Sid's Guitar
Stories from the Hostel
One afternoon I heard some heavenly guitar music coming out of one of the dormitory rooms of the Newport International Hostel. When I poked my head in to listen, I saw a guest sitting on the edge of his bed summing the guitar that was the property of the hostel and available for guest use. He told me of his appreciation for the quality of sound produced by the guitar. He asked how the hostel acquired it.
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Sid_Geremia, a hostel guest from Brazil, was attending the Newport Folk Festival 2015. He was a professional guitar player. Each evening he joined hostel guests and me, his guitar in tow, on a night walk along Newport's famed waterfront. Each time we stopped at the Coffee Grinder, a local waterfront cafe, he strummed a tune.
There was a booth at the Newport Folk Festival where attendees perform at an open mic. To earn this privilege, the potential performer needed to draw a picture of an elephant. A clay model was provided as a guideline. Sid did this. Several hostel guests subsequently heard him perform there to an appreciative audience.
Sid returned to the hostel from the festival one day with a new guitar which he had just purchased there. It was a Martin Guitar, which he considered to be one of the best. On departure, he donated his old guitar to the hostel, with a request that I send him a photo of any guest who plays it.
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Since then his guitar has been played by many guests. Because the hostel needed to close temporarily during 2020, due to the corona virus, I felt it was time to find a new home for it. Newport Festivals Foundation had recently established a partnership with Rick’s Musical Instruments. Together they created a program that would place gently-used instruments in Rhode Island Public Schools.
I sent an email to Sid in Brazil and told him that his guitar would soon have a new home, and explained the program. Sid responded, “I believe that children who will play this guitar will enjoy the energy and history of the instrument.”
The staff at Rick’s Musical Instruments were delighted to accept the guitar, and promised to see that it got a nice home in the Rhode Island Public Schools.
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On January 13, 2021, I received an email from Dan Swain, Foundation and Development Manager, Newport Festivals Foundation, informing me that Sid’s guitar has found a new home at Cumberland High School, Cumberland, Rhode Island. It was gratefully received by the Band Director there, Michael Feroca. He said his students were enjoying it.
Thank you, Sid, for your generous donation of your beloved guitar!
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When Sid saw that the students were benefitting from the donation of his guitar. He was pleased and sent this note...
"I am very grateful for what you did! It was a very special attitude. It is a very beautiful story with really incredible memories, which I will keep for the rest of my life! I met amazing people who, like you, changed the way I see the world. You wrote this story very well. I will share it with my friends in Brazil and highly recommend the Newport International Hostel to them. Certainly, with the vaccine coming we will be able to travel again and enjoy that wonderful place. " -- Sid in Brazil
If you would like to hear Sid perform with his band Sid Folk's Trio (in Brazil), visit the following link on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=prVEAeRoLZk
-- Written by, Merrilee Zellner, former Manager/owner
Newport International Hostel, Newport, Rhode Island
www.NewportHostel.com
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This is the story of the visit of one of the many international guests who passed through the doors of the Newport International Hostel over the years.