The Wednesday Jam Gets Electrified
Wednesday’s jam took an entirely new turn: electric. When I arrived at the BBC, a country band, complete with drum kit, was setting up. A query to Dan indicated that he knew the group was coming and that he had told them it was an acoustic jam. Fat chance. By the time things got rolling, the house PA had been set up (necessary, unfortunately), so the evening turned into a relatively sloppy amplified jam, with only two mics and four instrument inputs.
The country band was four guys, including an excellent African-American blues drummer (a pro) who had previously worked with Mark Stein and the Steamrollers and Ricky Mason’s Saints. He also claimed to have played with Pinetop Perkins as a very young man. He was a tasteful, rock-solid drummer. The other three were from the South End (self-described). Dan had them go first, of course, so we all sat out until they had done a few tunes. After they knocked down, the PA was still up and, as is usual with amplification, distorted the jam into a series of pretty ragged performance, since some of the instruments were unamplified and others over-amplified. Forget the harmonies. However, Steve’s wife Debbie got into it and was wailing. Clearly, the lure of the stage is working on her.
A bit later in the evening, a rock guitarist showed up, toting his own little amp. He sat in for a while, though the music was mostly not in his style. Fortunately, he was constrained in his playing and didn’t walk on anybody.
I’ve been figuring on this turn of events for a while, if for no other reason than we are certain to begin drawing additional players and fans (I hope, that is.), so the need for volume to be heard will be an increasing demand. It’ll shape the event into something more like an unpaid gig than a jam session and at some point, the matter of getting something from the bar besides a check for our beer will crop up. We’ll see how it goes.