May is here! The magnolia tree in our backyard set forth beautiful blossoms, ephemeral as music and already fallen to the ground.  But gardens are being planted, spring flowers are showing their colored faces, and the grass is turning spring green.  And music is blooming! 

April – Open Mics and Art All Night!

It was great to try out a few tunes with Nadine and Nathan Douds at the Thursday open mic at  Steamworks Creative.  This is a new collaboration for me, and it’s so fun to work with such pros.  We’ll be back there for a full show on May 31, but I’m getting ahead of myself — more on that below!

April is the month for the annual Art All Night free and open art show, which went from 4pm Saturday April 26 to 2pm Sunday April 27 at the warehouse at 929 Beaver Ave.  It was great to be back organizing the acoustic “Coffeehouse Stage”, and experience the circus that is the biggest popup event of any kind — art or otherwise — that you are ever likely to see!  If you’d like to see many of the musicians who played that night, check out the pictures and videos on Facebook!  With the help of sound techs Will Snavely and Richard Montest, we ran that stage for all but six of the 22 hours that is Art All Night!

Music is Blossoming in May!

Two big gigs to kick off the addition of a new collaboration with Nadine and Nathan Douds!

On Saturday May 10, the three of us will be playing from 11:45am to 12:15pm at the Friendship Flower and Folk Festival at Baum Grove in Friendship!  Bring a chair to sit in the grassy amphitheatre and listen to music from 11am to 4pm.  Grab a hotdog or other snack from the vendors and buy some flowers for Mothers’ Day.  It’s a blast!

Then on Saturday May 31 at 7pm, we’ll be playing a full show at Steamworks Creative up on Route 8 in Gibsonia.   Fun, thoughtful songs and tunes in a variety of styles. I’ll do some tunes solo, Nadine will do some tunes solo, and we’ll do a few together! Nathan Douds will join on percussion and keyboard.

(Oh, and by the way, there’s a killer concert with Crys Matthews and Brad Yoder happening at SongSpace at First Unitarian in Shadyside May 10 at 7:30 pm.  Plan on going after the Friendship Flower and Folk Festival. You won’t want to miss that either!)

As always, check out brianjunkermusic.com for late breaking news and gigs.

See you out in the world!

-BJ