Notes from the Parlor City Jam

As I sit here and type this out to document the jam tonight, I'm just awed by getting to jam with the legendary Craig Erickson, the  wizard on lead guitar at Parlor City.  I also reunited with Mark Awad from Saturday's Cabin Jam to which he said he was still sore from playing about five hours onstage and then some around the campfire before he decided to head home before the sunrise.

(Matt Burger, Darwin from 965 Guitar, Anderson Coates who won the guitar, Dave Lindal, Kris Brailes and Dan Johnson,  Matt, Anderson and Kris participated in the blues guitar slinger contest-Jeff Craft took the photos)

Kris jamming with Gibby on keyboards and Miles Demarso on drums)

We played two songs, with two other guitar players who I didn't get their name.  They did Red House and Call Me The Breeze and I got to use Rob Haskill's drumset.  I complimented Rob on his cymbals, he had a nice juicy 22 inch ping ride that I used most of the time and a 16 inch K Dark Crash.  They had other drummers up there, the youthful Miles Demasco and Dr George Hanna who jammed with the winner of the best young guitarist and won a guitar from 365 Guitars and did a jam song with the Dentist and Mark Awad.

Craig knew me from the Maury Baker Jam earlier in the year and associated me with playing guitar, but I told him I was a drummer by trade and remains my first love (although that love is tested when I have to tote them to gigs and jams though).  Craig has Rob in his band and Rob compliments Craig very well.  I would never want to replace Rob ever, he swings very well.  But as I get older I'm beginning to find that there are some things I can't do like I used to do and time and laziness played a role in that.  Ever since the August event at Rumors, I finally had to put to rest my hard over the top playing of smashing and crashing cymbals.   I guess being 57 years old has something to do with that too.  But in the third jam in four days of playing drums I finally found a groove to keep and maintain for future jams and gigs and the next Townedger album.

The rule is simple.  Don't overplay.  And yes I have done that time and time again.  The early recordings proved that,  See how many cymbals I can bash in a single setting.  Or go over the top on drums.  I find myself into trouble if I experiment on trying some off the wall and then finding myself on the wrong beat.  Certainly John Bonham and Keith Moon could go over the top and make it sound great but even both of them got burned out towards the end, Moon more so.  Still he managed to make the mistakes sound as though they belong in the song.  The original version of Trick Of The Light, the cymbal boasts on In A Hand Or Face.  But a Charlie Watts holds the raggedness of the Rolling Stones with his surebeats, just like Al Jackson Jr did with Booker T And The MGs and later his recordings for Al Green on Hi Records.

I finally came to the conclusion that after 30 years of playing cymbals and switching from Zildjian to Paiste and then back to Zildjian and discovering that I had the cymbals all along with me.  The dark crashes in particular. The K's.  I found that for hard rock RUDEs were the way to go but they tend to overpower everything on acoustic shows.  Same thing for 2002s, the novochina.  Paiste makes great cymbals but in my almost 4 decades of playing drums Zildjian has managed to give my music its  own I.D.   Even when I question about my purchase of the K Hybrid crash it sounded great with the Cabin Jam, out in the open by the Wapsi River.

I continue to search for a sound that will compliment the bands that I play in, the albums that I make and I tried different variations.  The Impulse Cymbals of the early 1980s, the rock crashes, the power crashes and then when I had money to bid on Ebay which enabled me to try the Paiste Rudes and then the 2002 and 3000. They did change the sound on Pawnshops for Olivia and it did work, not much so on No Exit/30   When I went back to Zildjians on Forthcoming Trains that worked better.

I suppose had I kept my original Z's from Town's Edge Rock I would have been happy with what I had.  But there are so much out there to choose from, so many brands and sounds that can change your sound for the better, or some case worst.  The power crash didn't come in handy when The Routers played live.  I wasn't thrilled with the Paiste collection when I did the jam with Brenda and Greg so this time out I took my favorite cymbals to Troy Mills.  And they worked fine for me.

Anyway, Craig did let the other two guitar players do their thing and he did play a fiery lead on Redhouse Blues to which I countered his lead with some off the wall beats.  Gotta kick out Dan Johnson saying that sounded like Mitch Mitchell playing behind Hendrix.  I just simply smiled and thanked them for the kind remarks.

Complimenting the band, this is what I do best.

From Tom Giblin

Craig is always committed when he puts on his guitar. There is no "off night." Glad our youth get a close look at what dedication is up close. I get to play with Craig Erickson every month for the past twenty some years have to tell you how unbelievably lucky I am to be part of these gigs! I've been lucky in life to get the chance to play with some greats, and that's what HE IS!

From Craig Erickson

You are all way too kind,but I thank you anyway..I think it is my road travelled that has led me to be even more grateful to be alive and able to play.... and thats where my love of giving whatever i can musically etc. comes from.Now carry on, and seriously it sounds cheesy,but thank you for the love everyone and backatcha....cant wait till our next musical summits!