I originally posted this to David's Facbook page after he transitioned to the next world...
It's time for me to tell on David...
I first met David in 1974 when we were taking classical guitar lessons from the same instructor. Unlike David, I had a more difficult time with classical guitar (my fingers were WAY too big). Because of my lack of ability I put down the guitar and joined Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. There I took up the banjo, and learned the old-time mountain style called frailing.
It was my time playing banjo that David and I connected musically, founding a folk quartet called Seasons Greetings consisting of David (guitar), Barbara (Jennrich) Lazar (vocals), Pamela Ainslie (vocals), and myself (banjo). Unfortunately there are no known recordings of us performing.
During this time David was also a member of Unity Bluegrass Band where he played mandolin. I ended up joining Unity Bluegrass later when David's brother Steve decided to leave the group. The negotiation for my joining the band went like this:
David: "Adrian, do you want to learn string bass?"
Adrian: "Sure."
David: "Okay, you're in the band."
(That may not be how it actually happened, but that is how I remember it and I'm sticking to it)
I learned string bass and we went on to turn professional, performing all over Illinois and Wisconsin, and a tour of the Great Plaines and during that time the band purchased a bus to travel and sleep/camp in. That in itself could be the subject of several more stories but I will only go into one here.
David would be quick to volunteer that his 'CB handle' was "Kentucky Stump Jumper". (For those of you who don't know what a 'CB handle' is, during the 70's there was a fad where people would have Citizens Band Radios in their car so they could warn each other of speed traps, the location of police cars and talk to each other while traveling. Your 'CB handle' was the name you adopted to identify yourself on the radio.)
After gigs we would check into a campground and sleep in the bus (which was why we bought it). One morning we were getting ready to leave the campground while David Bragman (banjo) was still sleeping. We were assigned sleeping in the bus with David Bragman in one of the top bunks. That morning it was David Neidig's turn to drive. He got into the driver's seat, started the bus (it did actually start that morning) and began navigating our way out of the campground. There were a lot of tight turns but David maneuvered them quite successfully until he got to the tree stump with his name on it.
Next thing we know the bus lifts up on the right side, so high I was afraid we were going to tip over as it scared everyone else on the bus, David included. But what truly made the event spectacular was David Bragman FLYING off the top bunk like a gymnast. We scored David Bragman's landing as a 1; there was NO finesse to it! Luckily the bus did return to normal after going over the rest of the stump.
The end result of this near disaster was that David Neidig could boast to having earned the name "KENTUCKY STUMP JUMPER".
David, I love you.
Here are a couple of clips from our time together with Unity Bluegrass Band
He's Here, a song that David wrote
https://www.unitybluegrass.com/.../UBB%20-%20He%27s...
Stoney River, featuring David's guitar solo
https://www.unitybluegrass.com/.../08-UBB-Stoney_River.mp3
Rawhide, a song that featured David's mandolin
https://www.unitybluegrass.com/.../202.../04-UBB-Rawhide.mp3
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