Quite a story behind today's post. Actually quite a bunch of stories, and they're all good! But what else would you expect on St. Patrick's Day?
Ah, where to begin? Well, let's start with the fact that our little hometown of Johnson, Vermont was blessed for many years by Mr. Beard's presence in it. He ran the local hardware store for decades and recently passed away at a ripe old age, but not before selling the building to Danielle and her partner Ernie, who re-opened it as The Hub, a really amazing pizza, beer and wine club with live music. That's the first story.
The second one is about our neighbors who live across the street from us for the last 10 years, the Clarks. Well Gary and Laura's son Roland has grown up to be, at the ripe old age of 11 or so, an outstanding violin player. Roland has already toured with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, sat in with nationally known bluegrass bands at Higher Ground, as well as with anybody else who happens to be playing around Lamoille County.
Gotta sneak a third story in here. When Veronique and I got married back in 2002, we had our reception at the Governor's Mansion in Hyde Park. And we hired the Mud City Ramblers to play. It turned out to be their first wedding gig, at least that what they told me tonight, as they kicked off the festivities at The Hub! No matter, I love first times!
Anyway, Roland sat in with them tonight and did really well, filling the joint with friends and family as well as rapt "first-timers". Then Gary joined him on stage for some extended duets of traditional Irish music, which was music to my Irish ears. Ahhh.... meanwhile pizzas were getting thrown, pints were getting pulled and the standing-room-only crowd was having a ball.
To top things off, a bunch of Johnson State College music students took the stage with their very own James Brown tribute act, replete with an array of horns and positively electrified the house!
Veronique and I managed to squeeze off a few "rolls" of "film" - we actually took over 500 photos! Luckily we didn't pop off a single flash, so nobody seemed to mind us taking pictures too much. How do we do it? Here are our 20 faves...
