Breakfast of Champions Revival

Benefit Concert

May 1st, 2025

6:00 – 9:00 pm

Chosen Vale Performance Center

410 NH Route 4A

Enfield, NH 03748

Join us for a benefit concert for Enfield Shaker Museum by Breakfast of Champions Revival! Jay Boucher, Gary ‘Hub’ Hubbard and friends will be playing what they call Bluegrass Renegade. The original band-mates Jay and ‘Hub’ have been playing together for 48 years. They are offering this concert in honor of their first meeting. Jay wrote the story of their journey down and will share many anecdotes during their performance on the 1st of May.

The Story of Breakfast of Champions:

May 1, 1977, is where this journey started. Mutual friends were hosting a jam session ‘May Day’ party at their house in Enfield Center. So, my best friend Robby and I headed there with our banjo and guitar to join in. Robby and I had lived together in several places, and at one point we both made a commitment to each other that I would learn the guitar and he would learn the banjo. So, we both took some lessons and just started playing, and playing, and playing until our fingers bled. We couldn’t get enough of it, and we were anxious to show our friends some of the tunes we had learned.

There were several musicians playing music that day, but for some reason, we just seemed to click with two guys name Gary ‘Hub’ Hubbard and Matt Rogers, who were also good friends who had been playing music together. We had a blast playing at that party with them, and we left the party with the intention of getting the four of us together to work out some tunes- which we did.

Then there was this Choctaw Festival on the common in Lyme, NH and we were invited to play a few tunes, which we gladly did. A guy who was in the crowd for this figured out a way to get in touch with Hub and asked if we would play for a couple hours for a party he was throwing for a bunch of Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital folks at his house on the river in Lyme.

This was the launch of what became the Breakfast of Champions, and for the next five years we tore it up all over the Upper Valley (and beyond), bringing in huge crowds and having a ball in the process. We’d also go to bluegrass festivals and compete in the parking lot picking contests and always did very well with those.

We always practiced at my place on Thursday nights, as we figured we could always stumble through Friday and then we were onto the weekend. These Thursday night picking sessions became iconic, and despite a few breaks over the decades while we were all raising kids, starting businesses, etc., these Thursday night picking sessions are still going stronger than ever! When I reflect on the cast of characters that have been a part of these picking sessions over the last 48 years, it truly warms my heart, and really proves that there is power in music that is shared by so many people. The friends we have made and maintained over this span of 48 years is incredible to say the least.

So, on May 1, 2025, 48 years to the day when Hub and I first met and played music together, we want to share some stories, lots of laughs and of course the music we have been playing all this time. Although the numbers of pickers that have joined in on our Thursday night picking sessions are substantial, on this night we’ll be introducing you to the core guys, since we can only put so many people on the stage at one time. These guys all come with their own story, and I look forward to sharing these stories with everyone. These guys also come with their own unique talents as well, which will be on display that evening. Most importantly, these guys are simply the best! We have more fun sitting around the table at my house on Thursday nights, playing music for six hours or so, giving each other a hard time and laughing our tails off. We plan on doing a lot of that on May 1^st, so bring your sense of humor with you.

I’m a huge ‘fate’ guy, as I have always believed that things happen for a reason. One night shortly after New Years day, I had this vivid dream that started on May 1^st, 1977, at the picking session where Hub and I first played music together. The dream carried on through the years, reliving all the highlights of our musical journey and friendship, and it ended on May 1, 2025- at the Chosen Vale Performance Center (of all places), with me and my buddies putting on a show to raise money for the Enfield Shake Museum and their new performance center. This is a great venue, and hopefully this event will expose this place to a lot of musicians throughout the upper valley as a perfect spot for performances of all kinds. The place seats around 300 people, which fills a big void for venues of this size in the area.

Having been involved in the development of the Shaker Village properties since the mid-80’s when the developers purchased the property from the Catholic church, I find it easy to take this place for granted. However, this village is a tremendous asset to this area, and the folks behind the Enfield Shaker Museum have poured their hearts and souls into making this place what it is today. Their recent purchase of the LaSalette property significantly enhances their offerings, and this new performance center is destined for great things.

Please come and join us for this event and help us raise money for a great cause and have a fun time in the process. We are donating our time that night to the Museum and hope that you’ll be in a generous mood that night. We are suggesting a $25 donation at the door, but you are certainly welcome to give more if you are so inclined.

We look forward to seeing you all on May Day 2025 where the Breakfast of Champions Revival will be doing what we do best- playing music, telling stories, giving each other grief and laughing till the back of our heads hurt!

Food:

Concession stand

Cash Bar

Suggested Donation of $25

*All proceeds will go to the educational mission of Enfield Shaker Museum.

Coming from a distance? Stay at our historic Great Stone Dwelling. Check our room availability here.

**Please bare with us as the construction finalizes on the bathrooms for the Performance Center.