International Jazz Banjo Newsletter

The Pittsburgh Banjo Club tears it up at the North Side Elks Club.
A couple dozen folks, mostly men and mostly grey-haired, with banjos. A couple of horns. A tuba manned by a gent approaching 90. No cover charge. And $1.25 Yuengling drafts. These are the facts of banjo night—held each Wednesday at the Elks Club Lodge on Cedar Avenue. But it's something intangibly cool that makes banjo club the finest weeknight out that Pittsburgh has to offer.
Witness the two broads sitting at the end of the bar. Salt & pepper hair with vim & vigor to match. “We don’t drink,” crowed Broad One to the bartender sipping her rose wine. “I mean we don’t gamble!”
As banjos plucked in the background, the broads go t mouthier. “This is the royal wave,” Broad Two belted across the bar to her banjo pals. “This is the North Side wave,” and pointed manicured middle finger skyward.
They are but two broads in a sea of broads. These gals party like its 1959. No hip club on the South Side imbues such moxy, wit and charm. After the official practice concluded, a handful of musicians moved to an upright piano near the bar. An impromptu jam session began, delivering an uptempo rendition of “Crazy.”
For fear of being too earnest (which, in Dish's case, amounts to being earnest at all), Dish nevertheless insists that you, dear reader, get off your duff next Wednesday, head to the Elks (next to the Giant Eagle on Cedar) and take in the banjo club songbook, grab a ham barbecue ($3) and revel in the fine fellowship of banjo-worship. Throw five bucks into the 50/50 raffle, hear a Pitt professor/banjo player, sing the Tennessee Waltz in Japanese. Marvel at the synchronized vocalizing of pre-pubescent brothers Nico and Enzo. Meet Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's grandparents. And join in Dish's campaign to get actor/comedian/banjomaster Steve Martin to visit and play along with the gang. Good times.
As a wise man once said, "There's no such thing as a sad banjo song."

Article taken from the "Pittsburgh Dish" , submitted to IJBN by Frank Rossi.