The Popcorn Jam-An Hobbyist Gigging?

9 months into returning from a self imposed retirement. I’ve been seen at Rumors from time to time. Usually the Popcorn Jam or making to a late appearance seeing a band’s final set. It’s not easy being middle age and being a musician part time while keeping a steady job in the evenings. I’d managed to be good enough of a drummer to at least get a couple inquiries about playing in bands even in this late stage of life. Not sure if being “the new old guy” is worth anything, but I’ve made some musician friends along the way.

A short history of how we got here-last May my old band staged a reunion at a local sports bar and talked of old times. Usually too much beer and tequlia will get them to talk about playing again (time and time again). So I thought well why not? The next weekend we had our big Spring Peak at work and the other Rod, bought a couple guitars in and since he was into doing original stuff, I managed to pick up a guitar and we jammed out to a couple of thought up on the spot songs. Hey, this is fun. And we managed to get together off and on and jam and redid a few songs from my last project.

Karen Tipton was very instrumental of getting me to partake a jam session in town. Only problem was I didn’t know anybody and I’m not the most outgoing guy to get up on the stage. I needed somebody to grab my hand to get me on stage. So one hot July evening, The Old Crabb returned back on stage to jam with T Ray and Guitar Dave and Ted. Thus the return of me behind a cheap drumset to bash a few tunes.

The Wrigleyville jam now a once a month, there other venues to share music and jam with fellow folks who have regular bands to play in. Cooters has the acoustic Sunday jam to compete with the Rumor’s Sunday Jam. Parlor City has the Tuesday Night blues and Checkers has Wednesday Night Acoustic Jam as well. Working evenings does make it hard for me to appear, but on a rare night off, I have been seen up at Checkers and Parlor City if I’m in town and not buying out thrift stores for scratchy old 45s. But Sundays have found me doing the Popcorn Jam and appearing on a few songs of note. As much as I would like to find a full time band to bash on drums and so forth, I cannot quit my job; although the morale at work is low and we’re getting no pay raises since the CEO said we didn’t meet our goal (while at the same time giving himself a raise) it pays the bills and we have health insurance. And plenty of vacation days to play rock star (unless there’s no fill in role for me during the summer months-which means I might do Arizona for the summer).

I heard complaints from some of the faithful of why they don’t play Popcorn Jam, usually the main one is playing the same old bar band standards that makes playing in bands like being at work. Some musicians don’t get out of that Free Bird or Mustang Sally comfort zone, or Pride And Joy and some stick to that. For those who know me, for 3 and a half decades, I have played with a much wider variety of music than the usual Crazy Train/Sweet Home Anamosa/Brown Eyed Girl, my old band was based on a lot of garage rock, punk rock, alternative rock and even straight line country/folk. And mostly originals. The Popcorn Jam doesn’t even have a scratch on the songs that I do play, a small tip of a iceberg that is deep into the realms of music that has been forgotten a long time ago. And being a music collector I can assure you that there’s much more songs that I would love to do that you would not know.

Rather than draw out a bunch of responses of Face Book Tag. my thoughts is that the Popcorn Jam is there to have fun and to try something different and to interpret the songs in the style of my playing. Even two months later I find it comical to have somebody say that I was playing Cheap Trick’s overplayed Want You To Want Me too fast. That’s the way I have heard it on the radio bro. In my years I cannot play things just like the record, nobody can really. Originality is bringing your own beat to these overplayed classics. If you can get people to like it and compliment you on how you play, that’s the best compliment of all.

I’m one of most shy people that shows up to jam sessions. I have always been that way. Usually people have to come up to me. Being an Introvert can bring out the wrong impressions but if I know somebody well I do open up a lot sooner than later. The first jam I been to, it was the Bacon Jam in 2014 at Checkers, and I didn’t know anybody and spent most of that jam hiding in the background. Now, since I know a few people and they know me it’s more easier to get up on the stage and pound on the host’s drums for about 15 minutes. Popcorn Jams are a collective group of musicians together to try out songs and most of the time there will be mistakes made, there will be lyrics forgotten (I don’t have the benefit of smart phones so I must rely on my memory to remember lyrics) guitar leads might not go as planned and sometimes beats are missed and drumsticks get dropped. And I might be falling asleep on playing Desperado. But I admire anybody that can on stage, even with smart phone in hand and attempt to sing Desperado in front of any crowd. If I’m going to sing anything, I rather have a real band than Karaoke computer generated song. Real musicians for this old Crabb.

I’m not going to beg anybody to please show up to do popcorn jams if they rather do something else or worry if they’re going to be stuck playing Skynyrd again. Which is why I throw out song suggestions on FB. If you plant a bug in somebody’s ear eventually they may get to do a new song (such as Mama Let Him Play, which was in the Saloonatics set-but Dave and myself did that song a couple times at Wrigleyville. Usually you can tell by the jammers what songs they are good at. T Ray has his songs, Tim Duffy has his, Bart Carfizzi his and Dan and Brook have theirs. The Rumors crowd is no bigger than the ones we had at Wrigleyville on a Thursday Night. Some Sundays there’s a good crowd, other’s about a handful. I also noticed there’s a shortage of bass players and guitar players but plenty of drummers show up (usually at least 4 drummers on a given Sunday, one week we had 8-I should have taken up bass guitar). In the 9 months of jamming, I find that the musicians out there are a pretty good support group. Anybody can get up on stage, if I can so can you. And you might have a good time too.

Spring is around the corner, and I’m sure once the weather heats up, more will be coming out of hibernation. Perhaps there might be a new band forming out of jams. I never know myself but as long as it’s fun and it’s a way to support live music by showing up at jams. I cannot play golf, I can play music. If you’re still unsure about not fitting in with the guys at Popcorn Jam, look me up next time at Rumors, I’ll get Tim or Bart to get you up on stage with me being your supporter. I’ve been known to be one of the best drummers to do Rocky Mountain Way..............................