art of the jam 34
don't tell anybody, but we're starting to get a crowd. not _thousands of ppl_, but more than a handful that consistently make it out on wednesday nights to dig the jams and hopefully order lotsa beverages from graham so they can tip him handsomely ('cos as jam -meister lee allen sez, "he's a handsome man with a handsome baby that he needs to feed"). seventh street samurai rod dove sez it's "mostly musicians and ppl who like to listen," altho there was one cat who grew bellig and stormed out after turning over a table ("maybe mad 'cos he didn't get to play," one wag suggested) and one muy borracho muso who thankfully was persuaded to crash at a friend's house rather than risking the drive home. art of the jam applauds the jam cats for looking out for each other -- why else are we here, after all? also the gal who was at the bar early saying she had work in the morning and needed to get home to rack but wound up calling a bunch of her friends and staying till past midnight -- even if one of said friends persisted in telling me how much we RAWWWKED "even tho you have a gimp in yr band." (_jayzus_, li'l dude. i _get_ it. ha.)
before we started, i was semi-resigned to the notion that the night would wind up being a comedown from the ridiculous high of saturday's impulse of will show -- as the jam-meister put it, "dave karnes with accompanying musicians," or in damien stewart's words, "the dave karnes drum clinic." (note to jazzfans and drum aficionados: karnes and his trio will be kickin' out the classic jazz jams at machenry's on camp bowie on february 2nd and 23rd; owner deanna scotland sez she wants to book him there a coupla thursdays every month.) i shoulda known better than that, though -- it wound up being a gas, thanks to the zoo music posse, a buncha cats who presently or formerly worked 'n' taught at dave anderson's zoo music off camp bowie, where i usedta trade when i got back into playing a decade or so ago, where two of my kids took gtr lessons, and where i used to marvel at the wall of ancient fender amps that owner dave bought "to keep the japs from getting 'em." this week's jam was truly a special occasion, because in addition to zoo boyzzz and jam stalwarts "confusajohn" stevens and kulchafarians ron geida and john shook, we were also favored with a rare appearance by gtrst jeff "honeyboy" / "wild wild" west, who replaced me in the band of bluesguy hosea robinson (they've got giggage upcoming in february after a long hiatus) and whom i replaced in a shitty coverband that usedta play a weekend a month at, um, tucker's catfish haven in north richland hills. jeff's been keeping a low profile since becoming a daddy (he now has a 2 1/2 yr old and a 1 yr old), but he can still burn righteously on the 6-string. now if we can just get paul boll to sit in...
in the house but not playing: karnes' sunward bandmate, gtrist jerko (scoping out the joint in preparation for his band's gig there february 24th) and the boys from dogs with sticks, who now have a full-time bassplayer and an upcoming gig at the moon with catfish whiskey next thursday. their frontguy doug reports they had a debacle of debacles at the ridglea lounge not long ago, when they and merkin tried hooking all of their gear together. jeez, you'd think these guys were the melvins or something. when they started singing "you've lost that lovin' feeling" to one of the video machines, it became clear they prolly weren't gonna do any jamming on this particular night.
brokers bassist mark mcpherson, on the other hand, said he wasn't gonna play but thought better of it when the jam-meister stepped out for a minute. mark's got a side project with his high school bud, ex-bindle drummer kevin geist, that sounds intriguing. goodwin / ph7 drummer damien stewart made his first jam appearance in too long, and lit some fires like the groovin' mofo he is. (goodwin be headlinin' the wreck tom'w night, january 14th. ya mo' be theah. maybe you too?) later, when sticky d. (whom i'll claim responsibility for converting to a brian wilson SMILE fan) told me "i've been wanting to play 'good vibrations,' " i suggested he call it the next time he's onstage with geida and shook, who played it as an instrumental to open kulcha far i's set at soundclash '04. towards the end of the evening, the jam regulars (that'd be lee, me, and joe "drumzilla" cruz) took a blind headlong rush at the red hot chili peppers' "stone cold bush." (one of these days, i gotta remember to show the jam-meister frank zappa's "magic fingers.")
entering its ninth month, lee and carl's invitational jam has been through a multitude of changes. if it's more song-oriented and less freewheeling than it once was, that's prolly for the good -- most civilians don't have the attention span to sit through 30 minutes of "theme and variations on jimi hendrix' 'manic depression,' " as groovy as that might have been to play last spring. (one thing this is _not_: a "jam band;" the only phish we like are the ones that terry chandler cooks on the grill at phred's.) it's been suggested that we oughtta institute a sign-up sheet to make sure everyone gets to play, and circulate a setlist so cats can bone up on the jam "standards" before they come out. both of these ideas imply a level of premeditation that isn't really operative here. the "invitational" concept means "come talk to lee if you haven't been invited." other than that, what's desired here isn't accurate replicas of toons offa rekkids. (we don't play covers, we fuck 'em up.) automaticity is the enemy of spontaneity, and this schitt works best when known elements are spontaneously recombined in new ways. chops 'n' material are merely means to an end. the surplus value of the jam (what the audience receives) exists in the interstice between the musician's intent and what he executes in the moment while listening 'n' responding to what's going on around him -- other musos, lee's direction, audience feedback. as charles ives mighta said, this music ain't for sissies. in 2006, art of the jam hopes the jamcats 'n' the listening crowd keep coming back, and maybe some new players bring some fresh ideas to the party.
before we started, i was semi-resigned to the notion that the night would wind up being a comedown from the ridiculous high of saturday's impulse of will show -- as the jam-meister put it, "dave karnes with accompanying musicians," or in damien stewart's words, "the dave karnes drum clinic." (note to jazzfans and drum aficionados: karnes and his trio will be kickin' out the classic jazz jams at machenry's on camp bowie on february 2nd and 23rd; owner deanna scotland sez she wants to book him there a coupla thursdays every month.) i shoulda known better than that, though -- it wound up being a gas, thanks to the zoo music posse, a buncha cats who presently or formerly worked 'n' taught at dave anderson's zoo music off camp bowie, where i usedta trade when i got back into playing a decade or so ago, where two of my kids took gtr lessons, and where i used to marvel at the wall of ancient fender amps that owner dave bought "to keep the japs from getting 'em." this week's jam was truly a special occasion, because in addition to zoo boyzzz and jam stalwarts "confusajohn" stevens and kulchafarians ron geida and john shook, we were also favored with a rare appearance by gtrst jeff "honeyboy" / "wild wild" west, who replaced me in the band of bluesguy hosea robinson (they've got giggage upcoming in february after a long hiatus) and whom i replaced in a shitty coverband that usedta play a weekend a month at, um, tucker's catfish haven in north richland hills. jeff's been keeping a low profile since becoming a daddy (he now has a 2 1/2 yr old and a 1 yr old), but he can still burn righteously on the 6-string. now if we can just get paul boll to sit in...
in the house but not playing: karnes' sunward bandmate, gtrist jerko (scoping out the joint in preparation for his band's gig there february 24th) and the boys from dogs with sticks, who now have a full-time bassplayer and an upcoming gig at the moon with catfish whiskey next thursday. their frontguy doug reports they had a debacle of debacles at the ridglea lounge not long ago, when they and merkin tried hooking all of their gear together. jeez, you'd think these guys were the melvins or something. when they started singing "you've lost that lovin' feeling" to one of the video machines, it became clear they prolly weren't gonna do any jamming on this particular night.
brokers bassist mark mcpherson, on the other hand, said he wasn't gonna play but thought better of it when the jam-meister stepped out for a minute. mark's got a side project with his high school bud, ex-bindle drummer kevin geist, that sounds intriguing. goodwin / ph7 drummer damien stewart made his first jam appearance in too long, and lit some fires like the groovin' mofo he is. (goodwin be headlinin' the wreck tom'w night, january 14th. ya mo' be theah. maybe you too?) later, when sticky d. (whom i'll claim responsibility for converting to a brian wilson SMILE fan) told me "i've been wanting to play 'good vibrations,' " i suggested he call it the next time he's onstage with geida and shook, who played it as an instrumental to open kulcha far i's set at soundclash '04. towards the end of the evening, the jam regulars (that'd be lee, me, and joe "drumzilla" cruz) took a blind headlong rush at the red hot chili peppers' "stone cold bush." (one of these days, i gotta remember to show the jam-meister frank zappa's "magic fingers.")
entering its ninth month, lee and carl's invitational jam has been through a multitude of changes. if it's more song-oriented and less freewheeling than it once was, that's prolly for the good -- most civilians don't have the attention span to sit through 30 minutes of "theme and variations on jimi hendrix' 'manic depression,' " as groovy as that might have been to play last spring. (one thing this is _not_: a "jam band;" the only phish we like are the ones that terry chandler cooks on the grill at phred's.) it's been suggested that we oughtta institute a sign-up sheet to make sure everyone gets to play, and circulate a setlist so cats can bone up on the jam "standards" before they come out. both of these ideas imply a level of premeditation that isn't really operative here. the "invitational" concept means "come talk to lee if you haven't been invited." other than that, what's desired here isn't accurate replicas of toons offa rekkids. (we don't play covers, we fuck 'em up.) automaticity is the enemy of spontaneity, and this schitt works best when known elements are spontaneously recombined in new ways. chops 'n' material are merely means to an end. the surplus value of the jam (what the audience receives) exists in the interstice between the musician's intent and what he executes in the moment while listening 'n' responding to what's going on around him -- other musos, lee's direction, audience feedback. as charles ives mighta said, this music ain't for sissies. in 2006, art of the jam hopes the jamcats 'n' the listening crowd keep coming back, and maybe some new players bring some fresh ideas to the party.
posted by stashdauber at 5:41 PM
1 Comments:
when ppl ask "what kinda music you play?" i'm tempted to just say "good kind," but a more accurate description might be "rawkbluesfunkreggaemetal." or perhaps not.
acid: haven't touched the stuff in yrs, but i'd be wary of any drug that makes it seem desirable to listen to yes 'n' the allman brothers.
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