July 6, 2009 Jam

Howdy Jammers:

This Monday, July 20th, (apres Renard Gris), Bluegrass And Beyond again, 7:30pm at Paddy Reilly's (SW corner of 29th and 2nd).

Last week, one mystery was cleared up as Eileen's absence clearly indicated her quilty feelings about her ongoing blog, "Why does he always order a Mexican beer in an Irish bar? .com". Geez, it's not like I want to replace St. Patrick's Day with Cinco de Mayo! (Wait a minute, now I know why they call me a "Lime-y" at Paddy's).

The good news was that Ronin seemed to enjoy himself in her stead, especially after he lost his earplugs climbing over the bar to break yet another banjo (I told him it was Irish Indie music and he apparently believed me).

Meanwhile, in a bluegrass version of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", Karen gave the kids a night off and missed her train... in fact, she missed a bunch of 'em. Hooray for sleep-overs!

Gail made a rare appearance from Florida, impressing co-host Bill with both her rhythmic and song-leading abilities yet again.

Although I have to say I'm concerned about Bill. In consecutive jams, he's done "Too Much" and "All Shook Up". I'm afraid the jam-leading may be getting to him - might it be time for a vacation? Next week, "Dazed And Confused"?, "19th Nervous Breakdown"? Where will it end?

Also of note, Mike's continuing major explorations into the minor keys on banjo with "Newton Grove".

"Slow Jam" Rob finally made an appearance, and an impression - suffice it to say, his guitar picking was anything but slow. He also held the record for "longest to be on the mailing list without actually attending the jam".

Along these lines, congratulations to Phil, who has just ended his streak of "longest to attend the jam without being on the mailing list". To some people, this would be a badge of honor, but not to me (of course, even I don't always read these things).

On a sad note, this next jam will be California Ray's last jam before heading back west. He insists that we shouldn't make a big deal of it though (yeah, as if we would anyway, dude) because there's a very real possibility of his returning very soon on another project. But, just in case he doesn't return, I think we should party it up a little California style before he heads back to the ranch. Ray, and the occasional visiting Kim, have been a major part of B + B for the last year, as well as great fodder for these e-mails (Ray, not Kim). Surf, beach, California, ranch, Del Shannon songs welcome...

Look for California at Grey Fox, as well as Mike, Warren, AJ, Phil, Sue, Sarah and I - and many others.

See you Monday night to help shed the early symptoms of "Post Grey Fox Syndrome". Just don't bring your laundry and anyone still wearing their wristband gets in free.