Thoughts From The Townedger-July 2019

Summer is really flying by with all the jams and rock and roll going on.  At this time I basically go over the happenings and other assorted thoughts that might interest people or worth reading in the archives.   I managed to celebrate my 40th high school reunion in perhaps the best together we have and picked up a few classmates as friends. As long as we keep our political views to ourselves, we should be fine.

I am not in a lot of class pictures and even the recent get together I'm at the bare limit of photos.  Per usual, I am hiding in the back of the class photo.  Al Heeran did take a few more with me in them but they're mostly photo bombs.

The Longfellow bunch.  Jeff Kewley, my best friend from Longfellow, Dana Maroff who lived a house down from me,  Janice Z, Linda McCormick (not sure her married name is), Janeen, and Cheryl Kloppenstein.  Russ couldn't make this photo shoot, his dad passed away earlier in the day.  It's funny how I towered over all these folks.  Janeen has always been short but I noticed Cheryl has grown a bit over the years.  Back in the fourth and sixth grade I used to walk Cheryl home from school.  School boy crush but she only lived a half block away from the school.  Did the same thing with Janice for a time.  She lived a block away from my home, her brother had a drum set that caught my attention.  Tammy Barnhart was there at the reunion but may have left before this photo was taken.   We haven't changed all that much in person.  But I'm still not used to seeing us now in middle to senior citizen age.

Doug Spinler with another photo of him playing the Blue Brat.  What boggles the mind that he was good at playing songs at the variety show and I had a guitar but didn't know how to play it.   In high school he would tell these goofy jokes and he would invite me over for a overnight get together.  He had a couple of cute sisters that I would love to date but never got around to that.  Anyway, later on when I finally got a drum set and learned how to play I'd would jam with him and his dad for a afternoon.  His dad was very good with the guitar, Doug was better.  The closest person to a Don Rich that I'll ever know.  He does wonders with a telecaster.

Dana lived on the same block as we did.  We didn't really associate that much in school.  But we have kept more in touch on social media than ever before.  She married Scott Waters, another friend that figured into my drum playing, he gave me a cymbal from his drum set after he quit playing.  Eventually she found  a better person to get married to.  She even let me sign her high school book.
I had doubts that I would have fun at the Reunion this year and of course there's awkward moments with my grade school crushes but overall, it was the most fun of reunions that I had.  I wished that Steve Fry and Ken Dede would have been there.  As well as Steve Willard too.

I had a lot of fun playing for Notes From The Underground in Solon the other night.  I was kinda hoping somebody would have posted pictures of that gig but I guess we'll have to go with the mental pictures in my mind of that.

The situation with the gig at the Office Lounge last weekend hasn't set well with me or if the owner and Julie had their communications crossed.  But I can guarantee you this, if the next Office gig gets fouled up one way or another I will not set foot in that bar again.  I'm not a fan of loading gear and drive 20 miles to a closed bar and nobody had the decency to let us know about that.

When you work with an icon hall of famer who still can be heard on the radio and is in two of the Iowa Hall Of Fame, there's a bit of Master and Servant that comes into play.  I look at everybody in the same way, I enjoy sharing the stage with them and playing along.  I'll never be in any hall of fame, I'm too average and don't stand apart from the crowd.  I do note their contributions to the music scene and thank them for their services.  If they are a bit full of themselves (and I do noticed that since a few of them are Facebook friends) I will not be a regular to their hosting of jams.  It's the way life has become.   The more pompous they are, the less I'll support them.  

Bob and Ron are the two most known in the Master and Servant band, tho I give Ron credit in the world for letting me play the song in the way I hear it.  Bob, on the other hand, has employed the best in blues musicians out there, if you're not well known, he won't have the time of day for you.  Of course he could prove me wrong on this, but I do know if we talk Rekkids I will bring up bands he's never heard of.  Or request music that he longer has in the KUNI library. He has a habit of whining about that when you call him out on that.   Once upon a time, I would make it an effort to get to know him, but since I have known him and know his persona and that he's not interested, we keep it a friendly nod and a wink.

This month I noticed that my fellow musician friends have a way to play songs or arrangements that doesn't exactly fit the song.  Either I conform to it or get off the stage.  And that's why I document and take notes of the songs.  It proves to challenge to me.  While I do not enjoy playing Dixie Chicken when sprung upon me, I have to get back to listen to the song and practice that for the next time.  And I'm sure Billy Bourbon will spring it back on me again.

And for the record, most musicians in a jam set would rather have you keep a beat rather than smash and crash all over the place.  I'm getting that way myself.  Less drums, less cymbals, smaller sticks.  Maki Dervo has been telling me to go slim on the music. And it's easier on the ears.  I should know this.  For many years I have played big fat drumsticks, pounded on Paiste Rudes and Power Crashes and played in overdrive.  I tinkered and changed my playing style time and time again, the first year being way too over zealous and then gradually eased into playing with the bass player.  I'm watching people all the time, taking notes, see if the drum beats are with their foot tapping on the floor. It never ends to not pay attention to the crowd but rather to Dan Johnson, then over to Tommy Giblin and Bob Dorr, it's the rhythm folks that I follow.  Same thing with Rumors and Tommy Bruner, Bird, Billy and who else is on stage.  Music is a group effort and a group driven effort. Even to a hobbyist outsider.   For me, I do well, but I know I can get much better. I'm always learning, tho I do not show off on drums that much.  Easier to lose a beat if i overdo a drum roll or triplet.

The Checker's Acoustic Wednesday has never rebounded after the AcoustaKitties broken up.  Lorie and Kathy had better turnouts, but I went with Julie due to us having a special chemistry. In Kevin Moore's case,  I think he had good intentions but got frustrated after week after week of nobody showing up to help his cause. But he was quite lazy on the jams and not doing but a couple songs at the start and then let everybody took over for him.  I never had any issues with Kevin, but I did feel bad for him when I showed up and it was just me and him to do this jam.  He got paid, how little it may have been, to me it was practice. I'm sure they been talking about me since I was linked to Julie in the special friend department two years ago.   I think it's harder to love me than to love Julie, you can ask Nicole or Lisa for that matter.  I tend to follow my own road alone most of the time.  Julie is a woman, she'll speak her mind and we'll banter back and forth.  But she's a good person with a good heart. We are not a couple, but good friends.  I didn't think Kevin Moore would change the jam all that much, he's not as outgoing as Billy Bourbon is.  Billy has made more of an impact in this area since arriving last year, Kevin still is on the outside looking in.  Not showing up as host didn't help his cause.  Last week's reunion of Cathy and Lorie with Julie was probably a one off.  Lorie works nights and Cathy has other things going on, I don't see them coming back.   Maybe once in a while, but the Acoustic Wed jam is a sinking ship and I doubt if Julie can turn it around.  The cards are stacked against her.

The Rumors Wednesday Jam has done so so, but perhaps having new guest stars hosting it should be considered.    It's summertime, and nobody wants to be indoors,   Every jam has it's own clique and band members. Terry has kept the jams going on for four years, taking over for Bart Carfizzi, who has disappeared from the jam scene and Tim Duffy who moved South.   Tim Wiley tried to make it work but nobody supported him and after two weeks that was over.  I haven't seen Tim in over a year.

I have a good friendship with Terry and that's all that matters to me.   I don't play a lot of songs, I just do enough to get some drum practice in and move on down to Rumors to help Julie.   We got the Wildcat coming back from a long vacation to play drums and wow the folks again.  He's crazy but he is pretty damn good.  And they don't call him the Wildcat for nothing.  I do get along better with him than I do with Bob Dorr.  So do a few more folks.

The Rumors Wednesday Humpday Jam;

Angel From Birmingham
Unchain My Heart
Dust My Broom

With Kim, Terry, Tommy, Bird, Nick and Billy

NOTES:

There was no acoustic jam at Checkers.  Kevin Moore decided he had enough.  And nobody showed up anyway.  The Wildcat was let loose on drums tonight.  For a 64 year old drummer, he still is the hardest rocking drummer.  I thought Patrick Geisland was a hard rocking drummer, Wildcat is more harder.   The three songs done tonight were okay, by the book, nothing flashy.  Kraig did all the dirty work, I just laid down the beat.

When I saw Mike Fredericks showed up, I figured Checkers' had nothing going on.  I was right.  It'll be interesting to see what next week's jam will be like. I know I will have to commit to Julie's cause.It might be the last jam they have up there if we don't get jammers.

That's it for this month.  The journey continues this weekend when I host Waubeek's jam.

Blues From Parlor City

Statesboro Blues
Everyday I Have The Blues
Blue Mississippi
Have You Ever Loved A Woman
Four In The Morning.

With

Bob Dorr-Harmonica and Lead vocal on 4
Buddy Franklin-Harmonica and Vocals (1-2)
Jeff Petersen-Guitar and Lead vocal on 3,6)
Dan Johnson-Bass
Tommy (Gibby) Giblin-Keyboards
This blogger: drums

NOTES:

A small crowd and myself played along with Bob and Jeff.  Bob and I didn't shake hands, that's not his style but he did nod his head of approval on Blue Mississippi, which is one of the original songs that they're famous for.

Dan believes that the songs go better if I played the ride cymbal and not the hi hats on the faster songs. He knows what he's doing.  I just accommodate to get people to dance.  To which we did.

Dan tried to get a hold of me yesterday about sitting in with American Legend, the band that used to have Tom Timmons on drums, which would have been a honor to play.  But I was out chasing records in Waterloo and didn't get back in time.   I thanked Dan for thinking about me when I caught him at the jam tonight.

Evening supper at Cross Roads Bistro and I ran into Troy Mitchell and a former member of Nite Moves that moved to Arizona.  We chatted for a bit, before Troy had to hurry home and get to bed.  He has to wake up around 2 AM to get to his workplace.   Told him that's usually the time I go to bed.  I don't know how Troy does it, balance work and music while working strange hours,  And I thought I worked strange hours.

When you work with a  legendary DJ and musician, you never quite know what you're up against.  My history with Bob has been chequered at best, somewhat akin to Ron.   He's done wonders for the local music scene and plays harmonica and drums well.  But Bob is not that approachable, unless you're in his inner circle.  I had thought about willing my record collection to him in the past but we have gotten into a couple scrimmages which made me think otherwise.  Judging by the low turnout of jammers some would rather not deal with him.  I like jamming with Bob, he's unique in the way he delivers a blues song such as Have You Ever Loved A Woman and even wanted the song sped up.  The way I like that.  Jeff is the polar opposite of Bob, a down to earth guy that will chat with you on musical things.    The last time we jammed, I decided not to patronize him into being more of a jam friend after he explained how he didn't like other musicians tinker with his drumset.   I could work with his ride cymbal down to my knee and the splash around my shoulder, it's his set up, I adapt to it. I'll abide and leave him to his privacy.  At least for tonight he smiled and acknowledged that I did fairly well on the songs that we did.

Stone City/Rumors: Jeff Taylor Is Going Back To Boston

Stone City Song list:

Logic And Lies
The Life We Lead
Fox On The Run
Good Time Charlie
Let's Work Together
Ring Of Fire
Gold Dust Woman

Sharon sings backup on Ring Of Fire
Kim Trevallion-Lead vocal on Gold Dust Woman


Rumors' Farewell To Jeff Taylor songlist:

Me And Bobby McGee
When Will I Be Loved
Squeeze Box
Dixie Chicken
Proud Mary
Folsom Prison Blues
Have You Ever Seen The Rain

There was another song that I played but can't remember it.  Maybe it'll come to me before bedtime.

Dee Vieman, Kelly Cedrel,  Billy Bourbon, Tommy Bruner, Terry McDowell, Bird, Jeff Overly, Nick Lnenicka and Jeff Taylor figured into the equation.



NOTES:

The Rumors get together is interesting for me playing something not even close to Richie Hayward and when Billy sprung it out on me, I have no fucking clue, so I played a strange beat close to a song I used to beat on a tin drum playing harmonica.  The triplett New Orleans R&B Shuffle was beyond me.  I need to really figure out that song for the next time.  I am beginning to believe that getting older is beginning to affect my drum playing, especially in triplets.   Jeff Taylor's month long vacation in Iowa is over. He returns back to Boston on Monday.  Pictures were taken, I missed the photo op.

I enjoy jamming with Randy Burgendorff, our favorite Rare Earth musician but even my advanced age, I'm still playing a bit more faster than I should.  We do our breathing exercises to mellow out and then I'm back to 90 in a 70 zone beat again.  I tend to stare a hole through him in order to pick up what he is putting down.  It's a tough job but I have to focus on him on these songs, tho I tend to disagree on a couple.  But I do try to play it his way, he's been doing this for many many years and he knows music.

Despite a metal fest going on at Otis Tailgator's there was a fairly good crowd of jammers and I got to see and talk to Jeff Overly for about 5 minutes before he had to leave back home.  School's ready to start and he won't be doing much jamming but he has been dedicated to Karl Hudson's cause.  Afterwards, Nick came up and said he was missing a mic from the Artisan Sanctuary open mic a couple weeks ago.  I told him to look up Jim Jacobmeyer, I have no control over people lose their stuff, I have trouble remembering my own.

I knew I did seven songs and it took me taking out the garbage and recycling the plastic bags when that elusive song came to me.  Squeeze Box.   UGH.

Tom Berdo was there.  I sat in for Notes From The Underground, playing drums last night.





The Solon gig was quite nice and despite a short practice most of the songs did work, tho' I sped up Running Down A Dream a lot faster than they wanted it.   It was a fun time, tho' Tom did ask me to quiet things down on drums on the second set.  I was playing the thinnest of the drumsticks that I did have.on hand.  I can't say if I had more fun with them then when I was with Boy Scout Hippies, I was a temporary fill in and I was happy the way I played with both NFTU and BSH.   I enjoy the 7-10 slot when Tom and the guys played.  Which meant after the tear down, I was home before 11:30

I started in  Stone City this afternoon and had Kimberly back up to sing Gold Dust Woman and she sang it better than last week.  I wish I could do more songs with her but my songbook is limited and she doesn't know most of my stuff anyway.  I'll see what we can do in the near future; she's been hanging around Stone City and doing songs with Lane Gaffney as well.   It's not that Julie has full rights to the song, I love playing the song with her since it was one of the reasons why we started dating off and on, but Kim has her own spin on the song.  And once again today, the audience gave a nice applause.  I do need to find more material to have Kim sing on.  She can sing anything she wants.

Darryl from the Cedar River Wailers stopped in to say hi.  Dakota came down and announced that he and Ron were going to do a set.  Ron showed up a half hour later but for some reason something pissed him off and he went home.  In fact, when I was making my way back to Cedar Rapids, Ron was in front of me and he did go home.

I don't think he's a big fan of the jams and showcases since they don't play (Except the Tyler And Downing acoustic jams last Wednesday of the month), and he's never happy when Dakota shows up to play, he gave Dakota the business for the participation of the Waubeek Jam in June.  I'm certain Ron didn't want me to play drums for at least one song when the BSH and Cali Jean played in Waubeek in May.  I cannot and will not fault Ron for the things that he does, he might take himself way too seriously as head Boy Scout Hippie   It's been his band and only he is the absolute leader, but I noticed that former drummers don't have him as a Facebook friend either.    I told Ron, that he's always free to come talk to me  and if he needs a temp drummer, I'd be ready for him.  I smile and wave at him but whatever comes of that remains up to him.  I do keep up with the latest BSH stories and gigs, I tend to laugh out loud at some of the things he says.  There might be a photo of me with them, and I have him in my music site of pictures of us playing together.  He can deny it but I managed to help him get through the winter in the handful of gigs I played with him.  I could have quit my job and remain in the band, but I need to interact with other musicians, he may want to control Dakota but he'll never tame me in my ways.    I'll help him still in the future but a little of him does go a very long way.    Sorry I didn't acknowledge his presence tho' I did tip my hat to him and smile while chatting with Bill Schlatter after my set.

It was a fairly good crowd at Stone City but the Goddamn flies are fucking nuts out there.  That place needs about 10 fly swatters to combat them.  Darryl said there was no flies outside the deck.  I'm sure they were but we had way too many of them indoors.

Mike Swearingen did go the funeral and it was the first time I saw him in about four years.  The greatest lead singer we ever had, time has really a toll on him.  He no longer sings or does the Karaoke at Checkers anymore.  He now uses a cane to get around.  Tho' we did chat briefly at the reception we didn't get into deep talking, and his sister avoided me for some reason.  Last time I've seen her she had black hair, now it's all gray.   And I recall there was a time she could stop a clock.  But then again I'm not that sociable either.   Life goes on.

The weekend jams were dedicated to Russ's dad Russ Swearingen who passed away last Saturday at the age of  93.  He was buried in a Cardinals uniform and got full military honors and a 21 gun salute at his funeral.  It remains true that when you came into Dad Swearingen's house you were now part of the family.  I'm not proud of going over there and cuss out the Cubs when the Cardinals were kicking their ass all over Busch Stadium but Dad got a kick out of that.  When I saw him at Hy Vee he always asked about my mom.  I think he tolerated me and Russ' band playing but our music wasn't his kind.  But he did support the band.  93 years is a long time and Dad Swearingen fought in the war, came home and went back to school and then was a part of Collins Radio for many many years before retiring.  His grandkids was his life.  I regretted not to spend more time with him but I do cherish the times we went to ball games while growing up.

RIP to my other Dad.  You are missed.

Acousta Kitties Reunite

Checker's Songlist:

Fox On The Run
For What Its Worth
Let's Work Together
Gold Dust Woman"

"Julie Gordon-Lead Vocals
  Donna Jo Elsner-Backing vocal and percussion

Spiders And Snakes
Midnight Special

With:  Lorie Parker, Julie Gordon, Cathy Hart Spina, Jeff Gage, Abigail Bunker, Mike Frederick, Ryan Paul and Richard Edward Butler

Rumors Jam A Lot Wednesday Songs:

Dreams
Oh Lonesome Me
Born On The Bayou
I Put A Spell On You

Billy Bourbon-Guitar and vocals
Dee Vieman-Lead Vocals
Tommy Bruner-Lead Guitar
Randy Burgendorf-Bass


With:  Terry McDowell, Herm Sarduy, Stan Hersom, Mike Lint, Dan Hartman, Tim Canfield, George Menichar

NOTES:

Julie really needed this turnout tonight and she got it with the return of Cathy Hart and Lorie Parker back on stage for tonight's showcase.  All the gang was there, Greg Sage, Luther Parker, Ann who bought pizza and gave a few slices to me.  Tim and George came over from Rumors to check out a half hour of songs and thankfully they stayed to hear my set.  Fox On The Run was probably the most bluegrass country sounding of all the times I played it.  For What Its Worth rocked a bit more than usual and of course I was dicking around with Let's Work Together.  Since nobody paid much attention, I threw in a humorous lyric about A good turbo fan, keeps me cool cool cool.  And got no reaction.  I was pressed for time, so Julie came up to sing Gold Dust Woman with Donna Jo playing alongside us.    After I left, Julie returned to play a few more songs with Lorie and Cathy and things concluded slightly after 10 with Sweet Home Alabama being the last song.  And of course everybody got up to scream OH CARL, to Carl Meiners, who was out doing the RAGBRAI bike ride.

Rumors, the big story was seeing Stan Hersom once again.  First time I have seen him in over 3 years.  We chatted a bit.  Terry was gracious enough to let me go ahead of Stan to play four songs before I had to run to Rumors to join Julie.  Herm was back playing drums again.  Stan played on Me And Bobby McGee before I left.  I always thought he was a terrific drummer.  Hope to see him more often too.

Parlor City Blues And Doug Ducey

Johnny B Goode
Whole Lot Of Shaking Going On
May I Have A Talk With You Baby
Working Man Blues
Moonlight In Mississippi
Evil Ways
Parlor City Blues Jam
I Can't Get Next To You


Kris Briles-Lead Vocals (1-3)
Doug Ducey-Lead Vocal (4)
Jeff Taylor-Lead Vocals (5,6,8)

With
Doug Ducey-Guitar and vocals (1-6)
Tom Giblin-Keyboards (1-4)
Jeff Taylor-Keyboards (5-8)
Byron Stevens-Bass (all songs)
R.Smith-Drums (all songs)
Jon Wilson-Host drummer
Kris Briles-Guitar and Vocals
Two other guys played guitar on the last two  songs, can't think of their name
George Hanna-played drums after me.
Wildcat stayed around to watch a bit but didn't play.


NOTES:

Not a lot of jammers and I didn't plan on going but trying to new work software and the ACT jobs got rejected, the new system isn't working.  Gibby gave me the option to open up the second set or wait till later, Jon Wilson deferred so I took over for him and did seven songs, three with Kris Briles and then Jeff Taylor came up to play.  Byron Stevens came in for Dan Johnson tonight.  Doug Ducey replaced Brook Hoover tonight.

I always make more of an effort to come to the jams when Doug plays or Ryan Phelan.  Out of all the jammers, Doug is the most fun to talk to about music.  He mentioned he would love to put together an oldies band and get a decent girl singer up there.  He's 67 years young and still enjoys playing the live circuit, I know him from Honkytonk Roadhouse when they play Solon or Sutliff.   And I know I'd love to catch him play.  After all he has Jim Viner playing drums, and Jim is one of the tightest drummers out there.  He's played in The Dangtrippers, Head Candy and the early lineup of Diplomats of Solid Sound, replacing Bill Neff.  Doug has seen it all, and even he shakes his head about bands playing the same old songs.  He shared some nice memories of rock legends, Carl Perkins was super nice to hang around, Del Shannon not so much.   Doug mentioned he could write a book on his music career in the state.  I would buy a copy.

Stone City Acoustic Jam-MHS 40th Reunion

Let's Work Together
Fox On The Run
Cinnamon Girl
I Fought The Law
Everybody's Talking
Summertime Blues
Gold Dust Woman

Kimberly Trevillion-Lead vocals on Gold Dust Woman
Doug Kovarik-Percussion on Gold Dust Woman
Dave Petersen-Backing vocals on Summertime Blues and Gold Dust Woman
Donna Jo Elsner-backing vocal and percussion on Everybody's Talking and Gold Dust Woman

Plus, With Angie Marie Cox

Knocking On Heaven's Door
You Ain't Going Nowhere
Hurricane
Wagon Wheel (Of course)

With:  Donna Jo, Maki Dervo, Danny Dias, Dougie Kovarik, and Ken Becicka

Carl Meiners is doing the RAGBRAI trip across the state.

(Doug Spinler playing the Blue Brat, to which it didn't break a string surprise surprise.  Jill Cram took the photo)

(Gold Dust Women, Kimberley and Donna Jo, Plus Dougie on congas)

Notes:

This weekend was the Marion High School 40th Reunion.  I still cannot fathom being out of high school 40 summers ago.  It still seems like yesterday.  I will probably post the pictures at the end of the month thoughts, but for the most part I avoided the camera's eye.  The get together was Friday Night at Bricks and the place was a sauna.  Hot and stuffy.  I only stayed there for an hour and a half. Russ made it Friday Night but the next day, he announced that his Dad passed away.  He was 93.  His dad lived a full life and all of his children came out great.

The next night, the big event was at A Touch Of Class and despite the 35 dollar tag to mingle with classmates, we drew a bigger crowd than the 2009 get together.  People remain the same, the elite tends to stick together while us lesser known hung with the other lesser known.  I spent the most part of the evening with Doug Spinler, Tom Bowler, Tim Henderson plus Dana Marloff and Jill Cram who came up from Florida.  I am facebook friends with a couple that did not associate with me during the past two and managed to pick up a new friend in Mark Vasey, tho we never talked much in school.  I did bring a guitar just in case Doug wanted to play a song or them wanted me to do a song but Doug did do one song, while his wife held the microphone.  Doug has been a very good friend of mine for many years and perhaps we should have played more together when the time was right.  However in high school I didn't play at all, mostly out of tune guitar bits and coffee can solos.  I did not see the need to play anything since I didn't play the variety shows back then but Doug did.  Janeen Crowley did a fine job putting this two day event, they even had a part set aside for the ones in our class that passed away.  Only ones that were missing was Mike Pollack and Mark Ryan.  Unlike the last reunion, I didn't close the place down, I left at 11 PM, to which most of my friends did as well.

For today it was Stone City, and Kimberley sat in to finish up my set with Gold Dust Woman and her version is slightly different than Julie's.  She did a few songs with Lane Gaffney and then with Dan Hartman sang Walking After Midnight.  She's slowly becoming more of a presence on stage with me, be it drums or guitar.  She's the most powerful vocalist in town, Julie is the most Stevie Nicks like on the songs we play, Belinda James is very melodic but Kim is by far the strongest voice there.  I earlier played in the day with Dreams Of Arcadia at the Office this afternoon, Belinda showed up later on and we all tried out the Chinese place in downtown Monticello.  The Chicken Fried Rice might have been the most closest in taste next to the old China place in Metro Center in Phoenix.  But I haven't been to Phoenix in over 6 years.  I'm not sure if it's still there.



It was Doug's birthday and he played harmonica or congas, so he helped me out on Gold Dust Woman with Kim and Donna Jo.  Donna Jo sang harmony with me on Everybody's Talking.  For the past few weeks, I haven't changed the setlist at all, I can now play Fox On The Run with those ridiculous chord changes.   I did change the beginning chords to Let's Work Together to E rather than A, and then A to I Fought The Law, which is usually G C D.  I got lost in the clouds trying to remember the first verse of Summertime Blues and then found them.  Overall, my performance was pretty good today.  And then I stuck around to help Angie on her four songs including, (Yawn) Wagon Wheel.  I know when she is at the General Store she'll play that plus You Ain't Going Nowhere and Knocking On Heaven's Door tho she did play a new song called Hurricane.  Maki played percussion.

(Dougie, Maki, Angie Marie,Jay, Danny, I'm behind Dougie, hiding from the camera)

Maki did acquire a pair of congas for free and has been using them the past couple weeks.  I really haven't made any effort to play them tho' I did carried them upstage.  They are quite heavy, even more than Ryan Paul's Black Beauties.  Awkward and cumbersome too.

Dave Pedersen is the lead singer of the local band The 100's and he closed the set with four originals and When I Paint My Masterpiece, the old Band song.  He's very down to earth and easy to talk to about music. I can probably seeing doing something with him in the future.

Lane concluded the jam with Seven Bridges Road to which Donna Jo, Dougie playing harmonica an percussion too. I stayed at the General Store after playing Monticello and didn't feel like running into town to play Rumors.  But they had plenty of people there, namely Joe Huchcroft and Kraig Spratt and a few others playing drums.  We'll see about getting back there next Sunday.

Rumors Jam 7-17-19

Angel From Birmingham
Drift Away
Further Up The Road


Kim Trevillelion-Lead Vocal
Tommy Bruner-Guitar
Billy Bourbon-Guitar and backing vocals
Bird-Bass
R.Smith-Drums

Notes:

Blues night.  Kraig Spratt played some massive drums on Magic Bus and we finally got talk to one another.  He complimented me on my work and I did likewise.  Kraig mentioned he never played it before tonight.

Mike Lint got saddled with Gold Dust Woman/The Chain.

Kraig and I followed each other to catch the tail end of Four Day Creep.  DJ Hovenstot and Bob Miller were down there.

It seems I've been hanging with Kimberly more on songs of late, from Parlor City to Rumor's.  I'm okay with that.  She is s talented singer that brings a different meaning to Gold Dust Woman.

Bird has gotten me to do some breathing exercises before I play.  He says it's mellow you out and gets you into the music.    He might have a point there.  He is supposed to play in Rare Earth this Friday at the Fond Du Lac fair in Wisconsin.  As his bio says, he is a treat to play alongside on the jams.  Still kickass, and can be humorous as hell.  

PS.  People ask me about The Boy Scout Hippies and if I plan to return to the band anytime soon. I think Ron and Dakota are doing fine with their latest drummer.  If it's a fill in date or emergency, I will help him out.  But they  don't need me.   And I wish them all the best.  This is the latest from Ron about their ongoing adventures.  As long as he keeps his inner Mr. Ron persona under wraps, he'll do fine.

We had a great crowd last night at Whiskey River. We've been asked to appear every 3rd Saturday of the month and we accepted. Now we're booked at two monthly gigs, the 2nd Saturday at FB & Co. and, starting in Sept., at Whiskey River every 3rd Sat. That only leaves 2 Saturday's of the month that are open for other bookings. I'm so proud of my two bandmates for their hard work and commitment to our cause. The love that we're receiving from our fans is humbling and somewhat overwhelming. The Boyscout Hippies are 3 people with very strong faith and we give Him all thanks and praise. We are truly blessed & we know it. Thank's to everyone for your continued support and love. Much peace to all.

P P S-If it wasn't for Dakota, Ron would be nothing.

Stone City-Basement Revival

Fox On The Run
Let's Work Together
Switch Board Susan
Everybody's Talking
Cinnamon Girl


And with Angie Cox, Carl Meiners, Maki Dervo, Mike Frederick, Lenny Drake, Danny Dias, Ken Becicka and David Pedersen

Knocking On Heaven's Door
You Ain't Going Nowhere
Wagon Wheel (yuck)
Will The Circle Be Unbroken

NOTES:

The finale of the week long tour of jams around the area to support my forth anniversary of playing again.  I didn't intend to go anywhere, but at the last minute opted to stay close to home and play Stone City and let the wildcat pound away at Rumors this afternoon in my absence.  Basically it's the start of a long stretch of hot and humid weather so I put the AC in the window and fucked off the rest of the day watching the Cubs win on the net and being lazy.  I figured I better do something to be productive.

The General Store was packed, and it was quite stuffy indoors.  And of course, the Goddamn flies were everywhere, I counted six of them flying fucks at the table I sat next to Carl so I basically moved to place with less flies, tho' I did nail about three of them and still have 20 more buzzing around my head.  Which is why I wear a hat, I hate them landing on my head.

Again, the songs used are becoming the ones that I play more often since I remember the words best. Somehow Good Time Charlie and Summertime Blues got passed over for Switch Board Susan and if I know the words, I can move from song to song.   There was this great looking woman I took notice and sang Switch Board Susan and dedicated that one to her.  I'm thirty years older and she was with somebody anyway but me and Lane couldn't keep our eyes off her.  Doesn't hurt to look.

Tonight was the debut of a group of teens known as Basement Revival, a group of kids playing rock and roll and pissing off the old folks there.  I had to laugh at the group at the table in front of me with discouraging looks and fingers stuck in their ears as the band tried to play The Boys Are Back In Town and later did three other songs.  Kinda reminded me of my old band when we started out.  This time these guys had electric drums so Lane could control the volume.  They didn't play a tenth as loud as Paraphernalia/Tyrus did back in our heyday. Probably a good thing, had we played they would have shut us down after one song.

I might be pushing sixty but I'll always will root for the new generation of kids playing rock and roll. They are a endangered bunch with rap and bad country out there.  These kids did well despite the odds and they got to play four songs.

Angie Cox, then ended the jam, and she let me pop on stage with the rest of the gang to do four songs, usually the four songs she does including the execration sound of Wagon Wheel but I did sang back up on Heaven's Door and Nowhere.  Angie tends to wander off her way on the songs, especially she picked up the banjo on the last two numbers.   Which is why I didn't plug on, better to play solo, so low nobody hears me.  Despite the flies and stuffiness of the place it was a fun time.

Whittier With Belinda James And Friends-Strictly Acoustic

Songs:

It's Been A While
Fox On The Run
Good Time Charlie*
Fever
Let's Work Together Blues
When You Say Nothing At All
Ole 55
This Ole House**
Stand By Me*
It's Too Late
What's Up

* I played guitar to other people singing the songs
** David Lam-Vocals
Belinda James-Lead Vocals, 1,4,6,11


Notes:

I took the Silvertone guitar to Whittier, and played two songs on it but it would not stay in tune, so I went home and picked up the Guild and things were a lot better after that.

For the first time, it was a strictly acoustic setting, no microphones whatsoever.  I was the only one that brought a amp.   This was also a short night, Boy Scout Hippies were playing down the road and when they got done, they would have a fireworks show.  So most folk went down there.

Belinda did fine, tho' today was her anniversary to her late husband and she went into pieces on When You Say Nothing At All.  Ole 55 was followed but she was still emotional over the previous song.  First time I played Ole 55 since April.  It's Too Late made its debut.  It's off the Tales From The Red Caboose album of 1987.

Belinda got the last song.  By 9 oclock everybody was ready to pack up and go see the fireworks so I concluded it with the reggae version of What's Up, and I think that helped Belinda getting over the sadness for a moment at least.

And now, the highlights of four years of playing music.  A return from a retirement that lasted three decades.  I never been much in terms of jumping into bands and creating havoc, when you have a evening job, that pays the bills, music has to be a hobby.  Unlike my friends Terry and Mike, I cannot balance a job and playing in four other bands.  Besides I am too lazy to commit anymore. Plus it has to be fun.

When I compiled the four year all time best, I know there are moments that has fallen along the way. There are special moments when I reunited with my bandmates Russ and Dewayne at Rumors/Wrigleyville and of course not so great moments.  Not so proud moments such as a punk rock version of Crossroads with Tim Riley and Ryan Paul to which Ken Webb got blisters on his fingers trying to keep up on me.  Or Kim Bean screaming not to his cymbals so fucking hard on a 2016 jam. Or countless others telling me not to play so loud.  Sometimes you can't please everyone, so you have to please yourself, or go insane trying to please them all.

I have had more pictures taken of me playing the past four years, then all of the 35 years preceding. Not much exist outside of the Paraphernalia show at the OK Lounge, so I made it a honest effort to at least capture all of the good and bad moments since coming back.  From the first photo by Kim Barely to the last by Jim Jacobmeyer, these photos captured the moment of playing songs.  It boggles the mind that I'm still having Dave Bonham and Dan Hartman along with the ride.  It also boggles the mind that I managed to document these happenings on a social media site that still is running today. I wrote down the things that happened.  Sometimes the truth could hurt but not everything you will agree with other musicians.  I document them as they happened.   So in the end, after four years of playing and hanging out, these are the memories that best describe my best moments of playing.

(Kim Barely:Photo Credit)

This week  marks four years of playing at jams around the area. To mark the occasion here are ten songs that defined this era. (plus two bonus tracks) 

1) Dreams I'll Never See (with Four Day Creep)

The signature song that I usually jam with Rick Clay, tho this song took effect when Duane C. in town got me to play the accents on this song. Since then it has been one of the highlights of jamming with 4DC.

2) Fever (With Belinda James)

Another signature song. First time I met Belinda, Terry asked me to help her on this song. It has always been quite jazzy, but there was a good version when Tommy Bruner made it even more jazzier. I play it better on drums but when Belinda is town and the Egads show up, I'm doing the guitar riffs.

3) Gold Dust Woman (With Julie Gordon, others)

Most recently, at Rumors, with Dee singing this, Bird and Billy decided to tack on the ending from The Chain to make it more rocking and I caught on to it later. To these ears Julie owns this song.

4) For What It's Worth (With Phil Bo King, Dave Bonham)

One of the songs that I can sing from memory and can play on guitar. Best version came from the Maury Baker jam last Jan. and Phil Bo made it his song with a cool lead. Dave also has helped me on guitar too.

5) The Weight (With Meinfield, Notes From The Underground)

Levon Helm has always had such a groove. Greg and Brenda have done a cool version of this song.

6) Wicked Game (With Dreams Of Arcadia, Ed Butler)

I think the slower version works best tho' The Boy Scout Hippies did the Chris Issak version. DOA has a nice sadness to the song thanks to Ryan Paul's keyboard work. But Ed's version is the most eccentric.

7) Whiplash (With Maki Dervo)

Maki is way out there, I'd love to spend a few hours in his head trying to take note of what beats he'd like for these songs, usually Bo Diddley, usually world music. And the biggest collection of pan flutes anywhere.

8) Logic And Lies (Solo)

Made famous for my open mic showcases at Artisan Sanctuary. I guess it's the theme song

9) The Twist Medley (with Ernest Sippie Bynum)

Ernest is basically famous for this song. He holds the record for loudest vocals ever at Parlor City (121 DB) and when he shows up he'll sing this and then go into Bring It On Home To Me.

10) Cinnamon Girl (with Julie and the Mad Dogs, Solo)

It took me forever to finally play the GD thing on guitar and even today it's still a hassle, but it's another song that I can recite with the songbook. I'm just as home playing drums on it too.

Bonus track) Graciously (with Cali Jean Blake n Boy Scout Hippies)

In my special appearances with Boy Scout Hippies, they could play songs from Lucinda Williams and this was one of the highlights of the gigs, especially when Cali sang it. If you're thinking of putting a Lucinda Williams tribute band together, she'd be the perfect singer.

Bonus Track 2) Midnight Rambler (With Tommy Bruner)

A very tricky song to pull off, due to a shuffle at the beginning, a boogie part, a slow blues grind and all out shuffle rock at the end. Dueling harmonicas from Nick Lnenicka and Bob Gleason really makes this one of the most fun songs to do at the Sunday Funday Jam at Rumors.

There's plenty more song that I enjoy but i do think these are the ones are best associated with me. Thanks to jammers for the memories and music. With your help I have finally kicked watching the TV habit.

Artisan Sanctuary. Harps And Jams

Artisan Sanctuary Set List:

Eve Of Destruction
For What Its Worth
Good Time Charlie
Logic And Lies
Cinnamon Girl
Rock Me Baby

With

Nick Lnenicka-Harmonica

Also:  Steve Black Wolf, Gregdon Cole, Mudboy Slim, Barry Sharp, Jeff Allen and Jim Jacobmeyer.

(Jim Jacobmeyer: photo)

Notes:

Julie wasn't feeling well so she didn't make it to Marion for the jam.  I stopped in early to catch a few songs from Dave Bonham and Steve was up there singing a few songs with them.  I was drifting in and out of dreamland before I turned around and seen Nick behind me asking if there was any jams going on.  Told him about the open mic at the Sanctuary and he was invited to come sit in with me. We only jammed one time before, but I knew he would catch on quickly.  And he did.

I stole Eve Of Destruction away from Steve (snicker) but Steve had the best protest songs at the end and he finished up the jam with some great songs. He could get away throwing the F bomb in those songs.



Barry and Jeff did a pretty good version of White Bird, though Barry said they did a short version of it.  They usually stretch it out about 9 minutes.  But anybody that covers that song does get points in my book.

With Nick playing harmonica I could extend the songs and I did.  He never played Logic And Lies before but he didn't miss a step at all.  He also played harmonica with Mud Boy Slim (not sure who the guys' name is but he does play at Stone City and Whittier from time to time).   Usually I jam with Nick on drums at Rumors and their jams and my tenure with BSH.  On guitar I tend to get a bit tentative but I felt at ease with him playing harp.   Since he was there, I figured ending my set by playing the blues would be great.

He didn't disappoint.

Checkers/Rumors: The Wildcat Meets Acousta Crabby

Checkers Songlist:

Terra-plane  Blues/
Going Down That Old Highway
Fox On The Run
Mercury Blues
For What It's Worth
Cinnamon Girl
Gold Dust Woman
Stop Dragging My Heart Around
Baby What You Want Me To Do
Spirit In The Sky

With
Julie Gordon  Vocals and guitar  (6-10)
Mike Frederick-Backing vocal (10)


Rumors  Humpday Jam

Runaway
Folsom Prison Blues
Gold Dust Woman

Dee Vieman-Vocals
Billy Bourbon-Guitar
Tommy Bruner-Guitar
Randy Burghdorf-Bass
I played drums.

Notes:

Wildcat Spratt has been back on the jam circuit for the past week and is beginning to show a more sensible side of playing drums.  He got the majority of the songs that I played the other day and  I was surprised that he didn't get to play Gold Dust Woman.  Instead they settled on Dreams.   Mike Lint, and DJ Hovenstot were the other drummers besides Terry and myself.  Tim Canfield came up later.  I did three songs, including Runaway and Gold Dust Woman including the jam ending to which we finally getting better at trying to predict where to come in.  We got the people to dance and to me that's all that matters.

I acknowledged the wildcat, by tipping my hat to him on my way out.  There's something about him that makes me realize that we won't be trading drum stories anytime soon. I'm sure his sister may have clued him about me and he looked away when I took over for him on drums.  I'm sure he was watching intently from the back of the room.  Playing through shades, I just smiled and played along.

Runaway and Folsom Prison were the two songs that I forgot to include on the Sunday list.  I might have played them last Wednesday but I managed to remembered them for inclusion for the songs I did.   I had a few brain farts on Gold Dust Woman but nailed the jam part at the end.  I still need to look up the Fleetwood Mac live version.  I'm still not that convinced about the arrangement.

The lateness of the hour, I finally had to get over to Checkers' to help Julie's cause.  Mike Frederick was the only other jammer there.  DJ and Kimberley Hovenstot did showed up later for support.

For some reason, I showed more emotion and bounced around the stage tonight.  The first song was thought up on the spot, Terra Plane Blues, to which it mutated into Going Down That Highway.  I was animated most of the show and while the songs were the usual ones, Julie did help me on  the last five numbers.  I felt bad I didn't get there sooner than I did, since I spent an hour in a half up at Rumors waiting to play behind Mike Lint and the Wildcat.  When DJ showed up, I could leave and make it to Checkers within 5 to 10 minutes, it's not that far.

Mercury Blues was done in a different key and I was fudging on the chords and it became something different.  So I danced around, did some Elvis moves and hammed it up.  Julie did remarked she has never seen this side of me.   I did a groovy job.

This was more Julie's show than it was mine, especially on the last few cuts.  She managed to do some guitar finger picking on Baby What You Want Me To Do.   And like Rumors, Gold Dust Woman figured into this, this time Julie continues to show that she owns this song when it is played.
Mike Frederick took the video to which at the end DJ remarked,  "have you played enough Fleetwood Mac yet?"

I can't top that one. ;)

Four Years Of Jams-A Hobbyist Gigging Along

Parlor City Blues Jam

Kris Briles-Lead Vocal and Guitar
Tristian Gray-Guitar
Jeff Craft-Keyboards
Dan Johnson-Bass
R.Smith-Drums

Tore Up
Whole Lot Of Shaking Going On
How Blue Can You Get.

Tom Giblin, Ryan Phelan, Jon Wilson: Hosts
Kraig Spratt-Spectator
Kimberly Trevillion-Vocals
Sir Bob Miller-In for me on drums
Chuck Savage-Guitar
Gibby-keyboards
Phil Bo King-Bass
Nick Lnencika -Harmonica

Is the Wildcat coming back to play at more jams?  Seems that way, tho' he didn't play tonight.  I did three songs and then let Bob come in to take over on drums.  I don't look at the quantity of songs or how few I do, I look at the quality of them.  Kris is getting much better on guitar and he did rock out on Whole Lot Of Shaking Going On.  There was a youngster on guitar as well, but I didn't catch his name.  This basically concludes my Parlor City jam for at least a week.  If we're not busy at work with ACT then perhaps I'll show up again.    D.J. did mentioned that the Wildcat plays too loud in the blues settings. But  I expect the Wildcat  to play Rumors tomorrow night.

I did pass up a chance to jam with Chuck and Phil Bo, but I thought Bob would be just as good on the beats.  FLEX played across the street outside the Chrome Horse.  They were quite loud, I could hear them from the walking trail in Sinclair Park.

Alas, I didn't get to jam with Ryan Phelan tho.
George Hanna and Miles Demarso were not there.

With that, today marks the forth anniversary of me returning to the jams and music circuit.   I think I have gotten better with each passing year and finally setting into a style that compliments both me and the musicians playing on stage alongside me.  I no longer have to pound electric drums to which nuts and bolts go flying and can set my playing alongside bass players, and I have a great collection of bass players that I am proud to share the stage with.   In the beginning, Dan Hartman, Dave Bonham, T Ray Robertson and a female keyboard singer were the original jammers in my debut at Wrigleyville in Marion on that hot Thursday night.  The odd thing about this, is that four years onward, most of the jammers I started with are still around, tho' health problems have kept T Ray out of the public view.  Tonight was the exception of playing alongside youngsters but most of the jammers are my age or older.  And most have been playing for 40 years, 50 years and in Al Hendricks case 60 years, he's been doing this even before I was born.

It's fun to document the gigs, songlist and my feelings at the time.  in 2016, I sat in on four songs with Julie And The Mad Dogs, became friends with Mike Serbousek and the occasional date with Julie.  The next year found me at Whittier and debuting Logic And Lies the song.  And then last year playing percussion for Julie and Ryan in Dreams Of Arcadia at the Buchanan Winery.  And tonight, the Parlor City jam with a couple of future musicians.  Like my birthday, the return from retirement has been another trip around the sun, but in July rather than January and my birthday.  It's the halfway point to another year older.  The guitar acoustic gigs are different than the rock and roll and blues drum jams.

I got it wrong back in the past.  Back in the 1980's I had this wild idea of playing original songs and not cover bands.  Oh, I could play covers but it wasn't what I wanted to do and I kinda broke off with the guys in Paraphernalia band.  I had visions of being Keith Moon and was as wild and undisciplined as they come.  Problem was, I didn't had my original songs ideals down pat.  Had good intentions but I put them ahead of the band I was in.  When that band called it a day, I simply returned to the basement to make the usual yearly album or two or three.  Greg Nutter did keep me going, tho it was brief.  I got lazy and by not interacting with other musicians  I either slowed down or speed up.  By 1993 when I did my last blues jam, I didn't touched my drums for a half year and it sounded like that.

I had a couple years to which I did some jamming, in 2006  Russ invited me to jam with John Field and despite not connecting with Russ since 1991, we actually knew each other well enough to make it an enjoyable affair.  A couple years later we tried again as the I/O project and in my usual fashion called it a day after three weeks.   Except for a 2015 pairing at Wrigleyville, Russ and I haven't played together. Sometimes I blame myself to disavowing the band but at this juncture of life, I think Russ is more happier just to hit the golf links than going over Rocky Mountain Way at Rumors.   In August 2015 DeWayne Schminkey joined me on stage at Wrigleyville and a couple times at Rumors, and again, I wished I could have supported DeWayne's efforts or at least help him more when he did sing and play.  At this point, he's more content to be a grandfather.  In 2015 there was hope of a reunion of the band but as time has gone on, the reality of Paraphernalia playing together again is remote.  But in the process I have managed to form a couple bands and sat in on a couple others to continue my music quest tho' The Townedgers have been put back on the back burner.  I don't see the need to do a new album and new songs since CD sales I can count on one hand.  Something will eventually come out.  I just don't know when.

But I did start a band with Tim Wiley, which led to The Egads, which lead to Dreams Of Arcadia and sitting in with The Boy Scout Hippies, Blue Scratch and  Notes From The Underground.   Filling in for somebody works better for me,  While The Wiley Kats didn't pan out, it wasn't that Tim was a bad guitar player, but it got over his head and he wasn't cut out to be a leader.  The Egads would have worked better, but Larry Axelman had a family and a job that came first.   While I had fun playing in the BSH, I felt that I didn't belong into a band, I looked at that as simply a temporary thing and told everybody up front about it.  If I didn't have a paying job, The BSH was the band with the best potential. Tho' the head Boy Scout Master seems to cut his own throat when bar venues don't hire him back.  Ron did keep his word and pay me accordingly.

Unlike Dan Johnson or Terry McDowell or Julie for that matter, I am not going to stake my life, quitting a regular job just to play one night gigs tho it would be tempting to back Dan up with Daddy O McMurrin on a Parlor City Thursday Night.  I enjoy getting paid for playing but it's never been enough to quit my job, unless somebody was offering health insurance. Dan and Terry can play songs in their sleep and they're expert in the music that they play.  I look at this as a hobby and drum practice to interact with others.   And it's a euphoric feeling when people compliment you on the songs that you play and how you drum.  The reason I have continued to play four years on.  And perhaps next year at this point, we'll be doing it all over again as long as it's fun.

It's pointless to mention, all who have been there to help me get better, I've been praising them last year and the year before.  With the exception of Glen Gardner departing for Arizona, most of the cast and characters are still around.    They're still playing Rumors, Ramsey's, Artisan Sanctuary, Stone City General Store, F B Company; Waubeek, and Whittier.  I'm certain that there'll be jams to go on the weeknight and weekends.  If one jam goes by the wayside, like it did at Wrigleyville or Giligan's or The Long Brach, one will open up, and I'll be finding ones to sing and play at.   I hold out hope for a Paraphernalia reunion, I hope to have Mike Swearingen sing one song on stage in the future.   As long as I'm alive and having fun with this, the music will continue.

God bless each and every one that I got to share the stage with.

Stone City/Rumors; Play With Authority

Six Days On The Road
Fox On The Run
Listen To Love
Let's Work Together
Summertime Blues
Cinnamon Girl


The Stone City Set list.

I led things off and then went into town to play the Rumors Jam.  Highlight was watching a couple little kids dancing to my songs.  Never seen that happen before.


Rumors Sunday Funday Jam

Songs Include

Me And Bobby McGee
Gold Dust Woman
Runaway
Proud Mary
Folsom Prison Blues
Oh Lomesome Me
Born On The Bayou



With;
Jeff Taylor, Billy Bourbon, Tommy Bruner, Dee Vieman, Nick Lnencika, Terry McDowell and Randy Burgendorf


"Play with authority"  Bird


The Waubeek All Stars:

Chuck Savage
Nelson Borden
Jim Myers
Maki Dervo
Dave Bonham
Katy Merrifield
Lenny Drake
Dave Lam
R.Smith
Captain Kirksey


Notes:

The Waubeek Jam featured four other drummers, tho I have to practically drag Maki up there to play some songs.  I think Waubeek is perfect for a lighter touch on drums.  Playing with regular sticks gave me a headache.  Switching to hot rods was a better ideal, tho the usual complaints of playing too loud on drumsticks were heard from.  Katy Merrifield did one of her best performances in quite some time.   Nelson Borden and Jim Myers were the main drummers while I took a break and watch the Cubs win last night.

We had a bat that flew into the bar and it took about 10 minutes to capture it and set it free.  On a related note, Ron and Dakota were playing in Cedar Rapids so we didn't get to see them at the bar.  With Nelson and Jim playing more drums I could lay back and just have fun.  I did provide some backing vocals to Angie Cox's version of Surrender, with Nelson playing drums.

I led off the Sunday Stone City Jam with six short numbers, dusting off Six Days On The Road and playing Listen To Love as a original. Had a mother dancing with two kiddies during my set.  Never had that happened before.  I didn't stay there very long.  Too many fucking flies in the place.

Rumors was next.  Kraig Spratt was there and got to do two song blocks, I did one.  As far as I know we were the only drummers up there.  A lot of people consider him a legend and perhaps he is coming out of the woodwork to jam again.  I still haven't chat with him, I don't know if his sister might have mentioned about me playing in jams or not, I really don't care.  I know I did six songs with Dee singing them but outside of the four that I played the other night with her, I can't remember them.  I think I'm more into trying to post the songs I did on the acoustic side of things more than the Rumors jam.  But  Dee did a  cool version of Bobby McGee.  Last Wednesday, Mike Lint played it.

Before we played Randy asked me if I remembered the last thing he taught me and I looked at him blindly and he said Remember, You Got TO PLAY WITH AUTHORITY!  (and attack the drums.)  Since I have short term memory loss, I forgot what he said till he grilled that into my mind this afternoon.   Randy is a great bass player, has a good feel for things and I have to really concentrate on what he does and apply the beats where needed.  This guy has been one of the longer lasting members of Rare Earth, and he knows how to feel for music.  Me not so much, but that's why I look at each and every guy on stage.  I may not quite master the song in the way that they play them but I adapt very well.   I've been playing Gold Dust Woman in my own way for so long, that I forgot the rocking ending of that song and for the second time  Randy and Billy started playing the riff to that.  Still caught me off guard but I got them rocking again.   And then the Proud Mary (Ike/Tina) version to which Bird sings the bass part.  Bird could be gruff but if you're on his wavelength and beat, he'll give you great praise.  What I like about him

Even Russ did some off the wall songs, Knocking On Heaven's Door was one song, the other I can't think of but he did do Can't Get Enough.  Somehow Knocking On Heaven's Door caught the Wildcat  off guard, he was playing a uptempo beat before getting to the right beat, thanks to Bird coaching him along.  Make no mistake Kraig is a rock drummer, probably more hair metal than he lets on.  Despite what Kris has raved about, I have to keep an open mind about his playing, plus his history and not get sucked into the hype.  He's a professional, and he catches on if he shows up at more jams.  After all, this was the first Rumors jam Kraig played in quite some time.  If he becomes a regular, chances are we will have to meet and chat.

This was the third time this week that our paths have crossed.  I do not look at him as competition to be the best;  I'll leave him to do all the drum accents and rolls that gets people attention.  I'll just focus on the beats and watching my bandmates on stage, and get people dancing.  If I do that, and I did that tonight, then I can go home happy.  He's a hall of famer, but this ole hobbyist has been known to play a nice beat too. And play with authority, like Bird said.  And the next time I damn well better remember that remark when he quizzes me on that.

Afterwards, after my set, The Wildcat returned back on stage for another round but by then, I had to make a recycle run and said goodbye to Terry, George and Al.  It was about 7 30 and I could actually get a little exercise.  There was this young woman in short shorts tending to the New Bo garden next to Sinclair Park.  I knew the right time to look and trying not to look.  It's hard not to look when they bend over just right.  Finally shielding my eyes I walked away only to hear a crunch sound.  I turned around and saw somebody rear-ended a car.  The dude in the red convertible got distracted and bumped into the black car in front of it.  Naturally the woman in the black car wasn't too happy.  I can't say I blame her,

I'd be pissed off too.

And despite what people tell you.  Ringo Starr is still a great drummer.

The Third Of July Jam-Rumors, The Mein's

Rumors

Songs include

Born On The Bayou
Gold Dust Woman
Have You Ever Seen The Rain
Proud Mary
Stuck In The Middle With You

With:
Jeff Taylor, Billy Bourbon, Tommy Bruner, Tim Canfield , Dee Vieman and Terry Mcdowell



The 7th annual 3rd Of July Party Hosted by The Meins

Draggin The Line
Ain't No Sunshine
True love ways
Learning To Fly
A Little Help From My Friends
End Of The Line
You'll Ac-comply Me
Runaway Train

With
Terry McCauley
Greg Mein
Mike Williams
Bonnie Harrison
Donna Jo
Maki Dervo
Ryan Paul
Brenda Hoskins Mein


There are songs from both sets I have forgotten



Notes:

I started practicing the with guys from Notes From The Underground before making my way up to Rumors and then to the Greg and Brenda's place.  The Rumors' jam had Dee Vieman, doing about six songs of note.  Dammed if I remember the ones that got away.  Also Wildkat Spratt once again made a special showing again.  But of course he left before I took the stage.

Ryan bought his recently purchased drum-set up to the Mein's.  And Bonnie Harrison was playing the majority of the time helping out Mike Williams.  Funny how we never associate much but I did about six songs before Bonnie returned back to the stage.  Since I've been playing drums all day, I didn't put up much of a fight to keep playing.  But it was the first time I got to share the stage with Terry McCauley.  Ryan bought this drum set with cymbals included for 300 dollars, a fairly good deal if you are wanting to let somebody play your drums.  He had the Zildjian  Pitch Black Series, which is basically ZBT's painted black.  The Ride cymbal sounded great, the crashes not much so.

Terry McDowell, had a slimmed down lineup. A RUDE 24 inch ride and his trusty Zildjian 12 inch splash cymbal.  I can't blame him for slimming down on a Wednesday Night.  Mike Lint was the other drummer (besides Kraig Spratt) and that's all who showed up, Drummers.  Tim offered to teach me how to play bass.  God bless him.

When I was practicing with the NFTU boys, their main drummer hang around and showed me how they played the more tricky songs.  He had practice cymbals a ZBT ride crash and a unknown 16 inch crash, Paiste sounding but I doubt if it was one.  So I don't do much crashing on the cymbals, just providing a beat to shape around their sound.  They had some cool, songs, Radar Gun, Thousand Dollar Car from the Bottle Rockets, US Blues from the Grateful Dead, Cinnamon Girl, etc etc.  and the guys welcomed me into the fold as their temporary go to guy.  Comparing them to Boy Scout Hippies, I tend to favor their songs over BSH.  They do know their stuff, even tho' I had trouble trying to place the beat on Smokin 100's Alone. We'll get together again next week and polish some things up before the 27th where they'll be playing Solon.   Great guys, and Tom's doggie Dollie seemed to love me.  A good sign when the band's dog likes you.

Since Big Mac, had a basic drum, it kept the Wildkat in check. From what I heard, he was a 100 percent more quieter  than he was last night at Parlor City. My guess with Jeff Taylor in town for the month, Kraig has decided to hit the jams on drums.  Quite all right by me.

The other Terry, played Learning To Fly, which was a Tom Petty song, to which Ryan came up to me with wide eyed look, he's playing Tom Petty he exclaimed,  I just smiled in wink.  I think Ryan did leave after that.  I stayed around long enough to hear Terry end his set with Take Me Home Country Roads to which Bonnie played drums.

Donna Jo and Bill Elsner were there, so was Joe Hutchcroft as well.

Blues Jam: Encounter With The Wild Kat

Parlor City Blues Jam 7/2/19

With:

Jeff Taylor: Keyboards and Lead vocals
Brook Hoover-Guitar
Dan Hartman-Guitar
Dan Johnson-Bass
Bob Gleason-Harmonica
R.Smith-Drums

Tom Giblin: Host
Jon Wilson-Host drummer

Songs were

I'm In A Phone Booth Baby
I Can't Get Next To You Baby

Notes:

After four years, I finally got to hear Kraig Wildcat Spratt play drums in a blues setting.  Earlier in the year I was friends with his sister Kris for about two days raving about him being the best drummer ever.  The stories of him being part of Stone Garden, Hostage, Rampage and Harvey Headbanger are the stuff of legends.  I'm not sure if he knew me from my dealings with his sister or not, we didn't speak with each other in my time there.  But he had people there chatting with him.  I don't think Tom knew him well, he asked me first if I wanted to lead off the second half of playing drums, told him I'd wait a while then Dan mentioned that Kraig was there first.

He's a rock drummer.  He also played way too loud in a blues setting. A lot of attention getting drum rolls and accents which didn't exactly fit the song they were playing, but he was way over the top for the first couple songs, then he did settle down.  Dan probably yelled at him for being too loud.  Jon Wilson did shoot a few glaring looks at him and then went outside for a spell, I didn't chat with Jon tonight.  Certainly the Wildkat lived up to his nickname, he obliterated  Call Me The Breeze. He had the DB rating pegged up to 115 DBs at one time.

For my time, I only sat in on two extended songs.  Jeff did the lead vocals.  I thought he was going to do Pretzel Logic on the last song but went into Can't Get Next To You instead.   Since I'm practicing with The Notes From The Underground Band I didn't ask for any more songs.  I did enough just to say that I managed to get a bit of drum practice in.   My guess is next week, I'll do a few more.

Mark Awad wasn't there, so I got a rare chance to jam with Dan Johnson.

Jeff Taylor now lives in Boston and is back for a month to jam with musicians.  I'm sure I'll be sharing the stage with him again.

Earlier I was going over songs for the next Townedgers Album.  Alas, the humidity didn't help my voice and I didn't sound good on vocals.   I'll try again later in the week to see if I can make any progress.  But today it was a no go on the vocals.