Hi Rob!

Would that be Mr. Ian Perry?

Ira Gitlin and Ken Norkin also contributed articles to BNL

If memory serves correctly, It was the amazing Flinthill Flash.
Ken

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Originally posted by chuckv97

Ira Gitlin and Ken Norkin also contributed articles to BNL

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Yes. Hub ran two or three of my tabs from a collection I sent him, a photo I took of Alan Munde when Country Gazette played the Red Fox Inn (misidentified in BNL as the Childe Harold), and a short piece I edited for John Janzegers about using wood wedges and not screwdrivers to pry tight tone rings off of rims (to avoid damaging the top of the rim). He put my name on it as a co-author. That's every appearance of mine in BNL I can remember. This was from 1975 to early 80s.

I also wrote a review of the Peters adapters that turned regular tuners into D-tuners. But since my review was about how I couldn't get them to work, Hub didn't run it. At least that's my memory.

Whoever is the mystery columnist here, it wasn't I.

Mike Bailey?

Jim Pankey with a tab of Cumberland Gap.
DanP.

Oh, I did not read close enough and was thinking of the great Hatfield column Scruggs Corner when I said Flinthill Flash.
ken

Dan Palmer got it! Jim Pankey took the reigns. As I go through these magazines, I wonder if he kept that article to himself or if it passed on to any of the other folks mentioned above?
What I find fascinating in going through all these old newsletters is how when I took up the banjo all these folks seemed immortal on stage and print, and now, I've had conversations and gotten to play music with so many of them/you. One of the newsletters from the 70s had a friend of mine, who I thought was a guitarist all this time, wind up with a detailed interview about him! He never mentioned it. I just thought he was an outstanding guitar player/builder and just a local fellow. One of the nicest and most unassuming people I ever met. He's long deceased and I miss him. It was a real surprise to see he was the subject of a two page interview about Banjos! (Scott Morgan, August 1979)

I'm sure I'll have plenty more raised eyebrows as I go through this collection. I'm only missing a few percent of every issue published. Thanks, Bob, for the two boxes of issues!

And, as I go through more issues, it looks like Beginner's Corner went through a few hosts. Ian Perry in May, Andy Cushing in June.Jim again in August, Ian again... It looks like that column got a bit de-emphasized and had a rotation of hosts when Jack Hatfield moved on, ala Jeapordy and it's host search.

90s was a period when I wasn't subscribing. Appears I let it expire in '87. Restarted around 2007. I looked today and saw who was writing the Beginner's Corner then. A name I recognize from someone still posting lessons online. Since I looked, I won't say who it is.

Ken mentioned the Flinthill Flash. After all these years, someone PLEAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZE spill the beans: who was that??????????????????????????????????

The name I saw in the 2000s was Eddie Collins.

I missed that Rob confirmed Dan was right in guessing Jim Pankey.

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Originally posted by Bart Veerman

Ken mentioned the Flinthill Flash. After all these years, someone PLEAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZE spill the beans: who was that??????????????????????????????????

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Yes!! I still smile when thinking of him. He was passionate and fun and dead on right. 

Ken

Maybe former Editor Donald Nitchie could be bribed to disclose the identity of the mysterious Mr. F. H. Flash.

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Originally posted by chuckv97

Ira Gitlin and Ken Norkin also contributed articles to BNL

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I did a lot of artist profiles and reviews, and a few tablatures, but was never a regular columnist.

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I did a lot of artist profiles and reviews, and a few tablatures, but was never a regular columnist.

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I always enjoyed your contributions immensely.

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Originally posted by Don Borchelt

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I did a lot of artist profiles and reviews, and a few tablatures, but was never a regular columnist.

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I always enjoyed your contributions immensely.

 

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Don, I loved you art work for BNL. it fit perfect! I used to have t-shirt with your banjo player on it and the BNL logo. Sure wish i could get one of their old sweatshirts again. I just wrote them to see if they had any available. Good memories of that magazine coming to my mailbox each month. Thanks for your contributions to all.

ken

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Originally posted by Tim Jumper

Maybe former Editor Donald Nitchie could be bribed to disclose the identity of the mysterious Mr. F. H. Flash.

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Don passed away quite a while ago...

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Originally posted by Bart Veerman

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Originally posted by Tim Jumper

Maybe former Editor Donald Nitchie could be bribed to disclose the identity of the mysterious Mr. F. H. Flash.

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Don passed away quite a while ago...

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Spencer died in 2021. Did Donald pass away after him?

Bart,
As a BNL contributor from '09 to its final on-line edition in '23, I was in frequent contact with Donald, and last I heard he was enjoying his retirement in good health and getting back into his poetry work. Had he passed away, it surely would have merited a mention by someone here at BHO.
As Ken suggests, you may be thinking of Spencer, whose untimely death led directly to the demise of BNL, that sorely-missed banjo institution, for which we all should be grateful to Hub, Nancy, Donald, Spencer, and the rest of clan Nitchie.

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Originally posted by Old Hickory

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Originally posted by Bart Veerman

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Originally posted by Tim Jumper

Maybe former Editor Donald Nitchie could be bribed to disclose the identity of the mysterious Mr. F. H. Flash.

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Don passed away quite a while ago...

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Spencer died in 2021. Did Donald pass away after him?

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AFAIK, Don is still among the living. Spencer, who handled the business side of the publication, died way too young from cancer.

Isn’t Sofia ? , Donald’s or is it Spencer's daughter, handling the back issues now. She posted on here a few times in the last year or two. 

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Originally posted by From Greylock to Bean Blossom

Don, I loved you art work for BNL. it fit perfect! I used to have t-shirt with your banjo player on it and the BNL logo. Sure wish i could get one of their old sweatshirts again. I just wrote them to see if they had any available. Good memories of that magazine coming to my mailbox each month. Thanks for your contributions to all.

ken

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Thank you for the kind compliment.  I drew the little Hub logo character from a photograph Hub had put on some stationary.  I didn't know that he wasn't actually bald, his head had been shaved for a minor operation.  But once the logo became "famous," he decided he had to keep shaving it so that people would recognize him at festivals and such.  He did finally give up and let it grow back after quite a few years.  The picture below is of me playing with Spencer down on Martha's Vineyard, thirty years ago.

Sophia is Donald's niece.
She took the job of curating the BNL archives after he retired.

Make that "Sofia."
(Old spelling habits die hard!)