Acoustic Jam with The Acousta Kitties-Checkers Lounge 11/30/16

Featuring:

Cathy Hartman Spina
Julie Gordon
Lorie Parker
Steve Black Wolf
Belinda Christensen-James
Abigail Bunker
Mark Randolph
Carl Meiners
Skip Richards 

And a few others...

I've played drums on more songs these past two night than I have in two months all together at Rumors Popcorn Jam.  Not that it really matters but the more I play onstage, the more it made sense to drive into town to play.  With us not being too busy at work and I had vacation time to use, I figured since I was in the neighborhood to show up and see what happens.

Tuesday night I sat on on about 6 songs with Brook Hoover, Dan Johnson, Jon Wilson and Tom Giblin, plus having Ernest sing his song too.  And then deciding to take a long lunch and hang with the Acousta Kitties for their Wednesday Night Checkers Acoustic Show.  Recently, Karl Hudson announced that he too was doing a acoustic jam on the same night at Rumors, prompting a conflict of interest. Usually with winter coming, not too many people venture out to jam, it's too cold, too icy, too snowy. Is it feasible to even have two acoustic jam sessions on a Wednesday Night?  I think Karl does have some pull of getting stellar musicians there, but the Acousta Kitties have their own fan base, and a great sponsor with Checkers Tavern too.

I figured I'd stop in and chat with Julie Gordon a spell and perhaps pop on stage and play a song or two and head back to work soon afterward.   I thought I'd be back to work by Ten.  I didn't figure upon being the main percussionist and playing most of the songs that everybody attempted.  There's plenty of them we did, hell we even did Last Kiss twice, once with Steve Black Wolf and later Skip Richards.  Keeping the beat on the congas is pretty hard on the wrists too, but what I found that did work was using the middle finger knuckle to keep the beat moreorless.  Abigail Bunker, did her favorite songs (Bobby McGee, Delta Dawn, Spiders And Snakes, couple others) by around then it was time to grab a pizza burger for supper and chatted with Julie about her upcoming hip replacement.  She thinks she can get back on stage within a couple weeks, but I cautioned her to take it easy for the first month or so.  Her next gig with the Mad Dogs is January 27th at Hot Shots in Anamosa.   She did mentioned that Ron LaFleur has been jamming with Dakota and Mike and the bass player from West 66 (now broken up) for a new band and project.  I'd be interested on how they sound, I'm sure Mike would love to have me spell him a while, but not sure if Ron would sign off on that deal.

For the whole jam, I had a fun time and Julie and her friends, Lorie and Cathy were very gracious and very funny with their crazy comical jokes and heavenly harmonies. At least playing congas, I didn't have to worry about being loud and quietly kept time on songs I wasn't familiar with.  The Acousta Kitties do have a few risque songs, usually Lorie Parker's originals about boobs was worth a laugh to hear.  The easygoing vibes is welcomed; I tend to get too damn serious on Popcorn Jams and want to tear the drums up in front of everybody.   But on Parlor City Blues Jam and the Acoustic Jams it's nice to unwind and not be so noticeable. And congas are perfect for that type of music, although I might invest in low volume cymbals for future acoustic jams and if I have time off.  But thank Lorie Parker for investing  into congas and leaving the power drums at home. Saves wear and tear on the ears.

Plenty of jammers to take the stage but unlike the 7 drummers who pile into Rumors on Popcorn Jams, I was the only drummer up there and I could spend all the time up there.  I have jammed with Belinda on a couple occasions, but this was the first time I got to jam with her man, Mark and he in fact did turn out a more jazzier version of Fever than the one that Tommy and Dan did a couple months ago.  They also did a unplugged version of It's Been Awhile, the Staind song, it was very interesting to say the very least but when we get together to do the Peggy Lee/Little Willie John classic, it does sound special to me.  But then again, when you work with somebody long enough, you get to figure out their arrangement of the song.  Mark did a very good job on the guitar on that song.

Well we were having so much fun, I lost track of the time, and by the time Skip started to do Hang On Sloopy it was past 10.  Cathy being concerned, managed to write out a note to give to Louie about  please excuse me being a late,  I had to keep a beat and no other drummers were around, and Louie got a good laugh out of that.  I think we all did.  After Sweet Home Alabama, I did say goodbye and head back to work and managed to get back there about 10:20.  I should have stayed for the encore of Knocking On Heaven's Door.

In the past week, I have gone through 4 stages of playing music.  The Townedgers, The Popcorn Jam, The Blues Jam at Parlor City and finally the acoustic jam at Checkers to close out a very busy (for me that is) time of music and jamming.   Sometimes I wish still living in the city to get to these jams more often than I do, but having a regular evening job does cut into playing.  So I try to make it count.  And I have to say, tonight was much fun.  We laugh and had a good time and I even sang too.

Thanks everybody for the good times and vibes.   See ya soon.

Photo: Lorie Parker, L to R Mark Randolph, R. Smith, Belinda Christensen-James, Skip Richards