Rumors Sunday Funday Jam-Snowmaggedon Again

Songs played:

Tomorrow Never Knows
Roadhouse Blues
Born On The Bayou
Dreams
Bobby McGee
Proud Mary
Dyer Maker
Sweet Jane
Carmelita
Come Together

Tommy Bruner-Lead guitar and Vocals (Tomorrow Never Knows)
Randy Burgendorf-Lead guitar and Vocals (Roadhouse Blues)
Mark Awad-Bass (Tomorrow Never Knows, Roadhouse Blues)
Jeff Reeder-Guitar (Tomorrow Never Knows, Roadhouse Blues)
Tim Canfield-Bass on rest of the songs played.
Steve Stratton-Drums (Tomorrow Never Knows, Roadhouse Blues)
Dee Vieman-Vocals  on (Born on the bayou, Dreams, Bobby McGee, Proud Mary)
TroyTietge-Drums (Bayou, Dreams, Bobby McGee, Proud Mary)
Ed Butler-Guitar and Lead Vocals (Dyer Maker, Sweet Jane, Carmelita, Come Together)
DJ Hovenstot-Drums (Dyer, Jane, Carmelita, Come Together)
Nick Lenicka-Harmonica on where needed
Sir Bob Miller-Drums provided
Terry McDowell-Ditto
I played drums on the songs listed

(Richard Edward Butler, Or Ed as he's better known)

Notes;

For the second week in a row, Stone City General Store decided to cancel the acoustic jam, so I fought the wind and white out conditions to play again at Rumors.  Bob Miller provided an extra set of drums.  So I got to sit on about six songs matching wits with Steve Stratton.  He's improved a lot since becoming a regular jammer and playing in Blue Scratch.  Kim Trevellion sang Gold Dust Woman, Further Up The Road and I'm A Woman with her bandmate drummer.

(Jeff Reeder)

The roll call of players, I'll fill in when the newsletter comes out.   I'm terrible with names but Jeff  Reeder  is a visitor and played some cosmic guitar leads on Tomorrow Never Knows.  I didn't talk to Mark Awad but he was used for a lot of the second set and other players.  Tim Canfield returned when the girl singer and Troy came on stage.   It was easy to play along side Steve and DJ but Troy was a challenge to play  He didn't speed up the tempo on Bobby McGee and stumbled around the rest of the songs.  It was kind of frustrating when the other drummer didn't find the right beat.

Ed Butler has been busy on the scene and our paths have crossed a few times the past couple weeks. He braved the snowstorms to play the Artisan Sanctuary, Checkers and now Rumors.  He went electric on the four songs he did, and Randy thought that his guitar was out of tune.  Which really isn't the case,  Randy is used to doing his own songs and arrangements and is not familiar with Ed's eccentric style of playing.  Randy also thought that Ed's guitar was out of tune, it wasn't, it was a half step down from Randy's comfort zone.    It was a given that Dyer Maker would be the song that Ed would play along with Sweet Jame and an extended Come Together.   Ed might have been too eccentric for Randy to jam with, but he and Tim did improvise to fit the songs at hand.

And I'm still surprised nobody has bothered to play any Rare Earth songs in the tenure of Randy being here.   Maybe that's a no no.  But I hope some day that we'll jam with Get Ready in the future.

It was a good time and there was a good crowd despite the 30 MPH NW wind and snow blown roads. It was the first time I chatted with Kim Trevellion since I guest starred for Blue Scratch in November.  Likewise first time I've seen Mark since he played Checker's in November, alas I didn't get to chat with him.

(Bob Miller)
All photos courtesy of David Price
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(Bird, Tim Canfield, Troy, Dee, Tommy, Me)  Ed Butler: Photo Credit

Another weekend, another snowstorm, another cancellation.   Dreams Of Arcadia decided to cancel the Grove gig.  Julie was dealing with tummy issues and another cold and Ryan was burned out from playing in Skin Kandy's Acoustic show at Jimmy Z's Friday night.  In essence, it rained most of the day, which helped getting rid of the 10 feet of snow piled around the mailbox.  The storm took its wrath on Central and Northwestern Iowa, We just got the rain and inch snow fall and the 50 MPH NW winds.

I was ready to play Saturday Night after a week of Vertigo issues. I did think the weather would turn bad after midnight and the winds did pick up about a hour later as well the snow squalls but Julie and Ryan would have to drive from CR to get to Scotch Grove and left that up to them.  In reality it was judgement call and my opinion, a good call just to call it a day and get a make up date.  I was in need of a nap before playing but Julie called me around 4 to mention to scratch the gig tonight. The turnout would have been minimal. 

2019 has been a bust in terms of playing gigs.  The weather has not helped at all.  We had to deal to with icy roads, polar vortex bone chilling cold, heavy winds, heavy fog, more ice and snow storms, and that was in February alone.  The weather fucked us out of a good turnout at Swisher in January and even the dates with Boy Scout Hippies we had shit weather as well.  And when I thought things were going well, I get vertigo and then go through two subpar performances this week and dealing with self doubt and stage fright once again.    I have a handful of playing dates with Boy Scout Hippies coming up, but I may have to forgo the Waubeek show for my regular job.  Ron and Dakota has a Ramsey's date coming up Thursday, but any weeknight gig they get, I can't play.  So this weekend I'll have to get together with Ron and talk about me leaving their band on good terms.  Ron and Dakota don't have regular jobs and can do what they want.  Same with Dreams Of Arcadia, but I do need a regular steady income to pay bills and have health insurance.   Plus I'm not married to a woman that will let me stay home and play music.  I'm seeing a real musician, she don't have two coins to rub together half the time.  But she and Ryan did score more dates to play on the week nights, any Saturday gig, I could help out if asked.  But like Ron's band, they can look for a replacement. 

The downtime, I could have started working on the next Townedgers album, but I've been a slave to social media and haven't done much outside of going through the songbooks and picking out songs that need a update.  We have about 20 songs from the low fi years (1987-1989) that would work.  It wouldn't take long to polish them up.  The question remains if it's feasible, or if anybody gives a fuck.   I'm not sure if even I give a shit about a new album.  I'm sure it frustrates Geoff and Ken as well.  But if I'm not feeling the song, it won't make a good album.  Even most of Logic And Lies has lost its luster.  Even when I did that song countless times at Artisan Sanctuary, Thursday's version I was suffering trying to keep interest to that song.  So, I may want to take a break from playing and singing a while. The vertigo this week didn't help at all.


Side Note: Ron Lafleur had a pow wow with a deer and cause some damage to his jeep. He says it was the third one in four years he's nailed.  And he just replaced a major crack on his windshield on that jeep.