Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Michael Duffey from Media, Pennsylvania

Congratulations on being the GPotW! Reading this was inspiring. If you suck at recorder, that’s probably why! (Cuz you’re sposed to blow)

Congrats!!! Fascinating profile. :+1:

Congrats Michael on being selected as this weeks Gold Pick Member. An impressive CV. I too loved listening to Johnny B Goode in my youth. There was something really magical about that song that I cant explain.

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Congrats on the GPMOTW, Michael. Great to have you here!

Just a heads down, @Archie, Americans don’t use this term (CV) they say resumé. I know what a CV is because south Africans use the term, but I don’t think most others here will know it

Thanks Gunnar, every day is an education even for an old timer at 71. Who know’s from now on ALL Americans might start using the term CV it’s way shorter than writing resumé. :star_struck:

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yeah,…right after we switch to the metric system…

big%20laugh

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Not entirely true. Use of “CV” has for a long time been common in medicine, science and academia in the US. Resumé is the common term in business and other fields. The metric (CGS) system is common in all sciences, but might take centuries for the rest of USA. I hope it is millennia before metrics system invades our daily life.

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I stand corrected. Yet I believe that the metric system is superior in many ways, the chief being that it is WAY more logical/intuitive being based around the number 10. It’s simple to remember how many meters equal a kilometer, and that one liter of water is one kilogram, etc. Plus, with metric, you can legally drive 120 on open roads, which sounds faster than 75. But now I’m off topic, sorry

Coming from someone who hates the metric system, even I have to agree that it’s superior. Heck, if it weren’t for the old imperial system, we wouldn’t have lost a Mars probe several years back.

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Unless you live in MT…safe and prudent, but also, no longer. It’s only 80 now on Interstates. (Most coppers give you several over if you’re safe and prudent though!) :wink:

Nice to meet you Michael. Thank you for your work as an activity director. Do you play for the residents?

It was safe and prudent in TX too, but that was discontinued

Everyday Peg. It’s funny that all the old folk tunes and standards I used to play in my youth have come back to help with bringing out good memories with the residents. I rarely play a tune younger than 50 years old and most were written over 80 years ago. It is a blast having someone, who never speaks, sing along with a tune they remember from their youth.

Here is a question for you. I never realized that the name “Peg” was a nickname for Margaret until I met so many residents who use Peg as their nickname. Is your full name Margaret?

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That is a wonderful “Dad” joke. :+1:

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I am a Peggy, not Margaret.
Yes, many women named Margaret go by Peggy.
Once @ school the kids were calling me Margaret and saying that was .unreal name so when I came home I thanked my mom for not naming me that!
Its so great how music brings out the memories in people who have mostly lost theirs.

A few years ago, a student at a a school where I was teaching asked if music was an important subject to learn at school. The premise for this question was that the subject of music was being dropped at many schools across the country and whether music had any validity in society. Keep in mind when you see my response that the school where I taught spent much more time and money on athletics than it did on any other (all other?) subjects including academics like math and science. For example, math, science, or language classes received about 3.5 hours a week of class time, music or art received about 2.5 hours a week of class time while athletics received about 10+ hours a week of class time. No exceptions. So I put together a short video explaining what I thought of the importance of music in the life of a student and society.

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Good stuff Michael, and a great story you have!

Profound. You’re very relaxed when you play. And great bending on the strings. Who is your most influential jazz guitarist?

The three jazz guys I followed most closely were Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery and Joe Pass. Following closely are George Benson (my favorite album of his was the George Benson Cookbook), Al DiMeola (gotta love his work with Return to Forever), Herb Ellis, Tal Farlow and Barney Kessel. And who doesn’t love the fire and fury of Django Reinhardt. Still, Charlie Christian defined fluid creativity, Wes Montgomery’s solos were always fresh and story like, while Joe Pass was just a consummate master of jazz guitar.

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