Some people have suggested that I post my story on the message boards. And, that I do it periodically in chapters. They say it will be easier to read. If I do this. I wrote two very long introductions. The first one is for people who are not Kingston Trio fans. You have to remember that the Trio began over 60 years ago. Lots of “generations” have gone by since then. So, there aren’t that many people who have ever heard of The Kingston Trio. So, I had to explain who they were. When I began to do this, my ADHD got the best of me and I went off on another track. I wrote a special introduction for Kingston Trio fans. What I’m writing is not a story about the Trio. But, it greatly involves the Trio. So, I wanted to explain why I’m doing what I’m doing. I’m leaving out the Introductions, and I’m jumping right into the story in this posting.
My goal is to have a movie made of what I’m writing. I want the movie to be one of those kinds of movies that is streamed on one of the internet movie channels like HBO, and Apple TV that has numerous episodes that could be a series and go on for years like “The Godfather,” “Back To The Future,” or maybe even “Star Trek.” I know that this is wishful thinking on my part―to the extreme, but why the heck not? I’ve always thought big.
Writing a movie script is very hard work. I know … because I’ve tried it a few times. If you’re serious about it, you have to use one of the popular software programs to do it because screenplays are written in a format that’s been used for many years. I tried this once and it’s a giant pain in the fanny to learn how to use the software, and then, use it. Right now, for me, it’s more trouble than it’s worth. What I want to do is tell the story that starts everything off to see if what I have in mind is any good, and to find out if it’s going to work.
So, what I’ve decided to do, first, is write a script for a podcast. I’ve never listened to a podcast … the kind of podcasts that are like what radio soap opera used to be like. Does anyone remember them? My grandmother used to listen to one called “Our Gal Sunday.” Also, I’ve never written a podcast. I haven’t a clue … how to write one. But, I’m not letting this get in my way. I just started writing. What the heck, I figure.
I’m thinking movie in anything that I write that’s fiction. This is because I’m a movie guy. Not a novel guy. Novels are way too much work. I don’t have the skills or the talent for writing a novel. I’m terrible at writing descriptions. Except, I intend to try to write one because I think I have a pretty good story idea for one.
So, when I’m writing … I’m thinking movie, and when I do this, I decide what actors I want to play the parts in the movie I’m writing for. In the story that you’re about to read, there are two protagonists. One is a grandfather, and the other one is his granddaughter. So, I’m thinking that Kris Kristofferson should play the grandfather, and Brandi Carlile should play his granddaughter.
We know that Bob Shane and Kristofferson knew each other. Bob told about it in the introduction to this song.





I’m thinking that Brandi Carlile should play Kris’ granddaughter. Here she is doing a song you might like.





Kris and Brandi have worked together.





Brandi has her own group, called “The Highway Women. They’re a female version of “The Highwaymen” … The group with Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings. Check this out.







So, here goes….tell me what you think of what I’m writing….
1959
By
Max H. Schwartz
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved
BOOK ONE
CHAPTER ONE
Brandi’s Class
SCENE 1


Explanation From the Writer and the story’s Narrator (There’s nothing wrong with “killing two birds with one stone.”)

I could spend the next hour telling you about writers copying other writers’ work. Pablo Picasso’s most famous quote is, “Good artists copy; great artists steal.” So, in my mind, I’m stealing from the start of the movie, “The Pelican Brief.” After some introductory stuff, and the part where the Supreme Court justices are murdered you see Julia Roberts playing a law school student, in a Constitutional Law class, and the guy she’s sleeping with is her teacher. My movie starts with a college girl and her uncle in a college class that Brandi’s teaching.
The movie starts out with something like the classroom in “The Pelican Brief,” only it starts with a big helicopter view of a college campus, and while you see the campus, credits are rolling, and a song of some sort is playing. Figuring out what song to play isn’t going to be easy. I have no idea what it will be. At some point you see a girl’s college dormitory with coeds going in it. Then, you see the college girl in her dormitory room. She’s about to go out the door to a class when she gets a call on her cell phone. She’s seen with a guitar on her shoulders. It’s one of those canvas guitar bags that’s a shoulder pack. It’s her uncle Bill who’s calling her. He’s well over 50. Her name is … Peggy. Peggy looks at her phone, and she see’s who’s calling her.

Peggy
“Hi Uncle Bill … I was just heading out for a class.”
Uncle Bill
“Peggy, I just happened to be in the neighborhood, and I was wondering if you’d like for me to take you to lunch. I’m parked in the parking lot in front of your dorm.”
Peggy
“I have a class that I have to go to. Why don’t you go with me to my class, and we can go for lunch after it? Do you have enough time?”
Uncle Bill
“I have plenty of time, but I don’t know about going with you to your class.”
Peggy
“Oh, you’ll love it … it’s the music class I told you about.”
Uncle Bill
“That does sound interesting … OK. I’ll meet you in front of your dorm.”
Narrator
You see Peggy and her uncle walking to the building where her class is held, and you see them going into the building. The classroom is a big auditorium. It has all of the technical gizmos. There’s a big video screen up on the wall that everyone can see. Peggy and her uncle find a seat in one of the first few rows, and they sit down, and watch the rest of the students coming into the class.
Uncle Bill
“Peggy, tell me again how this class works. I remember some of what you told me about this class, but tell me about it again.”
Peggy
“This class is all about how each period of our country’s history has its own songs. The class is part history, and part music. The teacher’s grandfather started the class many years ago. When he retired, his granddaughter took over the class. He used to bring records to class and play them. He also brought his guitar and played some of the songs and sang them. His granddaughter does this too. Students who play guitars bring them to class, and sometimes they join in the singing. Instead of playing records like her grandfather used to do, she shows videos of songs on Youtube.”
Uncle Bill
“I remember your telling me some of this when we got together at your parents’ house for Easter.”
Peggy
“She usually has something to say at the start of each class. Her brother was a super nerd who has his own software company. He created software for her that has all the videos on it from YouTube and songs in it, and the stories behind them. This is all on the internet. Students can access it all on their cell phones and their i-pads. After she says whatever she has to say at the start of the class, she calls out the name of a student, and the student hits a button on his cell phone, and the software picks a song to discuss. The student is in the ‘hot seat’ until she moves on to another student. It’s all a lot of fun. Only about half the students who come to the class are actually enrolled in it. Some students come to the class for the fun of it, but they aren’t allowed to join in any of the discussion. Everyone else has been in the class before, and they come for the fun of it.”

Explanation From the Writer and the story’s Narrator
Next, there’s what goes on in the class. Here’s where you first get to know the teacher, Brandi. There’s an incident of sorts that involves a student that comes in late for class. He has a guitar with him. It’s an old Ovation. I want to spend a lot of time on writing what happens in the class. But, not now. I’m thinking that the song that will be discussed will be the Kingston Trio song, M.T.A. I think it has great relevance today because of the problems we’re having with our economy following the Pandemic.

I want to jump to a very important scene that is really the start of the story. At the end of the class, students are seen leaving the classroom. Peggy’s uncle asks her if she still wants to get a banjo. She says she does. Her uncle says he’ll pay for it. She says that’s fine, but she doesn’t know what kind of banjo to get. Her uncle says he doesn’t know anything about banjos, and suggests that they get her teacher’s advice on this. So, they do. Here’s what Brandi says.
Brandi
“Students ask me all the time what banjo they should get. I have three suggestions. The first one is get a Deering Goodtime banjo. You can get them used for about $500. They’re very basic. They’re light weight and easy to carry. Next, I suggest a better Deering. You can get a nice used one for about $1,200. Next are all of the old banjos. You can get a good one for under $1,500. Sometimes $1,000. It all depends on the brand and the condition.“
Uncle Bill
“Which do you suggest if money is not a factor? (With a wink) Nothing’s too good for my niece.”
Brandi
“First, I’d look on the internet and see what’s for sale. Sometimes, you can find a steal. Especially on e-Bay. Many of the musical instruments that are listed on eBay are being sold by people who know nothing about them. They find them in their parent’s attics, or at a yard sale and they sell them for much less than they’re worth because they don’t know any better. So, let’s take a look at what’s on eBay.”
Narrator
Brandi goes over to the laptop that she has on her desk and types in e-bay. Then, banjos, and some banjos pop up.
Brandi
“Oh my!!!” Wow !!!”
Uncle Bill
“Did you find something good?”
Brandi
“I sure did. But, it’s not the kind of banjo Peggy would want. It’s an old tenor 4-string banjo from the 1920s. It’s a Bacon & Day Silver Bell. My grandfather had one just like it―only his was a plectrum. It was a very valuable banjo and it was stolen from him. It’s a long story. Plectrum banjos have longer necks than tenor banjos. Both have only four strings. Otherwise, they’re exactly the same. Thousands of them were made back in the 1920s, and 1930s. They were used for playing what was considered to be jazz back in those days. A 5-string banjo has a neck like a plectrum banjo, but it has a short 5th string.“
Narrator
Peggy’s uncle Bill looks a little bewildered.
Uncle Bill
“I see.”
Brandi
“Let me see what else there is that might work for Peggy.”
Narrator
Brandi finds a nice used Deering 5-string for $900.
Brandi
Here’s one that would work very well for Peggy. It’s a nice Deering, and it’s like new, and well worth the money.”
Narrator
Peggy looks at it, and says to her uncle:
Peggy
“It works for me, Uncle Bill.”
Narrator
He writes down the item number, finds it on his cell phone, and he clicks BUY.”
Brandi
“It will probably take a week and a half for you to get it. You’ll want to get a banjo tuner. When you get the banjo, come by my office, and I’ll show you how to tune it, and I’ll show you a few chords.”
Narrator
Peggy and her uncle are seen leaving the classroom.
Brandi is seen looking at the old tenor banjo on e-bay again. She has a very serious look on her face. Then, she takes a deep breath, and she hits the BUY button. This is where the story really begins. Brandi’s buying this banjo and what she does with it is what the story is all about.

CHAPTER 2
At Kris’ House
Narrator
About two weeks later, Brandi is seen driving her car, and parking it in the driveway of an old house. She gets out of the car and is seen carrying a new banjo case. She goes to the front door of the house, and knocks on the door. An elderly gentleman lets her in. It’s her grand father. He see’s the banjo case, and asks her if she’s bought a new banjo. She says, “No,” and she puts the banjo case down on a table, but she doesn’t open the case.
Brandi
“Grand Dad, please try not to give me too much hell over this. I know that with you it’s a very sore subject. I just want to know one thing, and I’ll leave.”
Kris
“I don’t know what you’re up to, but if it’s what I think it might be, you’ll be much better off putting that banjo back in the trunk of your car. We’ve been over this before. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. We can have a nice chat about something else. I just made a pitcher of lemonade. Do you have any idea what lemons cost now. It’s highway robbery. I got a bag of them for six dollars. They were marked down because they were getting too old. They were still good enough for lemonade. I shouldn’t have bought them, but I did.”
Brandi
“I’ll tell you what I’ll do, Grand Dad, if you answer me one question, I’ll do as you say, I’ll put the banjo in the trunk of my car and we’ll go out under your shade tree and we’ll have some of that lemonade.”
Kris
“Brandi, I know you all too well … you have too much of your mother in you, and not enough of your father. Your mother, bless her heart, was the most headstrong woman I ever knew. When your father brought her home for us to meet her, I knew that he was a gonner. He didn’t have a chance in hell of ever getting out from under the grip that she had on him. She was a good woman, for sure. But, she always seemed to get whatever she wanted. Luckily for him, it was always something that benefited both of them. But, she liked to take risks, and they had a few close calls. You’re just like her. The spiting image of her for sure. That’s what has me worried. I don’t know what you’re up to, but it scares me.”
Brandi
“Grand Dad, you don’t need to worry about me. The less you know about what I have in mind, the better off you’ll be.
I just need you to tell me one thing.”
Kris
“What’s that?”
Brandi
“I want you to look at this banjo and tell me if the pot on it, and the resonator looks like the one you had. I know that this is a tenor banjo, and yours was a plectrum. But, other than that, how close does this banjo resemble yours?”
Kris
“Kido, that would be easy enough for me to do. I knew that banjo better than I knew … well, anything else. I spent a good part of my life playing that banjo. Open up the case and let me see what it looks like so we can talk about something else.”
Narrator
Brandi opens the case and she hands the banjo to her grand father. He spends a few minutes looking it over. Then he tunes it, and he starts playing it. Brandi starts to cry. Through her tears, she says,
Brandi
“Oh Grand Dad, you sure haven’t lost your touch.”
Kris
“Maybe not, but you couldn’t give me a tenor banjo. Plectrum banjos have a voice like no other banjos. Where did you get it?”
Brandi
“I saw it on e-bay. When I got it … it was in its original hard shell case. The case was beat all to hell, and I got a new case for it.
So, tell me Grand Dad, what’s the verdict?”
Kris
“I think the pot’s exactly like my Tom Dooley banjo. Let’s take the resonator off so we can see what the inside of it looks like.”
Narrator
They take the resonator off.
Kris
“Holly Toledo Brandi !!! You’re not going to believe this. This is my banjo’s baby brother. This banjo has the next serial number after mine. So, it was made right after mine. Aside from being a tenor banjo, you couldn’t have found a banjo that would be any closer to being like mine.”
Brandi
“Holly Cow!
Sakes alive. Grand Dad, I think I might have hit the jackpot.”
Kris
“What do you mean?”
Brandi
“I’ve got a friend that’s in a bluegrass band. He’s their banjo player. He told me that there’s a guy in a little town in Kentucky that’s about an hour from Nashville who makes counterfeit Gibson Mastertone 5-string banjo necks. People get old Gibson tenor and plectrum banjos, and he makes new 5-string necks for them. He can age them so they look original, or he can make them look like new. The experts can’t tell the difference between the ones he makes and the ones that Gibson made. He has access to some woods that are better than the ones Gibson used to make their banjos, and some of the best bluegrass banjo players rather play banjos with his necks on them … than Gibson’s. My friend told me that a while back, this guy made a banjo that was exactly like a very valuable banjo that was stolen by a collector so that the owner could exchange it for his without the collector knowing about it. But, as it turned out, the collector was the rightful owner of the banjo, and the guy who hired him to make the forgery was the thief. The collector found out about what was about to happen and was able to have the thief arrested. The guy who made the forgery worked with the police to catch the thief. This got him a lot of publicity and he began to get orders for his necks from all over the world.”
Kris
“So, what do you have in mind?”
Brandi
Word on the street is … this guy will lend his talents to a good cause. You know that the most valuable banjos are now owned by Japanese collectors. They’ve hired him to do repairs for them. Supposedly, he’s made counterfeit banjos for some of them so that they can display them and keep the real ones locked away where they’re safe.”
Kris
“I think I know what you’re up to. Have you talked to him about making a plectrum neck for this banjo?”
Brandi
“Not exactly.”
Kris
“What have you done?”
Brandi
“Nothing yet. Besides buying this banjo. Before I called him, I wanted to find out if the pot and the resonator on this banjo are like yours.”

Kris
“I see. Well, you don’t need to get a new neck for it. I haven’t played a banjo in years. I appreciate your getting it for me. But, I really don’t need it. I’d rather you just give it back to whoever you got it from, and get your money back. I don’t need a banjo anymore.”
Brandi
“You don’t understand Grand Dad. I didn’t get this banjo for you.”
Kris
“You didn’t? Oh, I see … you got it for yourself. That’s OK. I know you’ll have a lot of fun with it. I sure had plenty of fun with mine.”
Brandi
“No, Grand Dad, I didn’t get it for me.”
Kris
“Then … who did you get it for?”
Brandi
“I got it for that dirty rotten bastard that stole your banjo from you. I’m going to switch them at this years Tom Dooley Festival !!!”
Kris
“Brandi, that’s insane!”
If you’re caught … you’ll go to prison
Those people in North Carolina might string you up like they did Tom Dooley!
Brandi … forget that idea. It’s not worth the risk. You need to leave well enough alone. I don’t need that banjo anymore.”
Brandi
“Well Grand Dad … I do.
It belongs in our family.
I’m sure that Bob Shane would want you to get it back.
You were one of his best friends.
He gave you that banjo.
You were a part of The Kingston Trio.
You were their first road manager.
That banjo was responsible for making this country what it became back in the 1960s. It became a country that had people that cared about important things. I want to put that banjo back to work. It’s badly needed.”
Kris
“Brandi … I hear what you’re saying, but what you’re thinking isn’t possible.
Times are different now. People are different now. People don’t value music like they once did. It’s no longer a part of their lives the way it was when I was young. Back then, listening to music on the radio was a really big part of peoples’ lives. People use to sit and listen to records for hours. They do all of their listening on their cell phones now.
Besides, how are you going to be able to switch this banjo for my Tom Dooley banjo at the festival? They have security at these festivals now. You can’t get back stage without a pass.”
Brandi
“I’m going to form a folk group and have it compete in the contest. That will get me back stage during the festival. When no one’s looking, I’ll switch the banjos. It shouldn’t be too difficult to do.”
Kris
“I don’t know how you think you can pull that off.”
Brandi
“I’ve recruited an accomplice. He’s going to help me do it”
Kris
“Who’s that?”
Brandi
“You don’t want to know. He’s a good friend of yours. He told me not to tell you that he’s going to help me. He has a stake in this too.”
Kris
“Does your accomplice know that the two of you might end up being cell mates?”
Brandi
“He wants to do it as badly as I do.”
Kris
“Why’s that?”
Brandi
“Grand Dad, the less you know about this … the better off you’ll be.”
Nothing is going to happen until I can do two things.
First, I’ve got to get that guy in Kentucky to build a plectrum neck for the banjo that will be exactly like the one that’s on the Tom Dooley banjo. Then, I have to put together a folk group that can win two other major folk festival contests. Those are the requirements for being allowed to enter the Tom Dooley Folk Festival Contest. Being able to win two other contests has me more worried than anything else. I might need your help with that.”
Kris
“Brandi … first things first. If you can’t get a new neck made for that banjo that looks exactly like my banjo, you won’t need to have a folk group. It will take some kind of miracle for you to pull that off. So, just give the banjo back to whoever you bought it from, and get your money back. And, forget that my banjo ever existed. That’s what I did.”
Brandi
“We need to go to Kentucky as soon as possible.”
Kris
“What’s this “We” stuff? I don’t want any part of your crazy idea.”
Brandi
“You know the neck of that banjo better than anyone. You once told me that no two banjos are really ever alike. Since they’re all hand made. Also, you said that no two pieces of wood are ever alike, even if they came from the same slab of wood. The grain is a little different in every cut of wood. The grain of the wood on the neck makes one banjo sound one way, and another banjo sound another way.”

Kris
“Every banjo player knows that. Dave Guard had two Vega Pete Seeger long neck banjos. He got the second one a few months after he got his first one. He wanted to have a back-up banjo back stage in case he broke a string during a concert. His second banjo would never stay in tune. I had to tune it several times during the shows. There was something about the neck on that banjo that wasn’t right. They looked exactly alike. It had to be something in the wood. We could never figure it out.”
Brandi
“That’s why I need you to go with me to Kentucky to get a new neck made for this banjo. You’re the only one who will know if the banjo I bought will be any good with a new plectrum neck.”
Kris
“When did you come up with that idea?”
Brandi
“About two minutes ago.”
Kris
“Brandi … I’m too old to go to prison.”
Brandi
“Don’t worry Grand Dad … I know a good lawyer.”
Kris
“Who’s that?”
Brandi
“You know who as well as I do … your girl friend.”
Kris
“Oh … Mary Jo
Have you told her about your insane plan?”
Brandi
“Of course not … you know what she’d say.”
Kris
“I figured as much. I think the best thing for us to do right now will be for us to go out on the back porch and drink some lemonade. Maybe it will make you come to your senses.”

*****