July 27, 2018

By Paul Mack

On Friday July 24, 2018 the East Bay Banjo Club performed at St. John Vianney Church in Walnut Creek for their Senior Social Luncheon. We were in the beautiful Monsignor William J. Mullen Commons. The church is named after St. John Vianney (1786-1859) who is the patron saint of parish priests. Bud Pearce was the patron saint of this playout as he was the musical director, master of ceremonies and set up the sound system!

We had eighteen musicians and singers: Kit Nelson, Ardie Jarrett, Paul Mack, Slavka Ruzicka, Jan Ruzicka, Clyde Dedmon, Dina Melamed, Rich Combs, Don Granberg, Bud Pearce, Chris Lardge, Bob Ehrhorn, Red Higgins, Tom Brunetti, Doug Johnson, Larry Risner, Garry Kerr and Terry Horner.

Just before we started, it was announced that a member of the audience was celebrating her 90^th birthday.  We played and sang “Happy Birthday” to honor her.  As lunch was being served we began our program with Bob singing “San Francisco Bay Blues”. We also performed two instrumentals: “Missouri Waltz” and “Darkness on the Delta.” As we continued our playing more and more people were singing along, and several people were dancing in the aisles. We took a short break while the church announcer told a funny story involving his driving, his wife and a cop who pulled him over. We played a few more songs and Kit sang “Happy Days Are Here Again” as our closing number. After the show we were graciously offered lunch, which we all enjoyed.

Fortunately, this event was video taped by Adrian D’Souza of St. John Vianney Church. Thanks Adrian! Click here to view!