Uptown Downtown

Tonight was another great musical event sponsored by my good friends John and Julie Bernunzio, at their Uptown Music store downtown on East Avenue. The two of them have been purveyors of vintage (and now also new) stringed instruments for many years now (probably 3-1/2 decades in John's case). You won't find a bigger, better collection of guitars, mandolins and banjos in this part of the country, and maybe anywhere for all I know. If you've never been, you must. You don't have to be a musician to appreciate what a gem of an establishment this store is, and what a great contribution to the City's East End it is. It's a visual extravaganza of strings and frets, with an amazingly warm glow about it.

They were only open for about a year when they decided to expand, and it now has enough breathing room to host wonderfully intimate performances by people who really know how to use frets and strings. Tonight it was Steve Piper, Maria Gillard and Scott Regan, who are collectively known as The Amazing Crandalls. Sweet folk music of the local persuasion. And they closed with Dylan's I Shall Be Released so everybody got to pitch in.

I've known John and Julie since I was a young teenager. Julie grew up on my street and was my sister Sheila's best friend. John's younger brother Tom was my very close buddy back in school days and I worked at their family's business, RanCora Bakery, for a few years. I always tell people I was a token member of the Bernunzio family, and their mom Clara was such a great cook, my mom asked me why I never came home for dinner anymore. I learned all about construction from their father Sam when the new bakery was built in Webster and they moved the business out of the city. Tom and Ginny were at the show tonight so it was great to catch up with them.

My sisters played matchmakers all those years ago and got John and Julie together. The matchmaking business can be a very slippery slope, and I remember telling them that, but luckily they did not listen to me, as this was a real success story.

One of their most famous customers, and a long time friend of theirs is David Grisman. Thanks to John and Julie I got to meet one of my all-time musical heroes:
Anytime there is music in this store it's a wonderful event. You can imagine what a hub of activity it is during the Jazz Festival. Uptown Music is Rochester's version of McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, famous for it's long tradition of live shows. Let's hope this new local tradition becomes a long one, too.