Rumors Jam and Blue Scratch At Della Viti

We've been stuck in a rainy pattern to the point that I have gotten stuck with the flu virus for the past five fucking days.  And just in time for the fall peak processing season as well.   I recall last year at this point I got sick as well.  Bad enough to cancel my  appearance for the Rubies Bar Benefit part two.

I am not sure who gave me this shit.  It could have been Shawn during the Artisan Open Mic,  it's could have been Julie when she was hacking and coughing and had the fan on when we did the Office Lounge gig, or it could have been a thousand other folks that I met at the Wally World.   I did take two days off to go up to Madison to look for records but felt like crap and decided to stay closer to home.  Namely Dubuque to where some old dude had a big record sale.  So I bought a few but he forgot to include the two quarter records from the Impalas and Platters.  But I figure no big deal.

Friday, I felt worse and managed to drop a bunch of unwanted CDs and got 47 dollars for my trouble and bought a bunch of nyquil and cold meds and proceeded to take a six hour nap only to wake up and finding that Jay Dean from Blue Scratch was in desperate need of a drummer for a Saturday Night gig at Della Viti, a wine bar.  So I decided to help him out and took about five vitamin C pills on a two hour basis and Day Quil and did feel well enough to go out in the crap ass rain to play a three hour set.   So I took a crash course on You Tube to hear the songs I wasn't familiar with.  And then took another hour nap to get ready.

(Blue Scratch Band including the special guest drummer: Kim Trevellion photo credit)

I have jammed with Jay, Jordy and Kim at other jams but never as Blue Scratch.  I knew they were more blues than rock.  I usually call these gig, Raw gigs, because I wasn't familiar with their songs so I had to follow Jay on where the breaks were.   I think I did pretty good despite not knowing how to end the songs.   I would have enjoyed the gig better if I didn't drop my fucking drum sticks four times.   I got new drumsticks and they were kept sliding out of my hands.  Thankfully the songs were straight four four beat.  I have never had dropped my drum sticks that many times in one setting so that kinda pissed me off for the rest of the evening.  I should invest in a drum rug.  The drum set kept sliding on the wooden floor as well. When you have no control over dropped sticks and a moving drum set it does make a bummed night.  Jordy was kinda quiet most of the night, I don't think she enjoys having acoustic drums and cymbals, she prefers electric drums.  Whatever the case may be, I told Jay if he needs a fill in to give me a call.  For a fill in, they could have done worse.

(DJ and Sir Bob)

The Rumor's Double Drummers Double Your Fun Jam

8 Songs total  including (short term memory loss, if I remember them I'll post them later)
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Bettie Lou Getting Out tonight
Knocking On Heaven's Door
Rumors Instrumental jam
Beast Of Burden
Gimme Shelter
I Drink Alone
She Loves My Automobile



With:

Tommy Bruner-Guitar and Vocals (1, 5.6 he sang lead)
Billy Bourbon-Guitar and Vocals  (2,3,7,8 he sang lead)
Bird-Bass First four songs
Bonnie Harrison-Drums on the first four songs
Steve DeForest-Bass on the last four songs
Judy Cady (Dusty)-The other drummer on the last four songs
Shelia (the strange woman from Tipton area)-Percussion
D J Hovenstat-Percussion
Sir Bob Miller-Percussion
Mitch Smith-Saxophone
Tom Listenbarger-Keyboards
Bart Carfizzi-Keyboards on Knocking On Heaven's Door

(Dusty on drums)

NOTES:

So I opted not to do the Savoy Brown concert and therefore spent most of the night at Rumors and played drums on both Bob Miller and DJ's drumset.  Both Bob and DJ played percussion through the jam.  Terry McDowell was playing elsewhere and decided to go with Bob and DJ.  Both Bob and DJ had been around the area the past week and playing at various venues and sounded very good.  I managed to get paired with up with Bonnie on the first set and then another older woman called Dusty on the second.  For the most part I let Dusty dictate the beat even tho' she was dragging on Gimme Shelter. But we eventually settled on a collective groove on the set that she played alongside me.  It's tricky to pair up drummers you haven't played with but Bonnie did a stellar job and Dusty likewise.

This time out I didn't drop my drumsticks. A win win for me.

A thank you note from Blue Scratch.

A big shout out to Rodney Smith for sitting in with us last night with no prior practice and very little notice. A great drummer and a wonderful friend.