art of the jam 54
ma-a-an, is the fort becoming a jammin' town or whut? the question is rhetorical -- just dig the profusion of groove 'n' improv-heavy bands like a-hummin' acoustical acupuncture, confusatron, villain vanguard, standard transmission, sleeplab, and barber mack (now holding down first thursdays each month at fonky fred's), marcus lawyer's plethora of projects (of which top secret...shhh is only the most conspicuous), and the shadowy and mysterious skin and bones drum cult (appearing at el wreck on june 17th, with the almost de rigeur speakeasy afterparty to follow). add one more to the list: a weekly wednesday 7-to-10pm fred's throwdown masterminded by ubiquitous drummer josh clark (which one wag -- ok, it was matt hembree -- dubbed "bread 'n' jam wednesdays"). this week, wreck room wednesday night jam-meister lee allen reported that there were 20 musos in attendance, many from the aforementioned units, attaining levels of groovaliciousness that approached the stratosphere. sounds like one to check out (before migrating to the wreck room, of course, for lee 'n' carl's jam).
myself, i missed out on the fred's festivities again this week (late day at work which _almost_ resulted in my falling asleep and missing wednesday night entahrly; must remember _not to sit down_ at la casa on jamnights). i was mighty glad to have waked up, tho, after having my first oppo to stand onstage next to villain vanguard gtrist bryce harp, a great player and really nice cat who made his wreck jam debut last night. i was greatly digging his beautiful tone and creative ideas, including some two-handed tapping wonderment he said later he'd only come up with that afternoon, even tho i swore i'd rip my fingernails out before i'd play another srv toon (um, we played "texas flood"). and when he started in on "hot for teacher," i felt the absence of joe "drumzilla" cruz, whose double-bass-pedal foot musta been itching wherever he was at. (brandon wallace, the stickman-o'-the-hour, gave the song a country breakdown feel.) only other jamcat who sat in was an older dude (whatthehell am i talking about, i'll be 50 next yr?) whose name i didn't catch but gave it hell on a coupla fonky ones. (and no, i'm not forgetting jam_chick_ claudia acosta, who flowed verse over "maggot brain" as has become customary.)
highpoints of the evening for me: 1) when the jam-meister instructed the audience, "call out a letter between A and G. you can add a sharp or flat if you want," and we played their "request." (thankfully, no one requested F-flat.) the result was a ska-flavored throwdown on D-flat to C to F. 'twas fun; gotta do more of that. 2) seeing my dtr and her friend mimi in da house. (i'm funny that way: always dig it when i see my kids while i'm playing.) miz aimee informed me that she thinks my playing has improved in the last coupla yrs, which i told her i attribute to a yr of spending wednesday nights in the company of the jam-meister, the wizard o' sound, and the master of libations. 3) seeing poet / spoken word artiste / sunlit doorway tammy gomez at a table with my sweetie and making a mental note to invite _her_ to flow some rhymes the next time she makes the trek out to west 7th on a wednesday night.
next week: the long-awaited (and prematurely-announced, by me) rob marruffo berfday throwdown, starting early early at 8pm, with a card that includes rob's band velvet jive, lee and rob's college band "the kind buds," and another installment of "stooges at midnight" with stoogeaphilia in addition to the usual jam suspects. dig: if you've been meaning to check out da jam but can't make it out ev'ry wednesday like some of us fools (unnerstand, unnerstand...work, band rehearsals, whatevah), this'd be a good one to make an exception for.
myself, i missed out on the fred's festivities again this week (late day at work which _almost_ resulted in my falling asleep and missing wednesday night entahrly; must remember _not to sit down_ at la casa on jamnights). i was mighty glad to have waked up, tho, after having my first oppo to stand onstage next to villain vanguard gtrist bryce harp, a great player and really nice cat who made his wreck jam debut last night. i was greatly digging his beautiful tone and creative ideas, including some two-handed tapping wonderment he said later he'd only come up with that afternoon, even tho i swore i'd rip my fingernails out before i'd play another srv toon (um, we played "texas flood"). and when he started in on "hot for teacher," i felt the absence of joe "drumzilla" cruz, whose double-bass-pedal foot musta been itching wherever he was at. (brandon wallace, the stickman-o'-the-hour, gave the song a country breakdown feel.) only other jamcat who sat in was an older dude (whatthehell am i talking about, i'll be 50 next yr?) whose name i didn't catch but gave it hell on a coupla fonky ones. (and no, i'm not forgetting jam_chick_ claudia acosta, who flowed verse over "maggot brain" as has become customary.)
highpoints of the evening for me: 1) when the jam-meister instructed the audience, "call out a letter between A and G. you can add a sharp or flat if you want," and we played their "request." (thankfully, no one requested F-flat.) the result was a ska-flavored throwdown on D-flat to C to F. 'twas fun; gotta do more of that. 2) seeing my dtr and her friend mimi in da house. (i'm funny that way: always dig it when i see my kids while i'm playing.) miz aimee informed me that she thinks my playing has improved in the last coupla yrs, which i told her i attribute to a yr of spending wednesday nights in the company of the jam-meister, the wizard o' sound, and the master of libations. 3) seeing poet / spoken word artiste / sunlit doorway tammy gomez at a table with my sweetie and making a mental note to invite _her_ to flow some rhymes the next time she makes the trek out to west 7th on a wednesday night.
next week: the long-awaited (and prematurely-announced, by me) rob marruffo berfday throwdown, starting early early at 8pm, with a card that includes rob's band velvet jive, lee and rob's college band "the kind buds," and another installment of "stooges at midnight" with stoogeaphilia in addition to the usual jam suspects. dig: if you've been meaning to check out da jam but can't make it out ev'ry wednesday like some of us fools (unnerstand, unnerstand...work, band rehearsals, whatevah), this'd be a good one to make an exception for.
posted by stashdauber at 4:03 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home