MENU
***UPDATE PAGE***
UPDATE (7/12/00)
Due to folks wanting to find my wife on the net
here are some key words:
Mina
Wing - If anyone is trying to locate my wife
please contact bgriff@snowcrest.net
Mina Wing -Port Orford Highschool graduate
Mina Wing - PUC University - Angwin, CA
Mina Wing - Glendale Adventist Hospital - Glendale, CA
Mina Wing - Palo Cedro SDA Church - Palo Cedro, CA
Mina Wing - Crescent City, CA
Thanks, Bernie Griff - bgriff@snowcrest.net
of Redding, CA
Much has happened in the last few months. Namely, my wife Mina and I
have sold our home in the San Geronimo Valley in Marin County,
California and many of the church folks from the San Anselmo SDA Church
(includin Pastor Ernie) have come over to help and including Mina's
sister Mary and husband Richard...what a blessing! We moved to Redding,
California in early August. I had months before arranged a flight to
"Resort Sit" with Highschool buddies (Wayne Hihschool of Wayne,
NJ...Class of '54) at Ambergris Caye Island which is off the coast of
Belize in Central america. Brian Beun our stalwart clasmate had
arranged this adventure and classmates were flying in from San
Diego (Clint Bradley and Bob Powell) and Albuquerque, New Mexico (Bill
"Pat" Quinn). I was flying out of San Francisco to join up with Clint
and Bob at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. Brian had flown in from
Boulder, Colorado. It proved to be quite some adventure as I set up a
Mini-Recording at the Capricorn Resort at Ambergris Caye Island and had
by the end of the 12 days there written 4 new songs for my next and
upcoming CD album: HANGIN' LOOSE WITH THE MONGOOSE.
UPDATE (2001-2005) For the last almost 5 years I opened for business a
commercial Recording studio called TealMoon Recording Studio and met
many songwriters/musicians/bands/vocalists and at times teamed up with
Eddie Miller at his EM Productions Studio. My Recording studio was and
still is a 16 track Digital recording Studio set up to handle various
kinds of projects (including my own). I have had Narrators of stories
demos for sending out to various music houses and commercials including
one I had to MP3 up to a studio in Portland, Oregon. It's been a
terrific ride with many fine folks I have met at TealMoon Studio. The
studio was desined by Bill Staek Recording Engineer at Mike's Music and
sound. Bill did an outstanding job and had a vey effective design
produced for TealMoon Recording Studio. One of the ourstanding CDs
produced here was THE TOURIST by Suze and Garrett Sorensen who now hail
from Indiana where they recently moved.During this period I finished
the first version of HANGIN LOOSE WITH THE MONGOOSE and THEY ALSO RODE
TO WARN albums. In the works is: Part II of THEY ALSO RODE TO
WARN included 8 new Riders who rode to warn for the 13 Colonies. I will
be putting the finishing touches on that album in the near future. I
finished writing the songs for the upcoming alum: THE TRAINS OF MARIN
COUNTY but time for rcording this album will e yet a while.
I wrote songs for several Singles including: ELLIS ISLAND (A
song
about my Grandmother who emigrated from Angry, Italy), MY MOM WAS A
ROSIE THE RIVETER ( A song about my Mom and WWII effort), THE RED TAIL
ANGELS ( A song about the Black Pilots of WWII with the encouragement
of one of the Tuskeege Airmen Pilots,Col. Warren, James C. The Freeman
Field Mutiny: A Tuskegee Airmen's Story. Vacaville, CA, Conyers, 1996.
213 p. Book call no.: 940.5403 W289f . THE OLD BARN
MILK
BAR ( A
song to help save a 300 year old historic Dutch Barn in my hometown of
Wayne, New Jersey), A MIRACLE MILE AWAY (A song for my Grand Daughter
Ellery), and the last song I wrote in 2005 was: IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME
DOWN IN DIXIE for the folks in Lousiana, Alabama, Mississippi and
Florida. I hope to get Merle Haggard to sing that one for them and send
down some funds to help those folks. We have to keep them in our hearts
and prayers - they need so much down below the Mason-Dixon Line.
During the last two years of 2005, I learned to play the Pedal Steel
Guitar and get some three-finger pickin' on the 5-string banjo. These
delights I applied for George Rogers a fine songwriter in the Redding
area and debuted at the Post Office Saloon playing with him in July
2005. I am also playing at my church (the Palo Cedro SDA Church) with
out Pastor Ron Mellor's Bluegrass Gospel Band - a super fine group of
musicians and vocalists. It's such a joy to be a part of this praise to
the Lord. My mentors on the Pedal Steel have been mostly Randy Pierce
and Ray Jensen along with 3 fine Video Instruction tapes and listening
to some of the greats like Jerry Bryd, Paul Franklin, Buddy Emmons, Hal
Rugg, Alvino Rey, Buddy Cage, Jerry Garcia, Wally Moyers and Bobby
Black to mention a few.
With my G4 Mac packed with lots of Ram and Audio programs and Photoshop
and Discus 3 a Pro Label Program, I have been doing a lot of graphics
for CDs and have produced CDs for Roberta, George Rogers, many Bands,
Suze and Garrett's THE TOURIST (with Garrett's help!) and of course,
for my own albums. Jon Adams has helped me with some of his fabulous
art from his indomitable pen! Say Jon how about some help with my next
project? I need a mongoose playing the guitar and showing a "Hang
Loose" sign! Jon Adams, where are you?
UPDATE 2006 - This year I get to visit my latest
grand
daughter - "Gracie". It's February now and I'm writing a song for
Gracie! It's like a song from the 40's to complimen her name. "I
Haven't Seen You Yet Gracie" will be recorded this month. Thank you so
much for your patience dear Laura and Steve! hey live in Vacaville,
California about 2.5 hours south of Redding. I forgot to mention I
reconnectd with two old friends...Steve McCarty (who wrote "Wild
Mountain Honey" for the Steve Miller Band) and Redmond O'Connell (who
is a fine folk Singer from Lancashire, England. Redmond is a world
Class Crier of a high magnitude!) More to come soon.
NEW
UPDATE (2/23/98)
Mark
Masarek (Fiddle playing friend) and I went up North
slightly to
Sebastopol to a Song Swap of the CMN (Children's Music Network). I sang
a couple of songs - one from my new CD: "West Ho! & Songs of
the
West" - a ballad of Jim Bowie and his Bowie Knife. There were
songwriters/performers/storytellers/recording
artists/ there that sang out some fine songs - Nancy Schlimmel, Lisa
Atkinson,
Joann Hamil, Patricia, Bonnie, Jim Corbett, Kate Munson, and I can't
remember
the bass player's name and about three or four others. We all had a
great
time and some of these folks came from a distance - Boston, Long
Island,
San Mateo, Oakland, Berkeley, San Rafael, San Geronimo.
Mark
Masarek, Loretta Samet, and myself went over to The West
Marin
School at Point Reyes Station recently and put on a program called:
"WEST
HO!" for a 4th-5th grade class. It was a lot of fun and the teacher
Frances Frazier asked me to accompany her while her class sang a song
they
were practicing for a school program of theirs. They were great! We
sang
some familiar songs with the class like "Clementine", "Sweet
Betsy From Pike" and "Santy Anno". Then we sang 6 songs from
my new CD: "WEST HO! & SONGS OF THE WEST", and ended with
"The Dale Evans/Roy Rogers song "Happy Trails". Mark also
played some Fiddle tunes to which the kids had a ball dancing to and
included"
"Devil's Dream", "Sailor's Hornpipe" and "Turkey
In The Straw". Mark has this neat ability to include all kinds of
"sound
Effects" with his Fiddle which included" Oxen wailing, ships creaking,
freeway cars, sirens, echoes, trains and cows mooing. We are going to
continue
our school concerts on the "West Ho!" and also will include an
"Environmental" theme called"Future Green". That's it
for now. bg
NEW
UPDATE (JUNE 26, 1999)
Recently
the Rhythm Ryders sang at Sun Valley School and did
a "Sea-going"
program from album - "The Ecology Sea In Song & Ballad".
Students
were from Kg to 1st grade and what a fine audience of kids and
teachers.
They had song booklets of the Eco Sea and sang along on some of the
songs
with us. Those kids were on the ball and knew a lot about marine
biology.
They had some great questions! Their teacher Barbara Nordstrum had used
the songs when she was teaching in Oregon, she told us. What a fine day
and fun for all! Thanks a lot Sun Valley Elementary! Bernie Griff
This
Folk
Music Web Ring site
is owned by Bernie Griff.