art of the jam 50

call thisun "the jam that almost wasn't."

a week after the jamniversary, and the scenario was thus: jam-meister lee allen was in austin, jam-father (and no-fooling new papa) carl pack was on baby duty (and maybe saving his good stuff for the gideons' upcoming appearance at fredfest). as designated straw-boss and chronicler o' events, i started shaking the trees for usual suspects. (can't write a good "art of the jam" if there ain't no jam.) it didn't look promising: violinist steve "vikingo" huber had announced he's taking a few wks off from jamdom to audition for a different chair in the fw symphony. gtrist ron "the velvet hammer" geida was committed to rehearsing with jasper stone (who are _also_ appearing at fredfest, where ron will additionally perform with debuting reggae-jazz mofos barber mack). barber mack leader and jam-meister lee's frequent "teen town" twin, bassist john shook, had a last-minute gig at the mule with scott copeland sideman / sessions music impresario john zaskoda. then he didn't. jam reg'lar joe "drumzilla" cruz showed up 10:30-ish, but informed wreck room wizard o' sound andre edmonson that he was feeling under the weather and wouldn't be playing this particular night.

around 11, i told andre to pack it in, though it was pain 'n' grief to me to do so, especially when i subsequently noted the presence in da house of rose marine theater leading lights yvonne duque and claudia acosta 'n' a whole passel of their friends 'n' coworkers; pablo and the hemphill 7 gtrist steffin ratliff (just hangin', not wanting to jam, but still a major event in my book 'cos of the esteem in which i hold mr. ratliff); and jasper stone frontguy ed voyles. in the end, it was john shook who saved the day, and through the magic of shook's cellphone, a drummer (to wit: shook 'n' geida's old kulcha far i bandmate jeffrey williams, who'd been rehearsing w/j-stone and was on his way to the wreck anyhoo) was found, and the jamcats took the stage _late_ (like around midnight). i figured it was the least we could do for wreck honcho brian forella and master o' libations graham richardson: puttin' something onstage to try and hold the smattering of civilians that were hangin' in the bar.

the ensuing set was a sort-of kulcha far i reunion (minus the roots 'n' kulcha, with lotsa groovy fretless improv wonderment from shook and the usual complement of snazzy solos from da velvet hammer) as well as a kinda resurgence of "the occasionals," a band which started out as ron's 'n' my response to seeing the allman bros. with derek trucks and wound up, due to the mix of personalities involved, devolving into a kinda constipated little fake-jazz unit that imploded after blowing an audition at 8.0's but securing a $500 private party, which i wound up giving to another band when the (third and final) bassplayer decided he didn't want to rehearse while the cowboys were on television. (i'm not bitter. really.) most brilliant stroke o' the night imo was when ron called war's "low rider" and actually got some of the rose marine posse up 'n' dancing -- which was the same outcome that always usedta ensue when ron played the toon with ed raso in second hand soul back in prehistory. prior to the actual start of the jam, shook 'n' i woodshedded a coupla jeff beck 'n' allman bros. toons that we might try to bust out next week for ron's (sigh) valedictory jam performance as his tuesday night gig at the moon with myles and james moves to wednesday night.

coming back from a shortshort break, the j-stone boys played three or four toons to give the folks a taste of fredfest a coupla days early. then the jamcats finished up with the s-l-o-w-e-s-t version of "maggot brain" yet played at el jam, with ex-yeti / current great tyrant drummer jon teague (who also kicks the traps for stoogeaphilia and a crew of space rawk-obsessed youngsters called the chimeneas who sound fascinating, but remain unseen by me so far) on the skins and teatrista claudia acosta flowin' some verse. towards the end, things started to veer into unknown territory when i tried coaxing some feedback out o' the amplet and teague started opening up the riddim a la elvin -- a moment i dug much, having "prepped" for the jam by listening to rova::orkestrova's electric ascension -- but the barber mack cats refused the abyss, altho teague 'n' i agreed it's a direction we'd like to pursue again, another time.

proof positive (as if any more were needed) that ain't nobody indispensible in jamdom (altho i for one will be mighty glad to see the jam-meister's long-bearded mug back onstage next week). now, if we can just get steffin ratliff to come out 'n' _play_. and with the end of the school yr just a coupla wks away, can the return to jamarama of darrin kobetich be far behind? stay tuned.