SHLOMO PESTCOE  שלמה פּסטקאָ

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³ Banjo Roots: From Africa to the New World ³

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³ The Akonting: A West African Ancestor of the Banjo ³

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The Fatal Dance

or

An Adventure of Bob Guida, "The Singing Undertaker"

(The Eagle was quite the hub of traditional music back in the day: on Monday nights, you had an Irish trad music seisiun which brought out some of the "past masters," like the late great Sligo-style fiddler Andy McGann and melodeon player Tom Doherty; on Wednesday nights, there was a ceili featuring Irish set dancing; on Thursday nights, the aforementioned old-time session; Friday nights, Irish trad music concerts; and Saturday nights, old-time and bluegrass concerts.)

On any given weekend, you could expect to find square dances with live music, pickin' parties, "busking" (street playing) sessions, jams in Washington Square Park and more. There were Appalachian clog/flatfoot dance classes offered by Sharon Leahy and Pat Cannon for which local old-time musicians provided the musical accompaniment. And come the summer, the late great Doug Tuchman ran the annual old-time and bluegrass contest at the South Street Seaport, long before its development into a tourist hotspot and shopping mall.

It was during this period that we organized ourselves into the Old-Time Musicians & Callers Cooperative to promote  traditional music and dance. One of the OTMCC's main projects was a weekly dance to live music on Friday evenings at the McBurney "Y" on 23rd Street. We alternated between Southern-style old-time square dancing and New England contra dancing.

Back in '85, we had a big square dance and contra dance festival at the McBurney. Now the McBurney is a fine old building which was definitely showing its age that sweltering June night as about a hundred or so dancers crammed into its small stuffy auditorium. There was no AC, so we jacked open the windows and ran a handful of floor fans, all to little or no effect. Still, the music was great and everybody was having a big ol' time.

The last dance session of the night was contra dancing with musical accompaniment provided by an all-star band led by master fiddler Bill Christopherson. Sitting in on bass was Bob Guida.

Now for those of you who don't know him, Bob Guida is a king-sized, jovial, Italian American gentleman from Queens who is one of NYC's finest performers of pre-blues, early blues, and sanctified songs from the African American tradition. Dubbed "The Pavarotti of the Blues," he's best known for work in The Otis Brothers, his long-standing duo with his childhood friend, Pat Conte. Bob's passion is playing music and singing, however, by trade, he's a mortician who now runs his family's funeral home in Corona, Queens.

Well, the last dance of the session was a waltz. Bob smiled contentedly as he plucked his bass and watched the couples glide across the floor to the band's music. One couple, in particular, caught his eye. The gent was remarkably tall in comparison to his petite partner. As he watched them "trip the light fantastic," Bob noticed the guy's face changing color. He began to wobble a bit, and, then, bam! The tall guy was down for the count.

Immediately, the place was sheer pandemonium as some folks were frantically trying to revive the fallen dancer with CPR while others were running to phone 911. As everyone watched the ensuing tragedy unfold in horror, Bob just sadly shook his head. He was heard to softly mutter:

"Damn! Even on my night off I can't get away from work!"

³ The Akonting: A West African Ancestor of the Banjo ³

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Last modified: 06/28/08