Waubeek Jam Notes

60 years ago, after playing Clear Lake at the Surf Ballroom and tired of dealing with a piece of shit bus that kept breaking down, Buddy Holly took his chances of renting a charter plane to get to the next show.  He had J P Richardson and Richie Valens in tow. Roger Peterson was the pilot.  And they took off into the teeth of an Alberta Clipper and lost the battle.  They are all part of the rock and roll and Iowa Folklore.  They remain a musical part of my journey and life and music.

60 years later, I'm driving on a foggy road over to F B Company to partake on the Waubeek Jam; a last second decision made.  It turns out that my presence was required.

I backed up Lenny Drake, Chuck,  Greg And Brenda Mein, Dave Bonham and Maki Dervo.  Nelson played steel guitar and bass, likewise Dave Bonham.   Due to the fog, we didn't have that many jammers, Ron LaFluer graced us with his presence, Katy Merrifield  helped on vocals and Captain Kirk played guitar and Sharon sang too.  

I ended up playing for about 3 and half hours backing everybody up, but I didn't play guitar this time out.  Greg and Brenda did an encore  which we did some ragged run throughs on Stop Draggin My Heart Around and The Weight.  Dave introduced some new songs Every Little Things She Does Is Magic was one song I never played before and just improvised around Dave's playing.  He said I nailed the song.

A new kid was in town and wanting to play drums, and Nelson told me about him. I basically thought that the new guy would talk to Maki about that but since I was playing drums, he probably thought I was part of the set up.  Not really but I went over and despite Ron trying to give me a charley horse, I introduced myself to Ben and give him the basic rules of playing, be yourself.  Ben was quite shy, kinda like me when I was his age and chatted with him about his influences and his likes and gave a bit of input and what to expect.  And told him I'm always willing to help out the new drummer, unlike Rumors where you're competing with 10 other drummers, only Maki was there and he's mostly into playing guitar and pan flute.  Sometimes I need a spell, this is actually 3 and half hours of practicing.  No money is made, but basically sharpening up my skills with the other guys.  Which is why Ron didn't play today.  I have to return back to Waubeek next week with BoyScout Hippies.  I enjoy matching wits and playing alongside Ron.  He's somewhat professional, Chuck and Lenny are more ragged players, they're not exactly polished but more, like me, hobbyists that have good songs.   

As I gave Ben, my wise old-man musician musings, I told him just to be yourself.  You're dealing with musicians that are not exactly the best but you can find ways of making them sound that much better.  I've been doing this on a regular basis for some time.  Dave has his ways, Brenda/Greg likewise. and of course Chuck, Nelson and Lenny. I told him it's your first time, just go with it and have fun.  And when you had enough, I'll come back up and take over.    Ben, on his debut,lasted two songs.  Fire on the mountain and Roll Over Beethoven. After that he had enough.

First time debuts are always going to be rough.  Ben didn't do anything different or wrong, he might not have an ideal on how Roll Over Beethoven went, it was a bit slower, but hey, he came up on stage and did his best.  That's all you can do.  Whether or not, this retreats him back to the bedroom forever remains to be seen and I wished I could have talked to him afterwards.  Interaction with other musicians is key and don't get frustrated.  You'll improve with each performance.  One song at a time.

Being with eccentric and erratic musicians at Waubeek, there's always cause to adapt to their way of playing.  Good drummers can do that, and at the same time, provide a beat so that the others get to play better themselves.   When you do a large variety of songs, some known, some I have no idea on how to play, you have to prepare on how to approach a song that doesn't have drums.   Dave threw a few songs I never played before (Thank You, Every Little Thing...) and they're songs I don't play for recreation either.   Lenny did a Steeldrivers song that usually don't have drums but I had the album and faintly recalled bits n pieces of it.  And the question on how to play Still My Guitar Gently Weeps, do I do a faster version or the Beatles's slower beat?  Fire On The Mountain, I decided to speed it up during the jam part, it's boring to play the same beat over n over, so I experiment with things.  The ever creative mind of a drummer will do that.

It's strange to see that  I accomplished more since returning to play in 2015, then I ever did in the thirty five years prior to playing drums.  I suppose being in the bedroom and garage didn't help my chances of being a Hall of Famer but then again, I never cared much for the limelight, preferring to play in the background, just like I'm doing with Dreams Of Arcadia or Boyscout Hippies.  It's their band, I'm just helping whenever I can.  I can adapt to just about any style, after all, my music isn't exactly polished either; the imperfections that I have to adapt to make the music sound better and I had to learn that the hard way during the 1980s when I was home recording and had a cassette player that wasn't the right speed at all.   It seems like I always do things the hard way.   But in the end the imperfections did make me a better musician in the long run.  And get ready for the challenges the other musicians bring to the jams.  The novices, the professionals and the dreamers.

I was at Half Price Bookstore before going to Waubeek, when I heard a familiar voice behind me.  And I turned around and Jeff Overly was there, he was in town helping Karl Hudson at some place in Van Horne. Jeff has been putting mileage on his car on the 2 hour drive up from Fort Madison.  I do miss having him back me up on sax when I play guitar but I sure sometime this year we'll do that again.


Stone City Songlist: 2/3/19

If You See Her
Not Fade Away
Love's Made A Fool Of You
Go Out And Get It
Greenback Dollar
Satisfied Mind
Good Time Charlie


The fog continue to hinder and keep people away, but I managed to go down to the General Store and hang out there instead of going to Rumors.  Alas, Brenda and Greg Mein got paired up with a bad drummer and bummed them out.  They would have benefited from me being there.  I will have to see who played there and if there were other drummers that could help out.  Funny how that drummer who was bashing and crashing was the same person who chastised me for bashing his cymbals hard a while ago.  I'm surprised he was doing just that.  Brenda mentioned there wasn't much to choose from for drummers anyway.

Since Buddy took an ill fated plane ride with The Big Bopper and Richie Valens, I thought I play a couple of songs in their honor.  Mostly Buddy.  Satisfied Mind made it's debut, in very rough form.

The fog kept away Dave and Sharon unlike last night.

Bill Schlatter played a encore set as well as couple of new musicians. Maki Dervo finished the night up.  He did a version of Whip Lash and Me And Julio and 20 seconds of My Sharona.

The jam ended at 7:15, and I was home by 7:30. The road was still quite foggy.

PS.  It was one year ago, that I make my Stone City debut.  Lane Gaffney, Rocky Smith, Maki Dervo and Bill Schlatter were in attendance back then. And all of them were there today.  Imagine that.