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belgrade lakes, maine february 2020 CAMPFIRE: PINE Island’s Musical TradiTION HIGHLIGHTED ON HIT ALBUM As long as campers and counselors and women have been singing songs to- have been sitting around the campfire gether virtually every night of every one down in the cove they have been singing of Pine Island’s 118 summers is remark- songs. It would be fascinating to be able able. to hear a recording of the songs they During the past 30 years or so, in ad- were singing around 1910 and to trace dition to the traditional campfire songs the evolution of campfire songs at Pine such as “The Titanic,” “Mountain Dew,” Island over the years. No doubt some of and “Charlie and the MTA,” a new tra- the songs sung years ago would sound dition has taken root in which campers dated, some in pretty uncomfortable and staff rewrite the lyrics to popular ways, but the mere fact that boys, men, songs to make them specific to Pine Is- The Henchmen recording backing vocals at PIC parent Johnny Bregar’s studio on Bain- bridge Island, WA or practice. Since the late 1980s, in addi- tion to singing traditional and currently popular songs, Pine Islanders have writ- ten Pine Island-related lyrics to well over 30 songs. Ten of them, plus two traditional songs, make up an album now for sale with all proceeds going to the Sidney Lovett Memorial Scholarship Fund. Making CAMPFIRE: The Album happened as the result of a number of Finally! Mark Pierce’s smiling face on the stars aligning plus a lot of hard work. cover Toby Bregar, from Bainbridge Island near Seattle, was a new camper during land. This hybrid form of songwriting the summer of 2017. His tent counselor, fits well into the PIC schedule, in which Noah Brodsky, discovered that Toby creative energy tends to suddenly erupt The cover of the Campfire album, a watercolor done by Pine Islander John Alsop without a great deal of time to produce (Continued on page 2) GRAYS WIN! SCORE DECISIVE VICTORY AT NORRIDGEWOCK AFTER 9-YEAR DROUGHT by Sumner Ford Everyone’s bags were packed, and forest edge paint a scene worthy of Gen- cit in War Game experience, they were Amelia, and the kitchen crew, includ- campers hurried to bed. Exhaustion eral Washington and his continental pleasantly surprised by the stellar gate ing guest KC Natalie Burr. Rest hour from a busy evening that included the army. leading of two LTIPS (counselors-in- fell short of the promised hour, but annual mock declaration of war, the ex- At precisely 9 am, the group of 28 training), Oliver Sahlman and Chris the intermittent rain that had fallen planation of the game by Ned Bishop, alumni who compromised the 2019 Ward, each of whom had played the through the morning cleared to blue and a short campfire led to a peaceful crew of umpires blew their Fox-40 game many times as campers but had skies and beautiful weather. It was the sleep. In the morning, everyone would whistles, and the 2019 War Game com- never led a gate. Chris earned the first Gray Army’s turn to attack, and they depart for the 107th playing of the War menced. Whistles also signify that play points for the defending Gray army on a hoped to exceed the Blue Army’s im- Game. Campers fell asleep to dreams is off, and often mean that an army has gutsy bounce of his pole at South Gate, pressive score of 95 points. Both armies of York’s Crossing, the fictitious town scored. The shrill sound can be heard and his gate was stalwart throughout the prepared by sharing quiet conversations set in the pine woods of Norridgewock. around the playing site and results in period. His scouts’ sharp eyes spied par- and deep stretching routines. After the The old white pines tower into the blue moments of quiet and intense specu- ties far off in the woods, and his squad- Gray Army disappeared into the woods sky above. Years of growth leave a deep lation about what has just happened. ron was lightning quick. He picked to prepare their offensive, Blue General bed of needles. The undergrowth is The whistles sounded early, and they up the only points of the period for Noah Brodsky led his army in a rousing dense. Close to the forest floor is dark- signaled the Blue Army’s success from the Grays, leaving the score Blues-95, speech that left them ready to repel the ness and cover from the searching eyes meticulous and creative attacks. They Grays-8. Gray attacks. of scouts. The campsite is perfect. Fresh seemed to score at will and frequently After 2½ hours of exhausting play, The attack began immediately and water is drawn up from a cold, clear were one step ahead of the Gray Army. campers and staff clamored for sand- aquifer. The canvas tents up against the While the Gray Army faced a defi- wiches carefully prepared by Quannah, (Continued on page 3) 1 (Continued from page 1) played guitar and eventually convinced him to perform at campfire. Toby was great! For the rest of the summer Toby frequently borrowed director Ben Swan’s old Gibson acoustic and played a number of times, including at the Final Campfire on the last day of camp. Turns out this was the first time Toby’s parents had ever seen him perform. They were delighted and moved, and this led to a conversation in which Ben learned that Johnny Bregar is a record producer and professional musician who runs Brick- yard Studio on Bainbridge Island. Not long after Toby and his family returned home from Pine Island, they recorded “My Sweet Pine Island,” a Matt Clarke/ Ben Swan rewrite of the Ryan Adams song “Sweet Carolina” that has been fea- tured as the last song of the summer for about 15 years. Sam Chester, banjo player extraordinaire, in the Hearing this professionally recorded studio and mixed version of a song Ben had only heard in various forms on the Pope Ward preparing to sing “Titanic” in the studio sandy stage in Pine Island’s campfire circle prompted him to ask Johnny if it the Bregar/Ahearne family. Ben arrived ate a lot of good food, and had a ton of tion of hundreds of hours of work, Tom might be possible to record more camp- Thursday afternoon to help arrange the fun. Pine Islanders Nicky Isles, Ted and Yoder’s assistance with air fare, and John fire songs and make an album. Johnny’s weekend, Pope Ward arrived Friday af- Will Siebert, and Charlie Krause visited Alsop’s gift of the cover art, all proceeds response was quick and simple: “Come ternoon along with Mark Pierce, Robert the studio, and Nicky laid down a verse from the sale of the album will go direct- on out. We’ll do it. It will be fun.” Ben Brent arrived Friday night, and poor of “Mountain Dew” and was a member ly to the Lovett Fund. Our hope is that began what turned out to be a two-year Sam Chester ran into a few delays on his of the Henchmen, who performed the CAMPFIRE: The Album will both raise effort to pull some PIC musicians to- journey all the way from Middlebury backing vocals on several songs. Two significant funds for scholarships and gether for a weekend all the way out in College and finally caught the last ferry songs were recorded elsewhere. Edwin inspire the next generation of writers Washington state. At a couple of points in the wee hours of Saturday morning. McCain, former counselor, current and rewriters to keep the musical tradi- it seemed too ambitious to attempt, but Both Ben and Pope recorded songs camp parent, and successful singer- tion at Pine Island strong and growing. with Johnny’s encouragement and some Friday, but it was after the “varsity” mu- songwriter, generously agreed to record You can order an album download or a financial help for air fare for some of the sicians Mark and Sam arrived that pro- “I’m a Camper at PIC” at his studio in CD at the PIC website: www.pineisland. younger musicians, it all came together duction both sped up and became more Greenville, SC, and Corinne Alsop, org, where you’ll also find all the lyrics on a weekend in October when five complex. Over the course of the week- Natalie Burr and Mark Pierce recorded and detailed background about the pro- Pine Islanders flew to Seattle and took end, thanks to Johnny’s incredible expe- “We’re Women at PIC” at Columbia duction and songs. the short ferry ride to Bainbridge Island rience, technical ability, and musical tal- University in New York. where they were welcomed and fed by ent, the group recorded a dozen songs, Thanks to Johnny’s generous dona- TIM Nagler’s “Bulk” LEGACY HONORED IN NEW LTIP RESIDENCE “We’re builders! We build!” was the head” and will be built with funds raised required response by those engaged in among the many Pine Islanders who are Island Buildup, when the activity’s cre- eager to tell Tim how much they appre- ator assistant director Tim Nagler would ciate all he has done for PIC. shout, “Who are we?!” Island buildup The building, to be built in the fall consisted of standing knee-deep in of 2020 by volunteers under the direc- Great Pond on the north side of the tion of builder and engineer Rip Swan, island throwing, or struggling ashore will be located in a grove of trees to the with, stones from the bottom of the northwest of Honk Hall, looking out lake.

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