Whittier Acoustic Crabby Jam 7/8/17-Two Years On

Whittier Community Center 7/8/17  David Lam: Host

Songs

Logic And Lies*
Listen To Love
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Ring Of Fire
Everybody's Talking
The End*
Come Together (Belinda James: Vocals)

*debut


Also:

Recording songs at Hoarder House Of Hits-Jordan's Grove IA
Producer: Rodney Smith/Terry Bainbridge
Recording: Terry Bainbridge

Logic And Lies (Acoustic Version)
Distractions

Plus drum recording on 20 finished tracks.

And so begins the task of recording the drum parts to the finished songs from Logic And Lies but somehow I wanted to do an acoustic version of Logic And Lies, so basically I took care of that.  It just simply me doing the songs myself.  Distractions is a drum solo that might find its way on the new album.  I haven't done one since Pawnshops For Olivia almost 10 years ago.  Basically, Distractions was us trying to adjust the drum settings in preparation to record the finished tracks.  Once that got done, I started adding the drums to the cover versions.  A lot of them sounded good, others not so much.  In essence the best tracks from the covers will fine their way on a bonus CD once Logic And Lies the album gets finished.  Upon listening to the finished songs, some just got destined to the cutting room floor, or the part of the recorded tape to pass over.


It's July and there was plenty of bands playing around the area and therefore, the Whittier Jam didn't have too many people.  And I led things off with playing Logic And Lies for the first time and people seem to like it.  And for the first time The End was debuted, although it was very rough sounding and I didn't practice it in a while.  It was kinda of a cold take but it went over okay with the folks.  By then we lost most of the jammers and the ones that remained were Mark, Belinda, Steve and David the host. So for an encore Belinda sang Come Together. It was also Belinda that requested Ring Of Fire. And I managed to blotch the second verse.  There isn't much to the song  but dammed if i could remember how it went. so it was back to Love Is A Burning Thing.   The Taste Of Love Is Sweet,  When Our Heart Meet goes the second verse but I couldn't remember that damn lyric. Outside of those small flubs and forgotten lyrics I thought the jam went well.

I didn't dress up for the occasion since I was recording drums all day so I threw a pair of pants over my shorts and went unshaven.  Julie was in Davenport with Bart doing their show since Ryan moved back to the east coast to take care of his ailing grandmother


Rumors Jam- Terry McDowell host

With:
Bart Carfizzi-Vocals
Tommy Bruner-Guitar
Mike Clair-Guitar
Kenneth John Webb-Bass
R.Smith-Drums

Songs:

I'll Be Around
I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You
Superstition

Steve Black Wolf mentioned that Julie got back into town and he was going to visit her.  I probably would have not gone there had I not seen his bike but I chatted with Julie for about an hour. If I could play lead guitar I could have replaced Ryan Paul but I don't know.  I tend to think if we did something together I would have to forgo playing lead guitar, I really don't play lead.  I can barely play guitar on my own.  She was trying to figure out how to play Gold Dust Woman, and she plays it in a different style.   I got to play Kyle's Martin Acoustic, it's has a more full bodied sound than mine but then again Martin Guitars are top of the line acoustic and Kyle went in style all the way.  Now if I could play like Kyle, then it would be a go.  But I have things to work upon in order to impress her, first and foremost to work on cutting back on my F bombs while driving when we did go out together.  I did promise her that next time I will do better in controlling that sort of profanity. I want to be a positive spark for her, not the negative angry person, but that's going to take a lot of time and effort.  But I'll do my best to impress her.

For the Rumors Jam, I backed Julie's partner Bart Carfizzi on some of the songs he sang.  And the process gave everybody a headache on the final drum shot on Superstition, including myself.  But I never pass up on jamming with Kenny Webb when he plays bass.  He's the baddest.

This week marks my second year of being back on the music circuit, something that I didn't think would still be going on.   From the humble beginnings of T Ray Robertson, Dave Bonham, Ted Reily and Peter Stark, plus Terry McDowell doing the Wrigleyville Thursday Night Jam (which was later moved to Tuesday Nights and then ended) to the more recent Rumors jams featuring the likes of Tommy Bruner, Mike Clair, Ken Webb, Bart Carfizzi, Terry McDowell again.  Along the way I managed to hang around various projects with Julie Gordon and seen her in action.  And the aforementioned of having a movie date night. Somehow she managed to get my acoustic guitar playing career a kick in the ass  I've only played the acoustic stage for a little over 8 months, but she managed to get my confidence up to the point of playing live.  I owe her that, plus Lorie Parker and Cathy Spina and the fine folks at Checkers and then I branched out to the Whittier Acoustic Jam.  I have started band collectives with Tim Wiley and Ben Banard which didn't work out but a new band collective featuring my long time jam buddies Belinda and Mark from the acoustic jams seems to have a better chance of playing live.  Russ has talked about John, the guy that we jammed with 12 years ago is moving back in.  I'd be happy to jam with them again.  Of course, I would welcome doing a band project with Julie.  Dream big and perhaps something will come of it.

But at the end of the night, when everybody has gone back home and reality, I still remain committed to making music by The Townedgers since it's the only thing I can lay claim to.  There will be more jams to go to, more acoustic showcases to improve and expand the songs that I can do and of course the Rumor's Jam where I can bash on the drums for three songs and then grab a pizza on the way home.  I'm happy to sit in on a few songs when my fellow drummers need a beer or potty break.  I might be older, and ache more and after a few songs needing a nap but still I have fun playing drums whenever is possible.

And so it goes.  Two years on and the future remains unwritten.  Where the road goes I'll continue to travel, be it with a companion or go it alone.  There'll be songs to write, songs to play and my emotional roller coaster will go way up and then all the way down again, like it has been.   And that will the be way till I'm dead.

To be continued......

Friday Night I did stop to see Tiffany and her band 50 Shades Of Rock for a few songs and managed to chat for a spell.  Fellow drummer Mike Serbousek is now drumming for Cocked N Loaded and he was playing at CRL Saturday Night, to which I couldn't make it due to the Whittier Acoustic Jam commitment.  Frank Smith took this picture of Mike wailing away on the drums.