Looking for Bonnie

Summary
Famous rock musician Dean Lomax visits Elwood City and calls on George's dad to fix his equally famous guitar, named Bonnie. Legend says that Bonnie is magical, and Buster and George are convinced that just one strum will give them special powers.

Plot
Dean Lomax drives to Elwood City, because he wants his old friend Neal Lundgren to take care of a patient, which turns out to be a guitar named Bonnie.

Looking for Bonnie

When George tells Arthur and Buster about Dean, Buster informs George that Dean Lomax used to be a rock star who had a hit called “Looking for Bonnie”. According to legend, Dean got his instrument, when lightning struck a tree and transformed it into a magic guitar. Buster is envious, because Bonnie the guitar is in George's house.

That evening, Buster shows up at George's house for a sleepover. He was not invited, but George is too kind to send him away. At night, Buster wants to see Bonnie. George takes Wally along and they go into Mr. Lundgren's workshop. They see a fancy looking guitar. George pulls a string. He has a fantasy in which he plays guitar and sings to make a sapling grow. The other kids contribute compost and water and, eventually, the sapling becomes a big tree. Buster then pulls a string and has a fantasy of jamming with an alien at Stonehenge. Back in the real world, the boys want to get back to bed, but the door does not open from the inside.

In the morning, Mr. Lundgren and Dean Lomax find the boys asleep next to the guitar. Dean tells them that they had the wrong guitar. Bonnie is a rather plain looking guitar that was bought in Chicago many years ago. The lightning story is just a legend. However, Dean does admit that music is magic, since it can let you understand a different culture or make the world a better place. In the end, Dean drives off with Bonnie.

Characters

 * George Lundgren
 * Buster Baxter
 * Neal Lundgren
 * Dean Lomax
 * Bonnie (guitar)
 * Arthur Read
 * Wally
 * Francine Frensky (fantasy)
 * Prunella Deegan (fantasy)
 * Yertzel (fantasy)
 * Yertzel's mother (fantasy)
 * D.W. Read (fantasy)
 * Molly MacDonald (fantasy)

Songs

 * "I'd Play this Tree to Grow"
 * "People All Over the World"
 * "Buster and Yertzel's song"
 * "I Found Magic in the Music"

Trivia

 * Dean Lomax traveled from the Mojave Desert to the East Coast, and he says they will be there to night fall meaning. He either takes a day to travel from the southwestern U.S. to Elwood City or he was speeding most of the way.
 * This is the last episode where Samantha Reynolds voices George. Eleanor Noble, who had voiced George from Seasons 9-11, would take back over from Reynolds starting with Season 14.

Episode connections

 * Buster's line “Aliens from outer space, land, but not on me” likely refers to Buster's story in the “The Contest” in which a UFO does land on him.
 * George had another musical fantasy in “Big Horns George.” In the same episode, Mr. Lundgren made a guitar for him.
 * Arthur, Buster and George play marbles, which is a major plot point in "Arthur Loses His Marbles."

Cultural references

 * Dean quotes ’s poem The Voice of the Rain. ("And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower.")