“Ladies and gentleman…I’m Parks Bonifay” (photos: Mathis)

Parks Bonifay and Erik Ruck have been buddies for as long as they can remember. From wakeboarding to who knows what else, these two have been through it all. Besides wakeboarding, they’ve also been playing music together off and on throughout the years. They’re musical styles might be different but when they get together, it’s music to our ears. They decided to take their act to the public for a little jam session at the Stagger Inn in downtown Orlando last night and it was nothing short of a good time. We also got up with Parks for a little interview to see what he thinks about his music and where he sees it going.

Alliance: Tell us a little bit about last night. How did it go?
 
Parks: I had a f*cking blast last night. All my friends were there, it was a really cool bar and I’ve been going there for years so to have all my friends there and to have my best friend jamming next to me was f*cking awesome, man. 
 
A: So was this your first live performance?
 
P: That was the first time playing more than one or two songs. I’ve done some open mics nights here and there and stuff like that. I did get to play with Jake Owen at Wakefest on the 4th of July weekend which was was crazy. There way like 300-400 people there but that was just one song and after I was done I was like, “get this guitar off me.” 
 

Just two buds jammin’

A: When and why did you start playing?
 
P: What really made me wanna play guitar was I went to Australia one time and Mark McNamara was playing with like fifteen of us in a hotel room. It was just him with an acoustic guitar and he was jumping all over the place and just being the most entertaining dude. After that, I was like this is the kind of playing I want to do. I wanna be able to just entertain my friends and play at a campfire and play on the road and that’s why I try and bring my guitar with me when I travel. 
 
A: How many songs have you written?
 
P: I think I’ve probably written like 11 or 12 songs.
 

“Whatchu lookin’ at?”

A: Any plans on recording anytime soon?
 
P: Ideally, I want to record them and I have some really good ideas for the visuals to go along with them. They’re kinda funny and kinda quirky but I want to record these down and get some masters of the them then try to do a music video with some and maybe release them all at one time or something. I don’t really know though.
 
A: Who are your influences?
 
P: Well, just growing up there was Darrin Shapiro. He taught me a lot. Erik Ruck, who taught me most of what I know. I used to jam with Murray back in the day but I just kept on strumming through the years. Never really took lessons or took it seriously and honestly, I’ll kind of be into it for 3 or 4 months and write something and then lose it for 3 or 4 months. It kind of just comes in waves. I wish I was a little more dedicated to it but just in the last couple weeks, I’ve written four new songs that I’m pretty pumped on. 
 

Ruck ripping

A: What was the best moment from last night?
 
P: Playing “Black Sheep Bonifay”. It’s a song about my uncle Paul and I really dig it. It’s about the craziest Bonifay of the Crazy Bonifays. Every lyric to that song is real. I didn’t put any extra icing on this f*cking cake. I mean, just his stories alone wrote the verses to this song. Everyone really liked it and it’s the one we ended on last night. 
 
A: What’s the future look like for PB’s music career?
 
P: I don’t know man, we’ll see how it goes. I mean, it would be cool to play music and travel around and do some gigs but still wakeboard and maybe even try to coincide it with some wake events. Like I said, I don’t know. I’m just going to keep scaring myself and keep having fun because that’s what it’s all about. 
 

Gotta stay hydrated

Give Parks a mic and just sit back and enjoy the show

More of Ruck’s 6 string wizardry

“I hear the train a-comin’. It’s rollin’ round the bend…”

That’s all, folks!