Oct. 19, 2009 Jam

Welcome Holiday Campers:

This Monday, November 2nd, against my better judgement, we'll be having another Bluegrass & Beyond Jam, 7:30 at Paddy Reilly's Pub, NYC (SW corner of 29th and 2nd).

Against my better judgement because I'll be leaving Tuesday morning for Nashville and Rob Ickes' ResoSummit - and knowing you all, I'll probably be up until 2 o'clock or so. You know how you collectively always twist my arm each time I try to leave early.

But before I progress, let me digress - with a word about Paddy's owner Steve and his Singer / Songwriter Idol Competition. 

I've been attending as an accompanist to our own AJ - who has a million good songs written over the last 10 years or so - but what really surprised me was the appearance of our own flat-picking, bluegrass-singing Jon. What a great budding songwriter (and finger-picker - something I do know a bit about...). Unfortunately he's only written 3 or 4 songs - so the 6-week competition could get interesting for him. Maybe he can borrow a few from AJ!

In any case, come down on a Tuesday night, starting Nov. 10th, 8:00 or so,  and support them both - Jon's writing furiously as we speak...

Well, last time the two "Obs" continued to impress.

Bob brought in Chuck Berry's "Maybelline" for our enjoyment - sounded great on banjo / mando:  "... as I was a-motivatin' over the hill...". 

I'll even forgive him for the Tom Paxton song (see the 2% folk and other inert elements blog entry).

Rob, meanwhile, my favorite rocker, led a cool version of Lucinda Williams "Crescent City". I'm sure there's something I should forgive him for as well, but I forgot...

Scottie returned for some more lessons from yours truly, taking us from the balmy breezes of "Margaritaville" to the  cool, refreshing mountains of "Snowbird" (I never realized that Elvis covered that one).

Co-host Bill livened up the evening with Jon, Mike and Leslie, doing "Shoutin' On The Hills Of Glory" from Ralph Stanley.

Gail provided a little old-style bluegrass / country with "Steppin' Stones" - from Jimmy Martin.

Your other co-host dipped into one of his favorite wells when he covered Mick and Keith's early rocker "The Last Time".

On a more serious note, Bill and I have been taking stock of the jam after passing our first anniversary, and, I must say we are as committed to it as ever, and, in general, very happy with the jam.

We decided, however, that during this next year we will be more adamant about keeping the jam at the advanced level, as it was originally intended; and, in addition, more vigilant about keeping the song lengths down.

Running an open jam is always a bit of a balancing act between creating an environment where the majority of the participants can have fun, yet, still feel challenged at the same time - kind of like running a soap opera ("As Paddy's Turns...? "Nights Of Our Lives...?)

Check out the very first notice about the jam sent out by Bill and I in September, 2008 to get the original idea.

Anyway, enough seriousness - and may we last 50+ years like some of those soap operas!

Dave Comins

www.bluegrassandbeyondnyc.com

Oct. 5, 2009 - The "Cinco de Octubre" Jam

Arriba, mi amigos:


This Monday, October 19th, we meet  again at Paddy Reilly's Pub (SW corner of 29th and 2nd) for Bluegrass & Beyond, 7:30pm.

Someone must have been paying attention during our mini global music fest last time... Leslie rocked the house with "La Bamba" - causing quite a stir amongst the normally neglected Corona crowd at Paddy's! A truly fitting tribute for Cinco de Octubre (although someone should really point out to her that not all Mexicans actually celebrate this in the fall... maybe in Massachusetts?). Ritchie Valens would've enjoyed it though - as did we all.

Warren Peace must've been eating his heart out over that one (Werewolves...  London?.. What Werewolves?) Although he did have a big night himself - having a THIRD nickname bestowed upon him - for the B & B all-time record. Let' see, there's the Warren Tabernacle Choir, and Warren Zevon -  but, he'll always be Warren Peace to me.

No sooner had the last Ar-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-ribas come off our tongues (all right, my tongue), than Rob pulls out a Sam Cooke early rocker, via John Lennon - and brings down the house again! "Bring It On Home To Me" - now, if he only could do it in Espanol, he might get a nickname of his own!

By the way, does anyone else remember a verse about Bluegrass & Beyond in "Sitting On Top Of The World"? Apparently co-host Bill uncovered a deviant version of the old classic unknown to the rest of us. One can only wonder what kind of field trip he was on when he discovered that one...

Sarah opened the jam with the cosmic questioning of "Let The Mystery Be" by Iris Dement, via David Byrne:

"Everybody is wonderin; what and where they all came from, 

Everybody is worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go when the whole things done;
But no one knows for certain, and so it's all the same to me,
I think I'll just chill - at B & B."

(Someone else must have been on that field trip with Bill...)

Andrew returned from summer with a great SteelDrivers tune: "Midnight Tears". I've also heard through the grapevine that he's producing a follow-up to this summer's soon-to-be classic "Bluegrass Tao" (as seen on the B & B website) - simply called "Beyond Bluegrass: Zen and Now" (or, "Zen and Tao?").

AJ, after months of prodding, finally did one of own original numbers, with help from Gail - "Separate Ways". He's got so many of 'em, I don't know how he can choose just one - it was a good jamming song.

Gail shone on her own as well with "You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often", originally recorded by the smooth-singing Tex Ritter. In addition, she informed me this was the first #1 country song written by a woman - Jenny Lou Carson - in 1945.

A couple of good old chestnuts from Evy and Chris managed to get everyone else involved: Leadbelly's "Midnight Special" and Hank's "Jumbalaya".

We added a great dobro player in Alex last week, got some solid bass playing from mystery man Vinny and welcomed a few other new faces - Steve among them.

"Newton Grove" has finally reached the point where Mike passed it around the whole room - and wasn't cringing too much when it came back to him (funny, I don't remember getting a break on that one...). Although, he still reprised it at double the tempo (in 2 part harmony with co -host Bill) afterwards. 

Mark continued his winning streak of two straight jams leading a song by doing an unforgettable job on a tune whose name escapes me. As long as Mark doesn't escape us, that's all that matters...

On a final note, I was watching "Green Acres" re-runs late last night  on channel 598 (love that pig - Arnold), and I saw an ad for "Jonathan's Greatest Hit", featuring "I Feel The Blues Movin' On" - at the low introductory price of "I'll pay you to buy it..." - featuring testimonials from Gail and Mike. What is this all about?

All in all, a very good night.