Taking What You Can Get: Balancing Banjo and Life

Music Along the River, Aug. 12-13, in Harpersfield, Ohio, proved to be a fun time. However, it turned out to be my only opportunity to play old-time music with others this month. Parking challenges canceled out one event and a scheduling conflict eliminated another. 

As I mentioned in my previous post, August was a busy month. There was the aforementioned Music Along the River, the Raccoon County Music Festival in Burton, Ohio, as well as a new jam in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood that offered ample opportunities to play banjo and fiddle with other likeminded folks. 

On Saturday, Aug. 13, I drove north to the site of the Harpersfield Covered Bridge, which has been removed and will be rehabilitated as part of a construction project approved earlier this year that is estimated to cost more than $6 million and be completed by Dec. 31, 2023. 

In past years, Music Along the River (or MATR, as it's affectionately referred to by festivalgoers) spans both sides of the Grand River, with the historic covered bridge serving as a go-between from camping sites, a performance pavilion and jam circles. After being canceled during the pandemic and in light of the missing bridge, the event was a bit more subdued this year. 

I enjoyed a performance by MATR-of-Fact, an old-time band featuring Bill Braun on guitar, Joel Specht on banjo and Mike Giordano on fiddle. Then, the trio welcomed other musicians into the circle for a jam. A family event cut my time short, but it was great to play tunes in a group for the first time since attending the Lake Erie Folk Festival earlier this year.

The following Wednesday, I was hoping to attend a new jam in Cleveland. The information I received indicated there was a parking lot behind the venue, as well as ample street parking. However, when I arrived, I found the parking situation to be an insurmountable challenge. 

It was a busy night in Ohio City, with a Cleveland Guardians game just over the bridge and pleasant weather to be out and about in the vibrant neighborhood, and I could not find street parking within a three-block radius after circling several times. While I did find the parking lot mentioned behind the venue, the available spots were near signs posted indicating that I needed a permit. Perhaps that wasn't actually the case at that time of day, but it made me uncomfortable to park there without knowing for sure. After driving around the congested area for 20 minutes, I became frustrated and headed back home. Hopefully, the event was a success, and I can attend in the future. 

Finally, last Saturday, Aug. 20, was the Raccoon County Music Festival, long heralded as one of my all-time favorite local festivals. Unfortunately, this year's event coincided with PorchRokr, an annual music festival in my own neighborhood in Akron. Without realizing the conflicting date, we agreed to allow bands to play on our porch, so I was homebound that day and had to miss Raccoon County this year. 

After running had taken up a lot of my time earlier this summer, I've been finding a little more time to play music in August. Sometimes you just have to take what you can get. I've been reminding myself that many of the legendary old-time musicians of the past, set down their instruments for many years to work and raise families before picking up their instruments later in life. Luckily, things aren't so extreme in my case. I'm happy to find more of a balance these days between music and life's rich pageant.