January 17, 2015

By:  Diane Malucelli
Photos by:  Bob Nelson

We were invited back to the Masonic Lodge in Oakland for their annual crab feed.  We played on a raised stage in a nice, large room on the third floor. There were around 100 people attending and most of them responded to the music when they were not eating their crabs.  We played on the stage, so we had lots of equipment in addition to the 17 banjo and bass players up there.  Guy Black played the bass and Terry Horner played the gut bucket.  Jack Convery was our lead banjo player and we played a wide variety of fun, toe tapping favorites.  Betty David, Bob Ehrhorn, Don Granberg, Karen Hefter, Deb Hodson, Ardie Jarrett, Garry Kerr, Chris Lardge, Bob Malucelli, Diane Malucelli, Linda Myers, Phil Myers, Kit Nelson, and Bud Pearce were the rest of the banjo players present that night.

Jack had us each choose songs to play and Bob, Don, Deb, Chris, Kit, Terry and Bud sang many of the songs.  One of the guests, Suzi Phillips, came on stage and sang “You Are My Sunshine.”   (Suzi is the daughter of past Masonic Master Joe Bettencourt.)  Bud then sang “If You Knew Suzie” for her.  At the end of the evening, we played “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Deb led a parade through the audience with her banjo and she was accompanied by Don and Terry with their washboards.  The audience had fun, we had fun, and it was a successful playout.