Music

“Good Music is good, no matter what kind of music it is” Miles Davis.
Twenty years ago, a pig farmer from Illnois, called Puerco, organized a music festival “FOR Musicians BY Musicians”. He called it the San Pancho Music Festival, hosting it in his backyard.
We got involved in year two, after meeting a cat called Geno who played music around town. I was in bed,one night reading, when I heard my husband’s voice coming thru a microphone next door. I thought he had popped out on the patio for a smoke.
I threw jeans over my jammie-bottoms, walked next door to find my guy and Geno singing a duet in front of a crowd. What in the Hell? I plopped down, got a limonada and listened to the boys playing some fun tunes.
Geno asked me to step up to sing. My throat sunk to my stomach. I hadn’t sung out loud in a long time. Flipping thru Geno’s songbook, I picked “Desperado” had him count me in, let ‘er rip, in a shy twirl my curl kind of way, hands in pockets, eyes on the front of my nose, instead of caressing the crowd. I finished to a lovely round of applause. It felt good. Really good. I had been with Bob for two years and he hadn’t a clue I could sing.
Geno mentioned the festival to us. The following week we strolled over to Puerco’s back yard to check out the scene, in that slinky nonchalant way musicians do. (I copied Bob!!!)
There were peeps setting up all over the place. Puerco’s wife Patricia, who I knew, was onstage playing her keyboards. I jumped up to say HI.
She asked if I sang. I Boldly said: YES!
She asked what I wanted to sing? I shrugged. She pulled out Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” and said: let’s play this. (What was I thinking?????)
We did. I sang it with heart, beautifully, strong, in tune, in tempo. It caught everyone’s attention.
Puerco looked over at Bob exclaiming: I didn’t know your gal could sing. Bob said: Neither Did I.
That very afternoon a guitar player from the Bayou,” Ronnie Ray from the other LA”, and a mandolin player named Blaine, BBQ Bob and I, stepped on stage to form the first version of Frida’s Eyebrow. We had so much goddamned fun playing together, that it was contagious.
That festival was a new beginning for Bob’s and my friendship. Not only did we have art, but now we had music. BBQ has shaped me into a musician, and given me a gift that I could not have found anywhere else.
Over the years, Frida’s Eyebrow has included: Peter Razza, Brent Barsotti, Chaz Eller, Julie and Will Caldwell, The Musician formerly known as Dave, Rick Kahn, Hank Fieger, Ronnie Ray, Blaine and various cameos. The music comes out of whoever gather’s together in our living room to make a Joyful Noise.
The San Pancho Festival has grown and morphed into a world class event, from the days in Puerco’s back yard. Frida’s eyebrow has played throughout. (That is until Covid Put a cork in it for a bit.
We have had some glorious moments performing, where the band and the audience were so in sync, it felt like a Love Fest, and for that we will keep practicing scales, learning new tunes that are relatable and funny and poetic to our goofy sense of reality.