For Johnny B. is an arrangement of a movement from Lakescape, an orchestral work commissioned by the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra with funding from The National Endowment for the Arts and the National Park Service in honor of the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service. Each movement of the work features one of the National Parks located on the shores of Lake Superior. For Johnny B. celebrated the Keweenaw National Heritage Park that was established to preserve and interpret the story of the rise, domination and decline of the region’s copper mining industry.  One of the many ways the Historical Park does this is through the collection of oral histories.  The text for “For Johnny B.” is taken from an oral history of Giovanni “Johnny” Battista Perona (1920-2009) who was a farmer, laborer, custodian, accomplished musician on spoons, bones and concertina as well as an amateur but serious butterfly enthusiast. He was also a good friend and one of the kindest people I’ve ever had the honor of knowing.                      

FOR JOHNNY B.

His name was Battista, they called him Bat.                       

I was born in 1920                       

My mother was Maria or Mary                        

I had two sisters and two brothers                                                                                               

you know what I mean?                                                                                                                 

Pa came here first, came here to work in the mines.                                                                       

Ma came here too, they got married in America.                        

They didn’t have money, they paid cheap rent.                        

The lived on a farm then in 1914, you know?                        

He used to raise flower on the side, pansies, oh yes.                        

He sold milk in glass bottles, you know?                        

Played music, no big deal you know?  

I go to the park to find butterflies.

There’s nothing there. It’s all torn down, those buildings, you know?

They bought old lumber for a warehouse for potatoes.

Chickens, business, music, no big deal you know?                        

Burn hard coal upstairs to keep us warm.                        

There was frost on the walls when the fire went low.                        

His name was Battista, they called him Bat.

                                    -JOHNNY B. PERONA