Thoughts From The Townedger-May Edition

Happy Memorial Day to all who served this country.  I don't know you but I do owe you.

Also I do know that my best friend Russ Swearingen served his country for two terms.  He put the band on the back burner to help us stay free.  Semper Fi.

It's been a strange month to say the very least.  Started out getting yelled at for bashing somebody's cymbals too hard, got offers to join a couple bands, worked a couple weekends at work and still managed to sit in on a couple numbers with Julie And The Mad Dogs this weekend.  We said goodbye to Tiffany Z and Tim Duffy, and watched both of them make one more encore showings at the popcorn jam.  And I got to play drums on Tiffany's song too.  And then have Dewayne Schminkey pop in to play guitar a couple weeks ago too.   I think the Duffy's Finale Popcorn Jam is the best jam I have taken so far.  Each jam has its own special moments and hopefully if I still keep my interests in this, we'll see a few more jams with highlights as special as Tiffany and Duffy's finale.

I hope I didn't make Ernest mad at me for not be able to play drums in his project.  I had lots of fun of sharing the stage with him last month's show.  And still will in the future.  Between work and getting things done around the house and keeping going with Townedger Radio and a couple blogs, and being extremely lazy, I can only do weekend popcorn jams for a couple hours.  As they say, life happens, I'm not blessed with contacts to play music as a job, or have enough bars to play at, and despite what the Wiley Kat says, I can't live on 30 dollars a night playing gigs.   And personal to Wiley Kat, you have to polish up your music to sustain any chance of playing live gigs.  If you been playing Little Wing or Voodoo Chile all these years and still can't get the introduction right, chances are you're not going to go over very well with the crowd.   If a different drummer can't help you get better, you might have to take a deep look in the mirror to see who the problem is.   Last time I checked Herman is one of the best drummers out there.  And even he couldn't help you.  Learn the songs and the arrangements and work at getting better.   Unless you can't do that.

I'm sure the opinion about me has changed since cutting myself loose from The Wiley Kats from the man himself and it shows from yesterday when he made a ten second appearance.  Or his three song set earlier in the month. I can see why he's not exactly well thought of.   I made it clear that if my work load got in the way of the band, I was taking myself out, no need of acrimony if it came to pass.  There's other drummers and bass players that can do the job just as well.  My final thought is the same as before,  I'm open to jamming with Wiley in the future, I've never said no.  Nor have I have sneaked in behind his back just to see who's at the jam either.  

It's hard to play guitar and sing at the same time; I know this to be a fact.  The Townedgers know this too well.  Singing and remember the words while playing guitar chords is a feat among itself.  Tommy Bruner does a fine job singing and playing.  So does John Shaw, but they also have a lead singer that can take the lion's share of singing the songs.  I've been doing music for 35 years and from what I know, you have to find ways to make the band work, even when your drummer works evenings, you can still work with the bass player to sort and smooth out the rough edges.  And every gig, you're putting your reputation on the line, hoping to keep people interested and dancing on your three hours of gig playing.  I sit in on two numbers and I'm ready for a nap after that. Playing drums is fun but it does drain me.

When I play live, I play full tilt, going all out on every song and it's like watching a war from the front lines, you're in the middle of chaos and beware of flying sticks or a wayward cymbals come crashing down.  And someday I might end up having a heart attack or stroke on stage and that will be the end of it.  But you know, it's not a bad way to leave this planet, doing the things you love to do.  I can't see things from Kim Bean's point of view when he's seeing me attacking his drumset with a Keith Moon manic style playing, there's a certain sound that I'm trying to relay on the drums, but they don't come off very well on electric drums.    When I played in Tyrus Paraphernalia and the first 10 years of The Townedgers, when I played live, I went full tilt.  When I retired, the sound was a bit more altered  and the recording was more simple, but now that I have been playing live for 11 months, I'm back to that destructive style of playing.   I could get away with it when I was 25, but now I'm 55 it does wear me out.  But I'm still giving it my all.

Ben Bernard is a good bass player but he's like me;  he is more into improvising and taking the song to new directions.  I wouldn't rule out working with him in the future.  This weekend, I worked with Troy Harper, and not only he's a great bass player, he's also an outstanding drummer too. He too is good at improvising.   Terry McDowell likewise.  Craig Dewitte is unpredictable, but he can stretch them out too.    There is no shortage of great musicians out there, and even though I haven't worked with very many of them, a few do stick out.  Barb Myers, I jammed on about four numbers but she made me actually play Creep just like the record (and I hate that song so she's doing something right).  Julie Gordon is another outstanding vocalist to which I first worked with her, things just fell into place.  And of course Tommy Bruner, but he and Julie have been expert at playing live.  They make you feel comfortable enough to play alongside with them.  And Kevin Michael, is yet another super bass player too.   I would certainly welcome any chance of doing some project with Julie musically.   

It's been 30 years since the album Wapsipinicon Dreaming came out.  I have entertained thoughts of doing the whole album again live but there's some songs I rather never sing again. Running In The Rain is one of them.  Back then, it was written with good intentions about somebody that was a negative part of my life and it turned into a thirty year belief that she was the one that gotten away.  In reality, I can look back and perhaps think we had chances of being boyfriend/girlfriend. Nowadays she has her own life and the guy she married was her soulmate and any mentioning of my name give her the heebie jeebies.  If we had to do it all over again, I'd rather not met her at all.   And I should have taken American Studies 1 when I was a freshman.  We would have never gotten into that mess in the first place.  And perhaps life would have been much better.

Popcorn Jam 5/29/16-Memorial Day Jam

Set list:

Green Onions
Move It On Over
La Grange
The Letter
Something That Bart and Craig Thought Up At The Last Minute

Lineup:
Craig Dewitte-Guitar
Troy Harper-Bass and Vocals (Move It On Over, La Grange)
Bart Carfizzi-Keyboards and Vocals (The Letter)
The Record Hoarder-Drums

Life goes on.  This is the first popcorn jam without Tim Duffy around.  With this being Memorial Day, the place was somewhat sparse, with more drummers showing up too (Peter Stark, Mike Lint, Rocky Smith) than other players.  Jim Reisner played guitar for a few number earlier in the evening.  This is the first jam featuring Craig Dewitte in about four months, the guy is a walking guitar notebook, he can play Sleep Walk, Breezin and of course Green Onions.  Troy Harper from Toxic Blonde and Sky Pilot was the unwilling vocalist on Move It On Over and La Grange.  I was suffering from back spams today so I really didn't go all out, just like last week, taking it easy.  Friday Night, I managed to catch Julie And The Mad Dogs at Knuckleheads in Anamosa after work and a hard thunderstorm

Once I got to Anamosa, Julie decided to let me do drums on a couple songs, one I was familiar with and the second one was Johnny B Goode, Mike Serbousek's solo to which he pops away from his drums to jam out.  Julie has continued the Mad Dogs this year in tribute to Kyle Oyloe.  I really wished I would have known the man more than I have been.  Only a couple of jams that I ever get to know him and played a couple songs at best.  I didn't keep a log like I have been doing, but the man could play just about everything.  Kinda like me, (although the majority of jammers don't know the songs that I usually do with The Townedgers), but you already knew that.  At least it was a fun hour to spend with my new found friends in The Mad Dogs, I almost didn't go.

Sunday, and Terry McDowell has officially replaced Tim Duffy as host of the Popcorn Jam and he put together another eclectic lineup.   But this was the first time that Duffy's presence was gone.  Before going out the Rumors, I was practicing up some new songs for The Townedgers' next project and my wonderful back tighten up on me, so I really wasn't 100 percent playing but I managed to do okay.  Green Onions I have done with Geoff Redding once in a while (in fact, Greetings From The Star Lite Drive In from 1989's State Fair album, basically rips off the Green Onions song itself)  so I knew the song fairly well.   Mike Lint did the drums for Breezin though.  And Mike says he does love those old Impulse High Hats that I gave him a while back.  He says they have helped his drumming a lot.   Good to hear.

A bit of awkwardness in the air.  Tim Wiley showed up for about five seconds, which bar patrons looked at him as he walked in  behind me and then out the door.  I hardly even noticed him even being in the room.   Perhaps the highlight was Rocky Smith dropping his drumsticks four times in his stint up on stage.  That's gotta be a record, but Rocky kept rocking, even with one drum stick.

Overall, the popcorn jam went okay.

Popcorn Jam 5/22/16 Duffy's Encore

Players:

Tommy Bruner-Guitar
Tim Duffy-Bass guitar and Vocal (Help The Poor)
Belinda Christensen-James-Lead Vocal (Fever, Blue Bayou)
The Mad Record Collector-Drums

Setlist:

Fever
Blue Bayou
Help The Poor

Photo: Tom Bruner, Crabapple Smith

A very brief set today, very laid back.  Terry McDowell was hosting it for the first time, taking over for Tim Duffy.....who manages to show up around quarter to six and got drafted to do some songs right off the bat.  There was this woman in crutches who wanted to sing some songs and I offered up my services. Alas, Belinda couldn't take the stage so we handed the mic to her on the floor and she sang there.

I've done Fever the Little Willie John way but this version was Peggy Lee, complete with drum accents   Whatever the case it was my first time doing this song.

(L to R  Tim Duffy, Cecie Stark, Rick Clay, Barb Madion, Terry McDowell)

The other hosts were Cecie Stark, Rick Clay and Dan Johnson with Bart Carfizzi helping out big time. Some highlights were the bass player that played in Rare Earth coming in and nailing a version of Whipping Post with Terry McDowell playing the drums. But the main highlight was Tim Duffy surprising everybody by showing up to play once again.   I doubt if he'll do that next week.  The commute from here to Georgia is a bit long.  Also Steve Bray and Bruce Stanley showed up as well, although I missed seeing Bruce.   It was fun to jam with Mr. Duffy one more time.

I think I stayed out way too late Saturday Night watching Blue Scratch  play the Sanity Room in Independence  and chatted a bit with Julie Gordon.  There's so much I'd love to know more about her and her music influences, and learning to know more about Kyle Oyloe since I only knew him for about two months.  Julie loves just about  everybody that she meets,  she's always been that way. I think I spoke more about myself and my drum playing, but really, I'm a hard hitter just like Mike Serbousek and like Terry McDowell.  Rock drummers usually are louder and hit harder.  I'd chat longer with her if I could, but closing time was coming around and basically everybody needed to headed home.

I was feeling kinda tired and dragging while going down to Rumors after practicing for a bit, so it was a nice change of pace to take it easy on the drums and do some mellow stuff.  I wouldn't mind going to Cooters to see Mike Williams and his acoustic jam but I'm more into the electric side of things and rock and roll.   And while most of the gang went out to celebrate Terry's first time of hosting a jam session, I got in some exercise walking around New Bo and being chased by a fucking grackle, they're not as gung ho as redwings but they are annoying.  Nesting season sucks if your a walker or bike cycle rider and have to deal with Mother Nature's birds.   I'm glad I have friends like Terry and Tim Duffy and the rest of the crew, but I still like me being a loner and coming and going my own way.   And being a hobbyist on the drums I still remain an outsider of sorts.  Don't know if I will ever change my ways to be compatible in any bands, but I do love and enjoy talking tunes, with Julie, or Terry or Tim or anybody else.   And I remain partial to the Popcorn Jam, I feel more at home at Rumors than I would at Cooters.   We never know what's going to happen but there's always a surprise or two in store.

As long as I continue to have fun, I'll still be around.

All photos in this segment was taken by Karie Skogman who plays in Lipstick Slick and is regarded as the Lita Ford of Cedar Rapids.  Rick Clay plays in Four Day Creep.

Popcorn Jam-Tim Duffy's Finale

I live for days like these.

(photo by Mike Lint)

Lineup:

Tiffany Zweibohmer-Lead Vocals On What's Up
Duwayne Schminkey-Guitar and Vocals (Oh Boy)
Tommy Bruner-Guitar and Vocals (Rocky Mountain Way, I Saw Her Standing There)
Tim Duffy-Guitar On What's Up
Bart Carfizzi-Keyboards
John Hernandez-Bass (Rocky Mountain Way, Oh Boy, I Saw Her Standing There)
John Stepaniak-Bass  (What's Up)
R.S.-Drums

Music Director: Tim Duffy

One thing I learned over the course of the 10 months of playing in jam sessions is to expect the unexpected.  It's a far cry from July of last year, when a timid unknown could barely walk up to ask to set in a song or two.  That time ago, I was still trying to shake to rust of me of not playing drums on a regular basis.  Somehow that road went from Wrigleyville to Rumors in a matter of months and perhaps Karen Tipton could be blamed for getting me to return to the drum set on a part time basis.  Over the next few months, I actually have gotten plenty of praises from my drumming friends and the rest of the C.R. musicians.    And have a few of them wanting to start new bands with myself, the interesting of them all is Ernest really wanting to do a soul revue type of band.  If I didn't have a evening job, I would jump on that chance.  I love to watch him strut his stuff across the stage, although tonight it was Herm Sarduy doing the honors.

It was a special occasion.  This was Tim Duffy's final popcorn jam before moving to Georgia.  He has been hosting the Popcorn Jam from Bart Carfizzi since January and for these five months, he didn't take a Sunday off.  He has gotten some of the finest musicians to play and Tommy Bruner and Bart managed to play Sunday after a Saturday Night gig in around Sioux City.  These guys are the finest professional musicians who sacrifice their time and effort into keeping the jams alive.  Dan Johnson also figures into this, but he wasn't on stage with me, that honor went to John Hernandez of Full Circle with DJ Havenstot playing percussion along the side.   Tiffany Zweibohmer played in Bettendorf with 50 Shades Of Rock and here she is once again playing drums.  There were at least 8 other drummers around (host Terry McDowell there too) so time was restricted to a four song tops.

While there were plenty of no shows and a few cameos from ones who came in and said goodbye to Tim (Ted Reily, Julie Gordon, Rocky Smith), Tim Wiley was there and he did his three songs and was out of there, off to Cooters.   But I didn't talk to him and he kept his distance from me.  There really wasn't much improvement of his songs; a very awkward Little Wing, Red House and Crossroads.  Herm sat in on drums on that number, but if  Wiley would have asked I would have gone up stage.  Thankfully Dan Johnson helped Wiley through the numbers, and I like Dan Johnson.  He's a great jammer and a teacher and one of the best musicians in the area.   He really helped me make Ernest shine a few weeks ago.   For Wiley,  he's good but he remains an enigma, he'd make a good sideman but if he's going to resurrect The Wiley Kats, he has to have a bit more  charisma and to have a better feel of doing the songs that are played.  When we played last, we knew enough of the songs to make them go over with the crowd, but this time out, at least on Little Wing, he seemed lost and continued to play shorter versions of Little Wing or Crossroads.  If you're going to make it as a band or leader, you have to stretch out more and improvise often too.   By unplugging his amps and guitar and hi tailing it out after his set still leaves a bad impression  but then again, Wiley has always done that.   If I'm at a jam, I stick around till things are done and thank the hosts for the fun of playing.  It makes good band etiquette.

While this was Duffy's farewell and good bye, it was special for two reasons.

1.)  I got to play drums on What's Up and let Tiffany Zweibohmer just sing lead.  As you know, I have been raving about her drumming ever since seeing her play last year and for my money, she remains the best drummer that shows up.  Not knocking the rest of the drummers, they all rock and really do a outstanding job.  Herm, Terry, Peter, Mike, DJ, Rocky, Stan, Troy have their own style and I can watch Terry McDowell play drums all night too.  But Tiffany is special; she remains the hardest working drummer out there.  If I had half of her drive and verve I could make a decent living playing drums too.  She killed it on Sunshine Of Your Love, and that's a fucking bitch of a song to do!  The off beat, the cymbal crashing she knows her music, even if she wasn't born when those songs came out.  But when she vacated the drum throne for What's Up, and called out my name, I was floored.  That was an honor; to have one of my favorite drummers ask for me to play the beat to a song I barely know, I must have died and gone to heaven.  And she even complimented me on playing that song.  It's the kind of things like that which makes jamming fun and worth doing.  Especially from fellow drummers.  And she's a great singer to go with her drumming.

2)  Dewayne Schminkey, my fellow Paraphernalia/Open Highway guitarist managed to show up as well.   While I consider sharing the stage with the likes of Tommy Bruner or Dan Johnson or Tiffany Z an honor and, really these guys are the backbone of the music scene today.  They let the hobbyist come up and bang on the drums for a few songs and then I go home happy.   Dewayne is much different.  He was part of the original Paraphernalia band and his presence helped shape me into playing drums in the way that I play now.  With history going back 35 years, any original band member that plays on a popcorn jam with me is a closer bond.  We played at shitty dives, crappy house parties, got shut down by irate neighbors by playing too loud and sometimes we manage to score a bar gig.  I love jamming with the CR Finest and got to do that today, but I always welcome to see any of the guys from the band, Russ, Dennis, Mike come up on stage and play.  I look forward to that but I know the guys have families and jobs and golf courses to play at.  If Rod Albaugh shows up with guitar at hand, I'd be ecstatic, ready to play.  If Ben Bernard comes in from Norway to do a couple songs, I'd be down with that.  But when Dewayne surprises me by showing up and wanting to play, I'll find a way to get him up on stage and help him through his stage fright, because I known him all these years and we have supported each other in the early days.   It means so much to me to have DeWayne play as much as it does if Russ shows up.  And we can still rock with the best of them.   Jams are supposed to be fun and to make music and to mingle for a while.   And it's hard to decide which was the highlight, being the drummer behind one of the best drummers in the state or jamming three songs with my co conspirator of Paraphernalia.  Either one, was a highlight in itself.

Back to the songs, when Dewayne played guitar, it was Rocky Mountain Way and I Saw Her Standing There, both sang by Tommy Bruner.  Dewayne did sang on Oh Boy and was helped by the guys in the band, Bart, Tommy and even John Hernandez.  This was the first time I shared the stage with John, he plays in the band Full Circle with D.J. and John is a fine bass player too.   We concluded things with I Saw Her Standing There, which I suggested and thought that the guys would know.   Rocky Mountain Way remains a staple in any of my bands, I played it for so long I know the words by heart.  I think for the first time I managed to play the song in the way that I used to do with Paraphernalia, a lot of cymbal accents, odd ball beats.  Not too drummers can really do that song well, it's a bitch to play and sing at the same time, it has that Rainy Day Woman 12 and 35 beat.  When I first started playing it, I did turn it into mostly cymbals and not enough drums.   I've done the song with Guitar Dave Bonham and he sings in a more bluesy way but it doesn't fit the song.  Julie Gordon's version is more closer to the original   Our version is a bit more drawn out, but even for our first time working today, John Hernandez knew where I going to go with the tag ending.  As for true professionals helping out the hobbyist and his guitar buddy, Bart and Tommy did their job quite fine.

After that, Terry McDowell took over and they did a couple more songs with Tim Duffy singing, How Long, Bart may have done Dancing In The Moonlight before Ian Jacoby came on stage to sing Comfortably Numb with George Madson on backing vocals.  Tommy and Terry really do a expert version of this song, usually The Lab Rats close their sets with that song.  The encore was extended one more when Ernest came up to do his song The Twist.

And that was it.  I was amazed and floored by all the kind people saying I did a great job on the drums, and chatted briefly with Ernest about doing a project with him (if I can work out my evening shift hours but I think I have most of the summer off, he's a bit more promising and I'd love to do it if the stars align just right).  But I missed seeing Wooden Nickel Lottery's final set.  I said goodbye to Tim Duffy, wished him well, he'll be making the Georgia scene as soon as he gets there.  But for the next two hours  before the Karaoke drew us out I chatted with DeWayne and talked of old times and perhaps getting together to have some fun with music.  Chances are good I'll see him more at the jams in the near future.

By the time we got done, most of the food places were closed or closing up, so I went back over to New Bo at the New Bo Ale House to chow down on some 3 Cheese Mac And Cheese and went home happy.

As always, thank you Sonya for being an outstanding bartender and to the hosts Dan Johnson, Tim Duffy, Tommy Bruner and Terry McDowell, especially Terry for the use of his drums and support.

Popcorn Jam 5-1-16 Cymbal Killer

Lineup:
Troy Zimmerman-Guitar
Randy Combs-Guitar and Vocals 
Tim Duffy-Keyboards and guitar
Barth Walter-Bass
The Mad Cymbal Basher-Drums
Bob Gleason-Harmonica 

Songs:
Sweet Home Alabama
La Grange
Sweet Home Chicago

Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVOQIrO7tW4

Hosts:The Saloonatics (L to R-Tim Duffy, Barth Walter, Kim Bean, Kevin Simnacher)

Drums provided by Kim Bean

Above: Randy Combs

There's a code of ethics that when the host drummer provides his own set, the other drummers are in line to abide by his rules.  Sometimes we do go over the edge.

(Photo: QUIT HITTING MY F**KING CYMBALS SO HARD SMITH!)

There was something that Kim Bean saw when I was behind his drum set during some cymbal accents to Sweet Home Alabama which he didn't care much for.  And proceeded to scream in my ear during mid performance about it too.  And then took my drumsticks away as well!  Afterwards we both got a good laugh about it and he did return them.

I think Kim went out for a smoke and then Rocky Smith came up there and really wailed away.  I thought for a moment one of the cymbals was going to fly off.  And Rocky is a much harder hitter than I am.  I guess I was the more easier one  to yell at.  You know,  the senior citizen drummer over 50 who can get yelled at, since he the most vulnerable one.

But I do not blame Kim at all.  After all, these are his babies that he's letting people come up on stage and play. And there are drummers that will be that picky.  I know I would too  if I had my DW set on stage.  I'm sure he was wondering about those extra pair of drumsticks after the show but he did give them back.

Terry McDowell

But I am surprised I kept my composure through it all.  I think I only did three songs but they were extended versions. I don't hate playing Sweet Home Alabama as much as the Townedgers do, but once a half year will do it for me. Barth sang La Grange but I don't think I played to the record and Russ got back up to do Sweet Home Chicago.  And I had to play a bit more restrained and I think I did okay.

Tiffany Zweibohmer

For the second week in a row Tiffany Z has come to the jams and put on her own show. Last night she was in Moline with 50 Shades Of Rock.  And word has gotten around how good she is.  Of course I already knew that; I saw her with Motorboat on her farewell show last month.  She's very dedicated and determined to make sure she's one of the best around.  If you throw a song at her and if she doesn't know it this week, she will next week and do things on the drums that make you go wow. I like to think she's the daughter that I never had.  Heck, she's not even half my age.  Which shows you how old and ancient that I feel.   Even with her logging plenty of miles to and from gigs, she did come from Moline to play in town today.

Dana "Rocky" Smith

Though it was fun to jam with Barth Walter, at this point out of respect for Kim Bean, I'm not going partake in any more Saloonatics jam sessions anymore.  After five times playing his electric drum set I simply don't like the sound and pounding on them isn't going to help at all. Plus I'd rather not get yelled at anymore for hitting the cymbals hard, although Paiste 2002's can take a decent hit and sound good.  I propose the next time of bringing my own.

And I do have the right cymbal for the next popcorn should Kim take me up on it.

All photos come courtesy of Kevin Simnacher except the picture below. That photo courtesy of Rod Smith Productions

Okay what got me in trouble was on Sweet Home Alabama during the lead guitar break towards the last verse of Now Muscle Shoals Got The Swampers, is that Bob Burns the Skynyrd drummer did a cymbal echo on the second four bar, where the girls go ooooh ALABAMA, he's doing a crash on the beat and a "echo crash between the beats and I was trying to achieve the same thing, going from one cymbal to the other in a crash response.  But then again Burns may have just did a crash to the beat and not the echo cymbal between beats as originally thought.   on the bass drum, he's going BOOM BOOM, Crash, BOOM BOOM Crash.  What I was doing was going BOOM BOOM Crash-crash, BOOM BOOM Crash crash etc.  When done right, it does provide a nice cascade of cymbal crashes.  If and when Kevin Simnacher finishes editing the popcorn jam highlights, I would like to see the end result of  Kim came running on stage to show his disapproval during this segment.  Kim uses a different type of a cymbal quick release holder, which really makes the cymbals look like they're being bashed upon.  I'm guessing there some sort of spring action too.  I don't use spring action quick release cymbals holders myself because this does rob the cymbals of getting the full tone when you strike it, and the only cause for concern is that hitting the cymbal on the rebound, which might crack it if you hit it  too hard.  But in 35 years of playing drums I have yet to crack any cymbal (although one of my delicate A Customs got cracked on the side the cymbal stand fell over years ago) playing live. Nevertheless, I have done many cymbal accents off beat and I did manage to pull the trick off.  But it was the first time I ever got yelled at for hitting any cymbals hard.  And hopefully the last time.

P.S.  I did see the video of the Pretzel Logic song.  It was very good but it sure looked like Rocky was laying into those cymbals.  Oh, well, great job to Kevin and Barb Prouty for the pictures and videos.  They are top notch.