Popcorn Jam 10/30/16 Where It Begins Ends

I am surprised that I made it this far back into the jams without falling into stage fright or indifference.  Most likely the latter than the former.  As I sit here and await what two songs that I'll be playing on stage today I think I am more in line into going out to enjoy a late fall day with temps still in early September mode.

15 months.  When I came out of the woodwork to finally share the stage with fellow musicians and managed to keep time and then expanded on what I learned over the course of these 15 months.  It's been a wonderful ride, playing with the likes of Hostage, finally getting to jam with Ernest the Soul Man on The Twist, having the legendary Tommy Bruner and Dan Johnson on the same stage, spelling Mike Serbousek for a few in Julie And The Mad Dogs and West 66, talking tunes with Terry McDowell and seeing Tiffany Z rocking it with 50 Shades Of Rock and Motorboat.   And seeing new drummers coming in to wow the crowd.    The list of many fine musicians.  It's been such fun and this did help shape Fitting Finales into a much better album than originally thought.

For most of the year, I have made the trek into town, to Rumors almost every Sunday to horn in on my chops and get to do a few songs on stage.  While last week was a nice tribute to Kyle Oyloe, only doing two songs gave the suggestion that I could have went to work and made more money during our busy time.  But I wanted to be there simply for Kyle.  In the end, once I got done with Roadhouse Blues, I should have taken my exit and enjoy what was left of a beautiful fall afternoon.    I have no ideal what Terry will have for me to do with songs.  There are times when I do show up, when I think I'm doing well, it turns out to be not so much as great as thought (just like last week) but then there's times I don't expect much and then things turned out great.  I still cannot put my finger why things didn't work last week, good intentions perhaps but too much overdrumming.  I don't think neither Terry nor Julie thinks too much about this, but I tend to be my own worst critic.  And stay too long too.  It's a wait and see for me, with Tommy and Dan it's a good support cast.  Whatever happens after today,  I need to return back to the music and vision that I originally had before July of 2015.  And the object is to concentrate more on guitar and vocals and not so much on drums. I can drum anytime of day and can back up anybody anywhere.  But as I found out, that I am a loner that has rebel against playing the same 20 bar songs every bar band plays at the local bar.  As a famous songwriter said "Like it or not, you are in this alone and have to follow your own star.”  And that applies to the music scene here today.  It was like that when I came on board back in the early 80s and left to go into the working world.  It's still like that in my 15 months of being back.

Popcorn Jam  Lineup:  (Photo: Brenda Snow)

Tommy Bruner-Guitar
Dan Johnson-Bass
Dave Bonham-Guitar
Jeff Craft-Keyboards and vocals
Bob Gleason-Harmonica
Abigail Bunker-Vocals on  Me And Bobby McGee and Delta Dawn.
Mr. Hate And Discontent-drums 

Songs:
Me And Bobby McGee
Delta Dawn
How Long
I'll Be Around
Gonna Have Some Fun Tonight

Bart Carfizzi returned back to the popcorn jam as keyboardist but Jeff Craft was in his spot when the jammers were chosen.  I can't recall the last time I did five songs in a jam (it's been a while) but this time out I had more fun than last week.  The original thought was Belinda Christensen James was going to show up to do Fever but that never happened.  Instead I backed up a 12 year old girl who sang the hell out of Me And Bobby McGee just like Janis did many moons ago.   I don't think her parents were even born when that song came out but I could be wrong.  She also did Delta Dawn, a song that I haven't played in ages.   How Long is usually done by Bart in Past Masters and the popcorn jam but Jeff Craft plays from time to time with Karl Hudson and Bryce Janey and is a capable vocalist and keyboard player.  At least this time he didn't force us to do Margaritaville or Two Pina Colidas or God Forbid the Piano Man.  He's done the Corey Stevens Gonna Have Some Fun Tonight, a song I never heard and slopped my way through it when he pulled it out of the song selection.   As always, Terry got to do the more fun jams, with Jeremy Jacobs and Tommy Bruner playing duel guitar on You Can't Always Get What You Want and later Barb Myers joining up to do Rain, which I would have loved to play.  And got to chat with Bob Gleason afterwards and caught up on old times.

This is Abigail Bunker, the 12 year old that sang Bobby McGee and Delta Dawn.  She has done the acoustic jam from time to time and now has started showing up during popcorn jam sessions.  Something tells me that she'll be leading some band in the near future.

Afterwards, Wooden Nickel Lottery played a surprise gig at Parlor City but I missed it for a good reason.  The Chicago Cubs finally made it to the World Series and Sunday Night was the first time I got to watch them on TV and at Wrigley.  I started out at Naso's Pizza and ended up having a Schlitz with a few friends at Wrigleyville.  Which the Cubs won 3-2.  Here's hoping they can win the next two games.

As I said before this jam was a lot more fun than last week.  We'll see how I feel for next week but I do want to start playing more guitar than drums at jams just to see if I can do it.  I always tend to threaten to quit playing the jams and then come back the next week.  The right combination of folks will determine if I will be back next week.  If Tommy or Dan is there, that's favorable.

Stay tuned.