June 21, 2010 - The "Men In Shorts" Jam

Hello all,

Well, the last jam was on the summer solstice, and we celebrated with an abundance of hairy legs! Not just any hairy legs - but Bluegrass & Beyond pickin' hairy legs. 

Ladies, you missed your chance - we had tall legs, short legs, skinny legs, fat legs, ugly legs and humbly speaking, of course - some pretty good lookin' ones (at least according to Tony, Bob and myself). 

The extra ventilation seemed to help the music as well.

We started off with Jeanne and co-host Bill leading us in the "Pig Ankle Rag" - not your normal instrumental (nor body part, come to think of it).

Judy was well received by both the bar and the dart leaguers in the rear room - especially on her B.B. King blues' shouter.

Although, I was a little worried later when we forgot to do "Wagon Wheel" for the dart crowd - that I'd leave Paddy's looking like a pin cushion...

Outside of the normal fiddle tunes, bluegrass standards and pop classics, the highlight for me was the impromptu Beatles segment.

"I Saw Her Standing There" on the banjo was so well received by all, that immediately all thoughts turned Beatle (although, in fairness to Bob, he had done "Act Naturally" earlier, but I guess that counted as a Buck Owens tune...)

Kim's a veritable encyclopedia of interesting tunes - teaching us "Thing We Said Today" and "I Feel Fine" (a nice bluegrasser).

Bill kicked in "Drive My Car", and I picked up my banjo again for "Back In The U.S.S.R.".

By midnight, the hard core jammers were just settling in...

As I left I had two thoughts - "Does Scotty ever wear shorts?" and "I'm glad it wasn't a Pool Party Jam (B + B ers in Speedos?)".

See you next time (and ladies, save us, please - we need some better looking legs there!).

Dave Comins

www.bluegrassandbeyondnyc.com

June 7, 2010 - The "TV Nostalgia Night" Jam

Hey There, Hi There, Ho There Jamateers *:


Well, the A/C was working again last night (although, it turned out we didn't need it). Howard stayed away - apparently still de-humidifying his electric uke from last week - while Karen and her kids were safely back at home, sobering up from all that Sprite they drank during their wild Memorial Day evening at Paddy's.


Nonetheless, enough people showed up to make for a good jam, one that unexpectedly turned great later on - but more on that later...


Bob came in announcing that he couldn't sing because of sinus problems - and wound up doing more songs than anyone. Man, if I could sing like that, I'd give you my sinuses Bob! (Although you might have to throw in that big old Martin).

Steve, besides doing a kicking version of "The Race Is On", brought along a fine guitarist whose nickname may go down as "Best In Show" for Bluegrass & Beyond 2010 - "Topher" (from Christopher). I'll just call him "The Toph"...

Co-host Bill revived Bachman Turner Overdrive's "Taking Care Of Business", a highlight, and Sarah did cool versions of "Little Wing" and George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass".

Not to be outdone, the other two co-hosts brought in the Dead's "Friend Of The Devil", Carl Perkin's "Honey Don't" and Jerry Reeds' "Eastbound And Down".

Mike threw in Jim Croce's "Leroy Brown", and Kim "Bye, Bye Love" before the jam went even a little further "Beyond"...

Craig picked up "Ball And Chain" from California punk rockers, Social Distortion, and Scotty chimed in with Elvis' "Alison" and Micheal Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough".

There were plenty of bluegrass standards, including "Knocking On Your Door", "Dark Hollow", "Foggy mountain Top", etc. - and plenty of fiddle tunes - "Down Yonder", "Kentucky Mandolin", "Gold Rush" and "Big Mon".

All in all, a fine night - but the "Twilight Zone" part was yet to come - literally!

It started off routinely enough, a little Eagles tribute by Scotty, Bill and Steve ("Lying Eyes", "Taking It Easy" and "Peaceful Easy Feeling") - when suddenly I hear... What the heck? That's no fiddle tune. 


It's Hoss, Little Joe, Adam and Ben Cartwright, Virginia City - and we're rockin' - like it's 1962!

Bill's "Bonanza" theme had started off a half hour tour de force "Name This TV Show" - mostly Scott and Bill (with help from Steve, Craig and myself). Besides, the obvious "Twilight Zone" - we hit 'em all: Hawaii Five-O, Batman ("Splat!" "Pow!!), Star Trek (that one had to be Scottie, of course), Mash, Secret Agent Man, Gilligan's Isle (a rousing Bill sing-a-long), Rawhide, The Munsters, Cheers, I Dream Of Jeannie, Mary Tyler Moore - even the lowly Patty Duke Show (...at times they even think alike, What a crazy pair! Yes, they're cousins...).


The "Toph" was in shock by this point, I think. Steve had to help him out at the end of the night.

I wonder if 40 years from now they'll be playing the themes to "Dancing With The Stars", "24", "American Idol" and "Lost" in late night Paddy's jams? Do they even have theme songs?

It made you glad to be alive. Who needs the upcoming World Cup when you've got Scotty and Bill?

See you next jam.

Dave Comins

www.bluegrassandbeyondnyc.com

* For all you non-geezerly type B & Bers, this is obviously a reference to the Mickey Mouse Club Shows from the late 50's. (Neither Scotty nor Bill knew that theme song... although I understand that Scotty still has his pair of Mouseketeer ears!).

May 31, 2010 - The "Sauna" Jam (part deux)

Hi everyone:

Well, I just got done wringing out my shirt from last night's jam - which seemed vaguely familiar to a similar situation last summer (see "The Sauna Jam").

It's the first time that I've ever had to put my instruments back in their cases with a de-humidifier! 

Because of the Memorial Day holiday, things were a little more relaxed than usual - Karen brought some of her family down for the fun - and Steve sold a few more Sprites than he normally would on a jam night.

Her son Rex (who I call "T-Rex", because of his love of the Natural History Museum) put on a pretty good show dancing and just being plain curious. Don't feel bad staring, Rex - nobody else knows what that thing that Howard plays is either! (And it IS about your size...)

He seemed a little perplexed about the dobro as well - why play a guitar on it's side? Hey Rex, now if I played it upside down - that would be weird! (Although some might argue that it would sound better - right Tony?)

Howard did manage to put down his toy for a minute and revive an early Bob Dylan's "Let Me Die In My Footsteps" - a highlight for me:  "...And some people thinkin' that the end is close by, 'stead of learnin' to live, they are learning to die."

Craig continued to impress throughout the night, with Loudons' "Dead Skunk" and a Yonder Mountain String Band song - now, if he would only become an A/C technician, as well as a sound guy - he would really kick!


Steve took a break from his favorite - "June Apple" - to lead Steve Earle's "Mercenary Song" on mando, just to show his diversity.

After co-host AJ's first half of the evening, which heavily featured "Beyond" songs - "Running Down A Dream", "So Far Away", "One After 9-0-9", "Hey Joe", "Goodbye Heart" and "Midnight Rider" to name a few - co-host Bill took over vowing to play fiddle tunes and banjo instrumentals with John, Kim and Mike until the A/C started working again...

Appropriately enough, our own Big Man - Mr. T - led it off with "Big Mon" - followed in short order by "Bill Cheatum", "Newton Grove"  and "Red Haired Boy" - at which point, I passed out from the heat! (I did have a dream about a uke solo on "Cherokee Shuffle" - nah, it couldn't happen...)

When I revived, Bill was leading "Jumpin' Jack Flash" - the heat must've gotten to him finally as well. 

Lynn continued her quest to lead famous Alison Krauss classics - this time "Steel Rails" - and rather successfully at that.

Finally, the holiday brought out an old friend Gerald - who lead a song for the first time - Townes" "Ballad Of Pancho And Lefty" - and left us all wondering why this was the first time? If I could lead like that, I wouldn't have AJ and Bill doing all the work at these jams. He probably can blog better than me as well.

See you next Monday, and Craig, night school classes start on Wednesday!

Bluegrass & Beyond NYC @ LaGuardia Corner Gardens, Greenwich Village for Make Music 2010

Bill, Sarah, Dave and AJ at the LaGuardia Corner Gardens - Make Music NY 2009

AJ Bender, Dave Comins, Sarah Galloway and Bill Giles will be performing as Bluegrass & Beyond NYC as part of Make Music NY 2010.

LaGuardia Corner Gardens, Greenwich Village, Make Music NY 2009

We'll be performing again this year at one of our favorite outdoor venues - the LaGuardia Corner Gardens - right in the heart of Greenwich Village.

Here's the info:

Sunday, June 20th, 2010 between 5:30 and 7:00pm 

at

LaGuardia Corner Gardens  - between Bleecker and Houston St. (much closer to Bleecker).


It's a free event!

LaGuardia Corner Gardens, 2009

We'll be playing an acoustic set - mostly non-bluegrass numbers - for an hour and a half.

Hope you can make it!

AJ Bender, Dave Comins, Sarah Galloway and Bill Giles

Bluegrass & Beyond NYC 

Below are some shots of us playing at Make Music 2008 on the Upper West Side at the 2nd Presbyterian Church as part of the NY Pinewoods Folk Music Club :

The May 17, 2010 Jam

Hi All:

This week's jam seemed like a Thursday night in NYC during the summer - we caught everybody still in town, but getting ready to come or go!

It took me a couple songs to realize that that was Leslie playing right next to me, leading "Mr Engineer" - she's back for the summer - and meaner than ever (on the mando, that is)!

It couldn't be Cinco de Mayo, she missed that (plus we all know that she celebrates that holiday in October) - it must be the upcoming 2nd Ave. Mountain Boys summer season...

Bassist Dan shocked everyone, except himself, by leading "Don't This Road Look Rough & Rocky" - and then announcing that he's outta here for the summer, along with Cynthia for better times in Asbury Park - thanking all of you jammers and promising to be back for Grey Fox and then at B & B in the fall.

Before leaving though, he invited a Princeton, N.J. bluegrasser (and beyonder, it turns out) up for a look at what we're doing. Bill (who mysteriously went by the name of Jim throughout the evening) proved his Bluegrass & Beyond mettle by leading both Hank William's "Jambalaya" and "Friend Of The Devil".

If you want to hear some good bluegrass & beyond (...like, maybe you're home sick one Monday night), check out his Riverside band's website, with the unambiguous url: www.BluegrassBand.com - check out their cool arrangements of "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?" and "Cumberland Blues".

Kim continues to prove himself a great addition - this week exciting co-host Bill with Ricky Nelson's "Goodbye Heart" and an obscure Elvis song - which I'm sure Elvis doesn't even remember doing.

Bill immediately followed that up with his own Elvis - "Too Much"; and earlier, had led a rousing version of the Band's "Up On Cripple Creek", complete with some poor yokel's local yodelling!

Liz, getting ready for Grey Fox, I guess, pulled out Crooked Still's version of "Shady Grove" (who needs minor chords for a mountain song?).

Banjo Mike, after an early successful "John Henry", had the misfortune of leading "Newton Grove" during the Yankee's 9th inning heroics over the Red Sox - completely flummoxing me, at least (my break coming right after the walk-off homer). Note to self: don't get distracted during that song again!

Bob was back, leading Hank's "Lonesome Homesick Blues", Lester Flatt's "Why Don't You Tell Me So" - and comparing the loudness of his Martin with Princeton Jim's (darn, did it again... Bill's). Unfortunately for me, I was in between them at the time. I felt like Russell Crowe in "Master And Commander".

Speaking of Bob (one of my favorite targets, I know, but for all the right reasons): I don't get why he's always cracking up (along with my wife, or Karen, or anyone else he happens to be standing next to) whenever I'm singing or playing - it's like he's never heard a New Hampshire yodeler, "skinning the cat" on his dobro before, all the while telling a joke (usually about Bob - unless Scotty's there, too)!


(Poor Scottie, he's not even there this week and he still gets it...)

All right, so maybe my version of the Delmore Bros. "Weary Lonesome Blues" was a little over the top, but Carl Perkin's "Gone, Gone, Gone" was pretty good I thought - Sam Phillips would like it!

Sarah did a little B & B with Iris Dement's "I've That Old Time Religion In My Heart" and Merle's "Sing Me Back Home". 

Co-host A.J., after recovering at the bar from his early evening leadership role, came back to lead the Stone's "Sympathy For The Devil".

Soon after this, the "Mystery Woman" appeared (name unknown) to lead Kris Kristofferson's "Me And Bobby Magee" - pretty much sounding like Janis! (and bringing out the dart players from the back for a rare appearance). I hope you averted your eyes when she modulated in public - I know I did. She took a B & B card, so we may see her again, and catch her name...  

Non-Mystery Sound Man, Craig, followed that with the Dead's " Monkey And The Engineer".

By then, I was spent (my ears still ringing from the earlier Martin cannon broadsides) - so who knows what happened after midnight... Scottie had just arrived, Mike was coming back in...