Thursday NEVAH Happens Fast Enough for Me!

My Favorite day of the week is Thursday. Why? Thursday is NEVAH band practice day. Now, Wednesday used to be my favorite day of the week, but then we moved band practice from Wednesday to Thursday so you can see why I dumped Wednesday for another day.

So, the question that must be running through your mind is, "how can a Thursday practice be sooooo much fun?" Well, thank you for asking, allow me to tell you.

1) This group of NEVAH Men are first and foremost terrific people. That alone makes it a pleasure to get together. Not saying we all stand around singing kum-baya, we don't, we all are respectful and courteous and, okay so occasionally kum-baya is sung, but we chose a difficult key and no one is allowed to use a capo, especially the flute.

2) We all appreciate the skills each member brings to the table and it seems that each person has the ability to listen and creatively assist with each and every song we chose to perform. Whether it be an original tune, which I am excited to say that originals are starting to appear on a regular basis and are being added to our repertoire, or something from our past, many times an obscure, yet amazing song folks haven't heard for a while. The funny part is, we all know the songs, in several keys.

Nevah - a Maine Band

3) We have a tremendous amount of "music and performance" experience between all the guys and it comes out during these rehearsals. And it's embraced, discussed, dissected then reassembled to fit the NEVAH style.

4) Everyone participates, volunteers to undertake various aspects of the NEVAH growing process, whether it be acting as a liaison to the Bangor Daily News or touching base with an event organizer such as our Champion for the Cure Challenge, or talking to the folks at the Pelletier Loggers Family Restaurant for our show on the 16th of July or coordinating load in and set-up times for our gig at the Eddington Bicentennial in Comins hall on Friday July 22nd.

Eddington Bicentennial Poster

5) We seem to get a little better each time we play. It might only be a minute improvement or slight change in one "number" but it makes al the difference to me. And it makes the NEVAH experience rewarding.

6) We drink! And I must add that it's not just beer, all though beer does appear at just about each practice session, especially large bottles from the Penobscot Bay Brewery located in Winterport, sometimes its a lovely Chardonnay,  or a Margarita or G&T or dirty Martini (my favorite made with Maine's own Twenty2 Vodka). Every week the beverage menu changes, and is always a welcome surprise.

Penobscot Bay Brewery Beer

Twenty2 Vodka
Made in Maine

Hopefully I've made my point. Oh, and I just remembered one other thing, we have family members and other folks drop by on occasion to sit and listen.

I love Thursdays!

Hal Meyers
(the Nevah Banjo Guy)