No Popcorn Jam 3/12/17 Dueling Harmonicas

Terry McDowell: Host

with

Chad Johnson-Vocals (Simple Man)
Tommy Bruner-Guitar and Vocals (For What Its Worth, Superstition)
Jeremiah Murphy-Bass
Nick Lnenicka-Harmonica (Simple Man, For What's Its Worth)
Bob Gleason-Harmonica (For What's Its Worth)
R.Smith-Drummer


Songs;

Simple Man
For What It's Worth
Superstition


Before the snow came barreling into town I did manage to return back to Rumors to help Terry out and for the first hour was the only other drummer besides Terry.  That changed soon afterward.  This jam was the first for Jeremiah Murphy (who plays in a Steely Dan tribune band) in reality, not a lot of jammers showed up, except for drummers of course.   Basically both Tommy and Jeremiah played through the 2 and hour jam showcase.    For the first time we had more harmonica players than guitar players and Bob and Nick did some dueling harmonica leads, one on the Buffalo Springfield song and then Midnight Rambler and a jam based on Lay Down Sally.  Chad Johnson dedicated Simple Man to his son who was there as well and for that I basically laid down a very simple and not overpower beat.  Same way with the next two songs, nothing flashy and nothing too crashy except for a few exchanges with Tommy on the lead to Superstition but it was fun hearing Bob and Nick duel it out.

Down the road at Cooters I heard it was a packed crowd and Julie Gordon made it to that one, probably of the fact that one of her favorite musicians Ryan Paul was playing keyboards there.  Since I had to work Saturday I couldn't do the acoustic jam at Whittier which bummed me out, nor the Gilligan's acoustic jam earlier in the afternoon.  The busy season has begun at work and I was needed there.  Overall, I did okay on the songs, but at least it wasn't Wonderful Tonight again.

Notes: Tommy sings and plays For What It's Worth in the key of A whereas I do the version in E, easier to sing for me that way. On Tommy's version and style it's better fitted to be in a more lighter and somewhat jazzier way and not to overplay.  With The Townedgers, I tend to go with the flow and direction of song when Geoff Redding starts raving up on guitar up to a crescendo and then back to a more quieter ending.  Sometimes a more basic and economical beat is much better than going commando.  With Terry's cymbals I cannot go bash and crash on them,  He uses only the splash and 16 inch crash.  So I use them sparingly.