Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

Strummin' on the cold banjo

— I guess the first thing I thought when I saw Mark Finks sitting on a metal folding chair on the sidewalk, playing a banjo and wearing wool mittens while the afternoon temperature hovered at about 27 degrees, was ''Why?''

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Finks was happily plucking away and belting out the old spiritual ''I'll Fly Away'' on Feb. 9 as a steady stream of 4-year-old girls in full princess garb and their parents filed down Spring Street on their way to see ''Disney On Ice'' at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

He had arrived around 1 p.m. to play for the folks leaving the 11 a.m. show. Then he stuck around to play for those going into the 3 p.m. show.

He wore a wool hat, long underwear, rubber boots and his mittens. One of his mittens had a hole for the index finger, so he could hold a pick.

Little girls smiled and even danced a little as they passed. Adults told him to stay warm. But the crowds were intent on getting to the show or to their warm cars, and weren't exactly lingering to hear Finks' playing and singing.

Which brings us back to ''Why?''

''This is the most direct way I know to reach people with the music,'' said Finks, 60, of Falmouth. ''When I play with the band on stage, people are 20 feet away or more and the lights are right in my eyes, so I can't see them.

''Here, the people are three feet away, and I can look right at them. I can see them start to dance as they come down the sidewalk.''

Finks, a former principal of the Greater Portland Christian School who is now semi-retired, says he gets out and plays his banjo on the sidewalk ''just about every nice day.'' His definition of nice is no snow or rain, and temperatures just warm enough to allow his mouth to continue moving while he sings.

All winter long he can be seen outside public events that might bring a crowd. The civic center is a favorite spot for him, what with all the concerts, Portland Pirates hockey games and family shows. He's also often seen outside Merrill Auditorium at Portland City Hall, before the symphony concerts and other events.

Plus, he usually sets up in the Old Port on weekends, and in the summer, he almost never misses a chance to play outside Hadlock Field before and after Portland Sea Dogs baseball games.

He's been doing this for about seven years now, and has no plans to stop.

Finks has had a lifelong love affair with Dixieland jazz. He played in bands at Yale University, recorded with New Orleans jazz veterans and was a member of Portland's State Street Traditional Jazz Band for about 20 years.

So part of the reason he plays on frosty sidewalks is to bring the music to new audiences, to people of all ages. He especially likes playing for children, to show them that not all entertainment has to come from an iPod or a computer game.

But he's also an activist and a former tree farmer. He's very involved in his church, the White Memorial Seventh-day Adventist Church in Portland, and has worked at Christian schools. He also ran for governor in 1994 as a conservative, Christian, ''pro-family'' candidate, and got 1.3 percent of the vote as a write-in candidate, with a $25,000 campaign budget.

So Finks also sees his banjo playing as a ministry, a way of reaching out to people in what he sees as an increasing insular society.

Still, he's not overt about his religious beliefs while playing. I've seen him dozens of times at Hadlock Field, and the only thing I'd ever heard him say was ''Well, isn't she something?'' when my 4-year-old daughter danced like crazy to ''You Are My Sunshine.'' After that, he played that tune every time he saw my daughter coming.

The tunes he plays often have a gospel feel, but they are also Dixieland and banjo staples, such as ''When the Saints Go Marching In'' or ''I'll Fly Away.''

The money he gets in his banjo case, which he says most days wouldn't pay his car fare, he uses to help in his various church-related activities. One is scouring yard sales for shoes and boots, buying them, and donating them to immigrants and others in need. He says his grandfather, a boot maker, gave him a good working knowledge of what makes a good shoe.

As he spoke, a dark-haired girl dressed as Snow White pointed at Finks and said ''Look, Daddy, banjo.'' A few minutes later, two little girls threw dollar bills in Finks' open banjo case under his chair.

''I like the fact that I get to see so many kinds of people. I played for the people going to the Ozzy Osbourne show (on Jan. 31), and now I'm playing for all these families with their little ones,'' Finks said. ''The banjo is fun and friendly, and cheers people up immediately.''

Especially if it's in the right hands -- say, hands with wool mittens.

Staff Writer Ray Routhier can be contacted at 791-6454 or at:

rrouthier@pressherald.com