Dec. 4, 2023 - MY LIFE AS A NON MUSICIAN
Sam Snyder is now the man in charge. He has been running the show for quite some time and is really developing a great crew that is keeping up Bernunzio Uptown Music. Sam has been in the music business for over half his life. He wears many hats but the one he wears at Bernunzio‘s is most important.
"Sen" Neitz has worked for us on and off over the past fifteen years. He has decided to create a new career path for himself. He gave us his two week notice. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors. We will really miss his height in the store….he always had a far reaching impact!!
We had a visit this week from old time customer employee, and friend, Billy Petito. Billy is teaching music in the Westchester County in a very well funded school program. When I asked him how his career was going, he said he’s pursuing finding a job in a school that has more "needs". Billy taught in the Rochester City School District for quite some time and made a real impact at the School of the Arts. He told me that he would rather work with kids, who have real needs rather than those who have real credit cards, and “suffer” from severe affluency! I am so proud to call him a friend.
My daughter-in-law, Taylor and my son, Jay, and their family made the trip down to Star-Shine to visit us on Saturday. Julie cooked up a party for everyone and it was our first BIG open house. No visit to Penn Yan would be complete without a trip to the Keuka Candy Emporium.
The line wrapped around the counter and out the store to check out and pay for the candy that the kids selected so we waited outside. We thought it was going to take my son Jay about 45 minutes to go through the line. He suddenly appeared with a big smile on his face and a bag of candy under his arms. I asked him how he got out so quickly and he said, "Simple, I just went to the front of the line and told a young kid that I would pay for all of his candy if he let me buy mine at the same time". I don’t know where he learn these tricks…may be from his old man.
Rocco-John and I trekked down to the StarShine festival in downtown Penn Yan on my trusty new Great Gatsby mobility cart
My way into work gives me the opportunity to pass by this iconic motel on RT 5 and 20 just outside of Canandaigua, NY. My in-laws Henry and Barbara spent their wedding night/honeymoon here seventy years ago, before he left for the service in Germany in the mid 1950s. Perhaps I’ll take Julie there for our anniversary!
MY LIFE AS A NON MUSICIAN
December 4th, 2023
Hello Folks,
I always wanted to be a musician. When I was in elementary school, I played the trumpet and I was the lead in our small school orchestra. I was even called on to perform a solo….but sadly when high school started, I had no intention of carrying my trumpet on the bus all the way across town. Other things took priority, football and Latin and girls. It wasn’t until I was 23 and got a banjo, that the "musician bug" hit me once again. Unfortunately it just was not to be. It wasn’t because of lack of trying or practice or opportunity. I just wasn’t very good, and I never wanted to embarrass myself by entering a jam or a group of folks who could see that I couldn’t really keep time. Well, I do occasionally take home a banjo and there’s always a mandolin tucked under the sofa and a few ukuleles under Julie’s desk, oh and a drawer full of ocarinas. So now, the truth is out, and instead of being a musician, John Bernunzio became a musical instrument dealer. For nearly 50 years, I have hobnobbed with great musicians and sold instruments all over the world and I think it’s at my fate to continue to do this until I am no longer upright. So Bernunzio Uptown Music continues to evolve and we continue to buy and sell great vintage instruments. The recent shipment of unbelievable S. S. Stewart presentation banjos, which I’m am still cataloguing, has just given us all the more reason stay excited about our business journey.
I have really tried to stay out of the controversy of current events around the world. What has happened in the Middle East, has divided us further from finding any kind of common ground as human beings. I worry about us as a species and I really worry for the world my grandchildren will inherit. That any people can be filled with such hatred to commit such tragic and heinous acts…… taking the lives of so many innocent people, is beyond my consciousness and the ability to process. I have but one thought: The seeds of hatred, zealotry and fanaticism do not grow very well in even modestly, contented communities. It really requires the "soil" of poverty and the "fertilizer" of abject loss of opportunity, in order to breed the current situation. Today we have a world that spends much, much more on weapons than it does on relieving substandard living conditions around the globe. Just over sixty years ago John F. Kennedy signed an order creating the Peace Corps. Perhaps that vision disappeared with an assassin’s bullet. That may just be scratching the surface of the problem. I welcome your thoughts.
Best Regards,
John Bernunzio
On Friday, we had a pop-up store from our friend, Luke Cornwell of OneTone Sonic Alchemy. He hosted a demonstration and jam session of a variety of specialty state-of-the-art sound healing instruments including gongs, singing bowls, handpan and more.They set up all of their wares and we had loads of customers come in and trying out all sorts of beautiful instruments.
The commute to Rochester certainly has an upside, and that is the lovely views at every turn.
I took this picture through the car window but some day I’m going to have enough time to get out and actually walk around and view this old, family cemetery outside of Rushville, New York.
Our winter sale continues through the end of the month. We have gotten off to a great start and we appreciate all of your support. Check our website and click the sale button to find what instruments are we put on sale. There are some great great deals…. See all of the sale items here: https://bernunzio.com/sale/