE BOG, AND ALL ITS ATTRIBUTES, BETTER.


LOOKING FORWARD TO "THE GOOD BROTHERS," THIS SUNDAY, ON THE BARGE

THIRTY PERCENT CHANCE OF RAIN - IT'S BETTER ODDS THAN A HUNDRED PERCENT

     A FEW YEARS AGO, WE TOOK OUT A BOOTH AT THE BRACEBRIDGE ANTIQUE SHOW, SO THAT SON ANDREW COULD PROMOTE HIS VINTAGE GUITARS AND ACCESSORIES. HE WAS JUST STARTING IN THE VINTAGE MUSIC BUSINESS, AND HE NEEDED EXPERIENCE IN RETAIL AND EXPOSURE IN THE ANTIQUE AND COLLECTIBLE MARKETPLACE. SUZANNE AND I BOTH LEARNED THE BUSINESS BY IMMERSION. IT WAS BRUTAL AT TIMES, BUT ALTOGETHER NECESSARY. YOU CAN ONLY LEARN SO MUCH IN THE CLASSROOM. SO ANDREW GOT A LITTLE BOOT-CAMP INTRODUCTION, TO RUNNING HIS OWN RETAIL SHOW.
     IT WAS GOOD EXPERIENCE, IF BEING IGNORED, WAS PART OF THE LEARNING CURVE, BECAUSE FOR THREE DAYS THIS IS WHAT IT WAS LIKE. IT'S NOT TO SAY HE DIDN'T HAVE PEOPLE THROUGH THE BOOTH, AND SEVERAL WHO FOLLOWED UP, WEEKS LATER, WITH PHONE INQUIRIES ABOUT PIECES THEY HAD SEEN AT THE SHOW. BUT GENERALLY, WE CAUGHT EVERYONE OFF GUARD BECAUSE IT WASN'T WHAT THEY HAD PAID THEIR ADMISSION TO SEE AFTER ALL. SOME FOLKS TURNED THEIR NOSES UP, AS IF WE WERE SO OUT OF PLACE, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A VIOLATION OF THE ANTIQUE ACT. OTHERS MUMBLED ABOUT THE "NERVE OF THOSE PEOPLE," AND I WASN'T AT ALL SURE WHETHER THE SHOW PROMOTERS WERE BEING BLAMED, FOR INCLUDING US, OR THEY WERE NATTERING ABOUT OUR RURAL ATTIRE OR COUNTRY DRAWL. I DIDN'T REALLY CARE ABOUT THIS, OTHER THAN ANDREW GETTING SOME TRAINING IN FRONT-LINE SALES, AND THE MEET AND GREET SITUATION THAT IS EVEN TOUGH ON THE VETERANS OF THE INDUSTRY. THE PUBLIC CAN BE HUGELY DEMANDING WHEN THE URGE TO BE DIFFICULT STRIKES. I HAVE ANGER MANAGEMENT ISSUES SO I NEVER VOLUNTEER FOR FRONT LINE SERVICE. I GUESS I'M A HYPOCRITE THEN, WHEN I REMIND ANDREW AND ROBERT TO BE CALM AND EVEN AT THE SALES' DESK.
     THE INTERESTING ADD-ON HERE, IS THAT WE BROKE SHOW TRADITION, BY HAVING MUSIC IN OUR BOOTH. IF YOU'VE BEEN TO THE AVERAGE ANTIQUE SHOW, SILENCE, APPARENTLY, IS THE PREFERRED SOUND. WELL, WE TURNED THE DEALERS ON THEIR HEADS, AS HALF THE SHOW LIKED THE SOUND, THE OTHER HALF WENT INTO ORBIT, AS IT APPARENTLY VIOLATED THE STATUS QUO OF SELLING, AND DISTRACTING THE CLIENTS. I THINK QUITE A FEW LIKED THE SOUND, AND ACTUALLY CAME TO ASK ABOUT THE CD WE WERE PLAYING.

The Good Brothers at the Antique Show

     The three day antique show, was held on the weekend, The Good Brothers were playing The Barge, at Rotary Gull Lake Park, as part of the summer series of concerts, held on Sunday nights, June to August. As both Andrew and youngest son Robert, were helping Barge Manager Fred Schulz, as sound and lighting technicians, and were also huge Good Brothers fans, we decided to buck the antique show trend. As the group was appearing at the end of the antique show, we thought it would be neat to present a large selection of Good Brothers album covers, from their vintage vinyl collection, as a promotion for the Sunday concert. We wondered if it was possible to attract some local antique hunters, to attend the evening concert. Is it possible that from the antique audience, we could find a few who knew the group's milestone songs? We helped a little, with a small stereo system, tucked under one of the display tables.
     What we hadn't expected, but thought would be neat if it did happen, was that many patrons of the show, stopped to look at the concert notice, and the album covers on the six foot tall board, planted with considerable visibility, at the edge of our booth. Even visitors who stopped to read the board, and sing along with the Good Brothers CD, didn't actually come into Andrew's booth. I heard quite a few of these people talking about times and events when they had been at one of their performance, in Southern Ontario, and how much they liked their music. Even people who grumbled about vintage guitars, being out of place at an antique show, were asking each other about the possibility of attending the Concert on the Barge, on that particular Sunday night. We were totally impressed by this, and Andrew talked to several dozen customers who had stories to share, about meeting the brothers, many years earlier, and how glad they were, the group was still performing. Other vendors at the show, came over to our booth, asking us to increase the volume, and insisting we tell them the name of the group......presumably so they could buy the same one to enjoy as we were, on those three hot days trying to sell old guitars and sound equipment.
     At the end of the show, I had to hustle Andrew and Robert, with a van full of music collectibles, back to Gravenhurst, to help with the concert set-up. It was a hot, hot night, and Suzanne and I had to make two more trips back and forth to Bracebridge, to empty the booth. I was never so tired in my life, as that night, hunkered down in my lakeside lawnchair, to watch what, as usual, was a great show in the company of Canadian music legends. It had been quite a weekend, but what we learned from the experience, was that vintage guitars don't sell well at antique shows. But on the other hand, antique loving folks, have a lot of respect for The Good Brothers, and it may have been the first time in history, their music was played during an antique show.....and business seemed to be brisk for many vendors that whole weekend.
     The joy for Andrew, in particular, is that, at a get-together later in the evening, The Good Brothers gather for some food and refreshments, as our thanks for them returning to Gravenhurst to play. They always have a short jam session, and Andrew has been asked to join them, and for him, it's like being invited to play at Massey Hall, with some of the finest musicians in the land. And they are! He wouldn't miss the event for the world. He was so worried, on that antique Sunday, that he wasn't going to make the concert on time.....and by "time" he meant the "technical set-up," which is actually the few moments before the concert, he gets to exchange the yearly music news with the Good Brothers and their associate musicians. Both of our lads enjoy this event, and the get-together later, and this goes back more than a decade now, I believe. Believe me, in their vintage music industry today, located on the main street of Gravenhurst, you can't go more than a few days, before in general conversation, one of the lads will bring up their happy days in company of The Good Brothers.......as a bragging right. In companion with this, of course, they will tell customers that they work side by side Fred Schulz, also a legend in his own time, for the entertainment he has brought to our town over the more than forty years he's been involved in the concert series.
     All of our family is looking forward to seeing The Good Brothers in concert, once again, at beautiful Gull Lake Park. The chance of rain? I'm betting on Fred, and his prayers, to blow away those clouds for the time frame of that concert.....just like he's been doing all season. Well except one. The threat of a severe thunder storm is too great a risk to try to weather, with a large crowd.....that would be tough to exit safely in the event of a sudden storm. We missed the Muskoka Concert Band, conducted by Neil Barlow, but we did get to see some of the members, the next week, in the Bifocals Band, also under the leadership of Mr. Barlow. We can weather a drizzle, and even a short-lived downpour, but not a thunderstorm. The good news is, there are no thunderstorms in the vicinity for Sunday. So bring an umbrella and some rain gear just in case, that 30 percent risk, bumps up to one hundred percent over Gull Lake. This is the last concert of the summer series, so the determination is pretty strong, to make this another perfect Muskoka night, to welcome, once again, The Good Brothers to our town.
     The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. It is advisable to get there early, for a good place to sit. Thanks for joining today's blog. Please visit again soon.