August 11, 2005 - What's music got to do with it?The Suffolk Times • August 11, 2005 • I 3
What's music got to do with it?
SCANNING WHAT wAs doing in the
Community section of The Suffolk
Times, my eye caught the coating at-
traction of the Banjo Rascals. I always
enjoy the distinctive clear tones of the
banjo, so I thought it might be worth
exploring. I asked Barbara what she
thought and her reply was "Sounds
good to me." So we made plans to go
to the Horton Point Lighthouse to
hear the concert
brought to town
FOCUS by the Southold
ON Historical Soci-
ety.
NATURE So you might
ask, "What do
by Paul the Banjo Ras -
Stoutenburgh cals have to do
with Focus on
Nature ?" Well,
nothing I guess, but bear with me,
for I'm sure "Nature" will show up
sooner or later. When we pulled up to
the usual parking area, we were sur-
prised to see cars parked everywhere.
We circled and tried this side and that
but there was just no place to park.
Finally, in desperation, I pulled up to
• place I'm sure would not pass as
• parking spot, but nevertheless we of
parked and got out with our folding to
chairs and headed toward the light- w
house, where we found a comfortable,
shaded spot under a weather - beaten m
black cherry tree. pl
It was loaded with its future berries, th
now green. These berries will eventu- "T
ally ripen and turn almost black and d
have a glossy sheen to them. They d
are sour to the taste but nevertheless sw,
good jelly can be made from them, ha
provided you use enough sugar. Cher- I'v
ry wood burns well, as I can vouch a t
for. We use a lot of it in our wood- C
stove during the winter and
it's an ideal wood for smok-
ing fish, eels, venison, etc.
We once had three huge pondered
cherry trees down by the over the
old irrigation pond, but, I'm
sorry to say, there is only future of
one left. Disease has taken our nathfe
the other two. Even today
the top of the remaining
old cherry tree is dying out.
Other, smaller, black cher-
ries are going the same way.
I wonder if it's going to be
like the disaster that took all
our native chestnuts and elms, and to ar
some extent our dogwoods and hem- th
locks. There doesn't seem to be any
way to prevent foreign diseases from sit
sneaking in and doing their destruc- pa
tive work. jo
There's a whole list of invasive to
plants that are moving in and pushing wi
out our native flora. I even see the tall on
purple -pink plant called loosestrife m
being sold in our garden centers. It's a
wicked invader, and once let loose in wa
our native freshwater wedands, soon th
takes over, eliminating the native spe- we
cies. is t
Two of the more common large butterflies that drift through our area are the
black and the yellow swallowtails. I can't emphasize enough how much but-
terfly bushes enhance the garden and at the same time act as calling cards
for butterflies of all sorts.
And so I pondered over the future
our native black cherry as 1lis-
ned to the Banjo Rascals. My, they
we good. There were lots of old -
tune songs that brought back fond
emories of days gone by. As they
eyed "Let Me Hold You Through
e Night," with the lilting words
ake the ribbon from your hair," a
arcing black swallowtail butterfly
nfled by. I've also seen the yellow
allowtail just recently, but as yet I
ha, seen any monarch butterflies.
e been told that the monarchs took
errible beating this past winter.
Co rain, loss of habitat and an ex-
tremely difficult migration
have cut the population of
this handsome orange -and-
black butterfly to almost
nothing. Wouldn't it be a
shame to lose these colorful
bits of joy from our reper-
toire of wonders?
Then, of course, there
were the little cabbage but-
terflies that always seem
to be able to show up on a
regular basis. When my but-
terfly bushes can't seem to
attract the regulars, there
e always a few of these small whites
at give me hope.
It was nice to see all the people
ting around, each in their own
rticular type of fold -up chair, en-
ying the music, hand clapping and
e tapping. There was even a man
th his little son who rolled around
the ground together, enjoying the
usic and each other.
Horton's Point, where the concert
s being held, sort of juts out from
e long, sweeping beach to the
st. What gives it this distinction
he great number of rocks found
re that seem to catch the littoral
it of sand. The rocks I could see
ow reminded me that each win -
this spot can always be counted
to come up with a pair or more
harlequin ducks, one of the most
tutiful sea ducks we have. What
ags them to this location each
it is unknown. What we do know
hat it is not unusual to find these
buck cherry
as I listened
to the Banjo
Rascals.
Catch
Paul Stoutenburgh
every week in
TIMES /REVIEW
NEWSPAPERS.
harlequin spots. For example, out at
Montauk on the north side of the
park there's a point where you are
almost guaranteed to see this hand-
some duck swimming around the
rocks and in the surf there. The rea-
son we know about these harlequin
spots is that last winter we e- mailed
a man in Newfoundland who was
studying the harlequin duck. He sent
us a map showing us the various
'1
spots on Long Island where these
ducks can be seen. Small world.
My thoughts were broken by the
banjos' rendition of "It's a Sin to
Tell a Lie," followed by that banjo -
picking catchy tune "Dueling Ban-
jos," from the movie "Deliverance,"
which starred Burt Reynolds.
Swallows dipped over the lawn
and seemed to enjoy the music, for
they kept coming back to swoop in
and pick up their meal. How graceful
they are, sometimes dipping right in
front of us, other times working over
the parked cars, which seemed to be
a favorite place to dip and fly as they
snatched insects out of the air.
Time with the Banjo Rascals was
running out and as people started to
move away, a string of herring gulls
passed by, catching the thermals
that this high cliff location provided.
Were they heading for a rendezvous
where they'd spend the night, or
could it be that somehow word was
passed along that Fish were breaking
and it was time to take advantage of
the feeding orgy that would provide
easy picking for the gulls. I'd never
know, but my guess was that the fish
breaking somehow told the gulls to
hurry along, for feeding frenzies last
but a short time.
Slowly the parking areas emptied.
I'm sure that many, like myselL went
away carrying one of their favorite
tunes tucked away in the back of
their mind — and that special tune
just won't go away... "Take the rib-
bon from your hair..."
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