Wess Side Jam-November 5

Setlist:

Going Up The Country
Amie
Sister Golden Hair
Little Wing
Heard It In A Love Song

With:

Greg Mein-Lead Vocals and Guitar
Brenda Hoskins-Mein-Keyboards and Flute
Tommy Bruner-Lead Guitar
Bruce Bingman-Bass and lead vocal on Sister Golden Hair
R.Smith-Drums

And

Tush

Me on vocals
Mike Clair on Guitar
Dave Bonham on Guitar
Jeff Langenberg-Bass
Mike Lint-Drums

Terry McDowell-Host

Much to my surprise Greg and Brenda showed up to do the Wess-side jam on Sunday and even more of a surprise they personally asked Terry to let me play drums on their songs.   We talked about getting together to jam during previous jams but they got paired up by the wrong drummers that didn't know their songs.  And I was around them both long enough to know what songs they are playing.  Greg is a talented guitarist, he is in Crazy Delicious, a band that I have been priming to see but everything they played somewhere I had a gig of my own.  Four of the five songs that they did were played yesterday in Waubeek.  And for the first time I got to play Going Up The Country.

I think Greg was impressed that I knew the songs they played, the breaks and where to put them.  His take on Little Wing differs from the version that I did with the Wiley Kats, more simpler and they don't take on the coda from Derek And The Dominoes.   Brenda can play flute and the keyboards, I love their version of Heard It In A Love Song.  I thought they would attempt to do The Weight but perhaps they might have played that earlier in the showcase before I got there.  A big surprise: Greg didn't play any Tom Petty.

NOTES: There was a friend of Renee (Wife to the Bear) Brian, I think his name, was supposed to play but the guy crashed and burned and put a few dents in Terry's drum heads. While Mike Clair got him to play Kansas City Blues okay, the dude couldn't make heads or tails out of Wonderful Tonight and had too much to drink.   They were going to do the song Tush but they couldn't find anybody to sing it, so I jumped on stage and sang it.  Mike Lint then replaced Crash And Burn Brian.  Tami Soukup took part of a video of me horsing around on stage and Dave Bonham added a lotta wah wah to the lead. I could probably sing more lead on future jams but I still feel weird without a guitar in hand or behind the drum set.

While Greg didn't play Tom Petty, Karl Hudson did.  You can guess which song he did play.  He also a version of Can't You See with a snippet of Hey Jude towards the end.

Two weeks ago, I jammed with Steve DeForest on the Kyle Oyloe 2 years remembered jam.  He plays in Crazy Delicious with Greg.

Ernest The Soul Man really came on strong with his Twist/Bring It On Home To Me medley, and afterwards he wondered why I haven't been behind the drums. I told him it's process of elimination, I played earlier in the jam and retired for the night, except for that impromptu version of Tush.  Told Ernest that it's Terry's call, and usually Terry can back up Ernest quite well  Being Ernest he talked about getting a upcoming gig and he was going to tap me into playing a few songs.  I told him if I'm not working or not having a acoustic jam gig I'd be happy to.

Barb Myers came up for a rare performance of Rain and Helter Skelter and Bobby McGee.  She has a bigger stage fright than me but I think she did a nice job on Rain.  Joe Hutchcroft helped out on drums.

I really have not sat down and talked to Jeff Langenberg all that much but he's has been a part of my musical trip when I'm fronting a band.  He was part of the Tush jammers with Mike Clair who's been a big boost to my exposure to play events such as Vinton and Rubies Benefit. Jeff is a solid bass player, economical and doesn't do a lot of fancy playing.  He's very good.  In fact I have yet to hear a sub par bass player in my return to the stage.

While last weekend, it was Julie and Ryan getting me back on stage and me associating with them most of the evening.  This weekend it was Greg and Brenda that became the major players.

It was another capacity crowd and lot of jammers along for the ride.