Rumors Hump Day Jam-No More Checkers Acoustic Jam

Songs

Lodi
Walking After Midnight
Simple Man
Born On The Bayou
Gold Dust Woman
Rocky Mountain Way
Bobby McGee
Chains
Last Kiss
Little Sister

Dee Vieman-Lead Vocals
Dan Hartman-Guitar and Lead Vocals on Chains, Last Kiss and Little Sister
Tommy Bruner-Lead Guitar
Tim Canfield-Bass
This Blogger-Drums
Terry McDowell-Drum King
Randy Burgendoff- Spared from playing this time around.

Notes:

Upon going to Faus Fuel to get a cup of tea and finding out they had unsweetened, my disgust was shown to the world.  Then saw PJ Harrington popping in for a couple of Miller Lites to which I thought was kinda odd since he should've been over to Checkers'.  No where in our conversation did he mention that the Acoustic Jam on Wednesday Nights was over.   Really nice of him to throw Julie under the bus.   With that and after five years it was time to shut the jam down since nobody came out to participate in it. Donna Jo was the only person there that greeted me with the bad news.

In essence, the jam was forever changed after The Acousta Kittes parted ways with Julie and the split difference did hurt people from showing up.  Sides were drawn tho' I did my best to support both Julie and Cathy and Lorie, when they both took turns hosting this.  When Cathy decided to retire hosting the jam, Kevin Moore took over but he had no support whatsoever.  Julie did her damnest to keep it going but except for the Acousta Kitties reunion, I could count on one hand how many performers we had.

To be honest the Rumor's hump day jam didn't steal any performers away.  This summer I figured I go help Terry first and then go over to Checkers to finish the jam.  And done that.  Terry has been very helpful of getting me on early as he did tonight.   And he was in need of drummers,  I was the only there for the first hour, so I got to play a few songs and let the big guy take a needed break.  I ended up getting myself and Tommy a major ear ring headache on the final crash to Rocky Mountain Way.  In the words of Dan Johnson, cymbals are weapons if you hit them too hard, especially the power crashes.    I actually have lighten up playing on Rocky Mountain Way over the years, tho Dee couldn't remember the words,  it's a jam moreorless but without the cheat sheet or smart phone, going from memory can cloud up your memory of the song.

The lack of drummers was quite surprising but it may have been the humidity that drove most of the folk away.  I did a hour power walk to try to work out the back spams but couldn't stop the fucking hacking and coughing.  Therefore it was to my benefit not to play guitar and sing.  For the first time in a month and half  The Wildcat wasn't there.  Neither was Mike Lint.  So I got to play as many songs as I wanted to.  Can't complain to that.

Despite the low Checker's crowd turnout, the Rumor's crowd has been better, tho they're not packing the place.  Problem remains more drummers than anybody else that shows up at these jams.   I really can't say if things can change, the usual jammers are pushing sixty or over sixty, the youngsters are not coming out to play.  And reading these blog postings the lineup hardly ever changes.  Billy Bourbon was not there, so Tim Canfield came to play bass and Bird played guitar and bass.  Since changing my drum playing, Terry has been more receptive of me playing more songs.  It's getting to the point that even four years onward, my ears have taken a toll, even with earplugs, I am still dealing with loads of ringing and beginning to lose hearing.  I continue on because it's fun and I enjoy playing onstage with the elite.

But once again it seems that Walking pneomia   back in my life again I haven't been much fun to be with.   Especially after having a 9 oclock mushroom and swiss and have to drive 90 miles in hour to get home so I don't shit my pants and the fucking coughing won't go away once again.  I already postponed Madison twice so far this summer due to a summertime cold.  And I'm not happy about it.  But I was more annoyed at P J not even saying that the Checker's Jam was canceled and he was looking for a new host.  And to be honest, I don't know anybody that want to host it for a percentage of the food they served that evening.

And I guess on that note, we'll be looking at Checkers in the rear view mirror on my way to the next acoustic jam somewhere in Iowa.