The following is an exerpt from a message LoSer (and Leftover Historian and Merch person) Michael Henry sent to the leftover list a couple of years ago -- just after he started the list in motion.
"Bridges to Bert has a story, a meaning and an allusion, not necessarily in that order. (Actually, Bert and the Bridge have several meanings, but we won't get into that now)... the story was born a few years ago at a place called State Bridge (in central Colorado, near Silverthorne). The band had just played what apparently was a long, fun and crazy show. Someone who had attended the show decided to write a comment on a napkin saying how much fun he had had at the show. The message read: "State Bridge is the Best!!!!" Unfortunately, the guy was not in a very good state to concentrate on penmanship, so the last word actually read "Bert." Soon, it was clear to all that the Bridge really was the Bert, and a new way of thinking was born. The Bridge and Bert took on new meanings--in a larger sense, Bert became the embodiment of a kind of enlightenment, and the Bridge was the way to get there. Of course, the band then found other Bridges which seemed equally capable of achieving the state of Bert-ness they sought, giving birth to the phrase, "Get on the Bridge!" 'Nuff said about that--needless to say, the Bridge represents both the long and the short path to Bert, and, after all, there are many Bridges... And of course, as Drew put it to me a while back, the Bridge IS the Bert."Well, that's "sorta" how it happened. The bit about the scrawled message checks out, but what really happened next was that the band was having a really tough time understanding what it said, and during the party that followed, they kept wandering about trying to put the emphasis on various words and syllables in the message, BRIDGE is the Bert, Bridge IS the Bert, Bridge is the BERT! but nothing was "working" for them. A few adult beverages later the "the" turned into "to" and "Bridge is" turned into Bridges." Thus, Bridges to Bert. That was the best they could come up with at the time and like a lot of legends, it stuck around. But, WHAT was the MEANING of all this?
Yeah, yeah, it's STILL not clear... Somehow the Bert came to signify the gap(s) or chasm(s) that separate us -- things like age or race or nationality or economic status or looks or whatever -- and the "Bridge" was the bonds we build to span these differences. Vince, in particular, thought that music should bring folks together, not separate them, and, from time to time, he would wax eloquent about it. Drew has captured a similar theme in "This is the Time," which the band called "The Bridge" for a long time -- though bridge was never mentioned explicitly, it is easy to relate it to this meaning if you listen to the words carefully. In another sense, Leftover Salmon's music bridges a musical Bert -- blending just about anything imaginable from Russian folk tunes to Cajun to blues to country to bluegrass to calypso to polkas to Grateful Dead rock together -- and having a fabulous time poking fun at it all. Sometimes there seems to be no limits to this melange...
Anyway, on and on it went as their fans began to notice another kind of bridging happening at the live performances. The folks who were being drawn to this music were coming from places normally thought of as being poles apart -- their backgrounds, musical roots, ages, and customs. A wonderful feeling of tolerance for one another and the nature that surrounds us began to build. The tales recounted below are some of the observations of Bridging the Bert -- as it happened... Perhaps the examples will make things clearer.
------------------- "The Warrenton [VA] show was great. So much energy. Such good people. Such great new friends. It was so much fun pulling together the energy and good vibes of little kids and big kids in the street and on the lawn. One memorable moment came while this 10 year old (or so) just watching LOS play. He was in one of those states of WOW for most of the show. It was just really neat to watch him.just completely connect with the music. I think he even got up on stage one time? There was some real Bert Bridging going on at the show...NICE! :)" <robkatz@erols.com> ------------------- [re Breckenridge, 11/30/96] "...The bands that played earlier that day, (my wife tells me) had no one hanging/dancing near the stage, (except the Jukes of Zydeco ) but when Salmon got fired up, there were at least a thousand people stretching from sidewalk to sidewalk, and down the street to the first beer tent... The crowd was way into the show, and right next to me a man had put his 7-8 year old daughter on top of a recycle bin ( BTW, I didn't see *any* trash on the ground afterwards, a very green crowd) and she was dancing away the whole time. He was coaching her towards the end of Zombie Jamboree, "now honey, when they stop playing, scream real loud, and they'll come back, and play more. That's called an encore. " Yes, she did scream, and yes they came back on for an encore... Berts were being bridged throughout the set with both some locals that had never heard them, and even some members of the Czechloslovakian ski team that I bumped into back near the soundboard. Vat is dis muzic kalled? (sorry no ridicule intended, their accent kind of sounded that way to me) When informed it was 100% polyethniccajun slamgrass, they said, with a puzzled look, 'It is ver gut! Ver gut!'" <espall@netrix.com> ------------------- "Well - we had quite a time last night at the opening night of the three day festival at the Boulder Theater. First up - Banjo extraordinaire Tony Furtado and friends (Tye North, Dave Watts, Sally Van Meter) served up some killer swinging something or other acoustic traditional blues folks-a-rama. Leftover took the stage for their first set featuring Sally Van Meter on a few tunes adding her lap steel guitar to several tracks just like on the newly completed record. It was also Boulder's debut of Drew's beautiful new f-style Nugget mando. Again as you all can expect - a set list will come from one of the tapers... As a special treat between sets: a somewhat traditional band from Northwest Russia right next store to Finland played a sprited set. Myularit is the band's name: pronouced Mule-a-reet (I'll check on the correct spelling). Most of the members are visiting the USA for the first time. It was incredible to bridge the bert with folks from so far away and guess what? They mostly like all of us and their english is far superior to our russian! The arrangement included assorted wooden flutes, clairinet, bagpipes, upright bass, fiddle, 12 string acoustic guitar, mando, and accordian. Quite a sight and sound... Leftover made their way to the stage toward the end of their set and created a huge jam that included a traditional tune from their region and a fantastic Dark Eyes (a trad. russian tune leftover has done for years). I can't even begin to describe the look on Bass Player Sasha's face before the show when Mark started to play the melody on his banjo backstage! "Yu know dis toon?" in a heavy russian accent.... smiles all around : truly an amazing international b t b moment! Surely one of the highlights of what has been an incredible year for the band! As the members of Myularit trickled off the stage; Leftover continued a frenzied set for about an hour. When what do we see but the second emergence of musician's to the stage: 13 in all between all three bands. Pickestroika!!! Vince whipped everyone into a rousing Aiko-Aiko which the russians fell right into although they'd never heard the tune before the first notes that night proving that with enough will, some wild and crazy stage antics, music is able to bridge any language barrier. Positive people power that can't be denied! I love it!! Boy Howdy ... it just keeps getting better!" <epa@yellowpine.com> -------------------There one more story -- this one from Spreadnet, the WideSpread Panic equivalent of the leftover list -- that needs to be told about the possible origin of Bert. More of a rumor than a story, actually. For reasons that may become clear, the band "prefers" this version -- even if its veracity is decidely lacking.
------------------- "I know that this isn't the Salmonnet, but I figure that since they are currently on the road with Panic, a little LoS chatter is permissable. The story behind the whole "Bert" obsession is that LoS was once playing a show at some large venue (I cannot recall where), and they apparently encountered a memorable experience. A certain young female audience member, who had positioned herself close to the stage, was trying desperately to get the attention of the band. She was feeling a bit uninhibited because of her pharmaceutically accelerated state of mind, and decided to raise her shirt to catch the eye of a band member. Apparently after having decided that her breasts would not sufficiently suprise the band, she resolved to decorate her chest with the word 'best,' to describe the band's performance. Only in her current state, she had a bit of difficulty writing 'best' on her own chest and she instead wrote '<bert>.' <treymcg@juno.com> -------------------OK, back your regular progamming...