Jam-o-phobia and The Muse..

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 8 Apr 2003 11:47 pm

Anybody else notice that if for some reason a person actually GOES OUT and hits a real live "Jam Session" as corny, stupid, or otherwise GET OUT and play that you GET WORK?

I can remember in 79 and 80 whan I was living in my car and not eating real well that if I forced myself to head out to one of those sunday things, that things ACTUALLY HAPPENED. I'd hit one at this little downstairs one at the "Chinese Dragon" run my a guy and his transvestite wife, and would walk away with the $20 "prize" when it meant eating for the next couple days. Ended up working full time for the next 7 years, and had the adventures of a lifetime. Some of the jobs weren't perfect, but they were ALL jobs. Probably as I try to look at all the ones I wrote down along the way, way over a hundred different ones. A couple good ones that lasted 3-5 years, and many ran concurrently. 30 or so in the "best place in town"..

It dawned on me last night when all I did was walk into a club, and ended up with nary an empty weekend through the whole summer.. The way my playing has gone downhill it CAN'T be that..

Some of the jobs aren't "fun" but it just seems that like "The Supreme Being",. sometimes "The Muse" only helps them that helps themselves..

I think if a person DOESN'T, the "Anti-Muse" takes over and makes one bitter as hell.

It just seems too pronounced an effect to be a "coincidence".

I've always thought of just up and moving to some not-so-little town, and just starting my life over from ONE jam session.

Hell, maybe even in New Zealand.....

Anybody else have that temptation?

Anybody done it?

Anybody suffered from "failure" that wasn't self induced from refusal to risk it? (other than injury or illness)

Just wondering..

EJL

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 9 Apr 2003 10:32 am

I have my up's and downs' too, Bro.

I emailed every Swing Band in the area last September, looking for a gig.

Everyone was kind, and put me on their "keep ya in mind" lists.

Lily saw a "Women In Rock-A-Billy" documentary on PBS, and the rest is history!

ps
I still have a few wed nights in April with Rock-A-Lily at The Spare Room, if'n yer out and about.

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 9 Apr 2003 10:51 am

Probably will meet Al Jones and Jason Snell there, and who knows who else.

I'm about to force myself to hit some of those "bluegrass type" jams with the old Washburn, and just have the SG "in the trunk". I just forget what actually happens when you "force yourself". I'm surprised pleasantly almost every time I force myself to do it.

What's already happening is that all my summer weekends and many weeks are filling up now that this spring period isn't looking good for "paving". Then all hell will break loose, and I'll end up having to juggle a LOT of stuff, day and night. This year the spirit is going to be willing for sure, but the tired old flesh...

See you there.

EJL

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 9 Apr 2003 12:28 pm

They got a kiwi singles club in New Zealand, Eric? I know you'll need female companionship...

Michael Johnstone · Post by **Michael Johnstone** » 9 Apr 2003 2:01 pm

I moved to L.A. in 1973 as a starving,ok guitar player/lame steel player,saw the competetion on 6-string/lack of it on steel,equivocated my way into any jam,gig or pig wrestle that would tolerate my steel playing and went from there.Now,30 years later I've fought and clawed my way to the middle of the pack and am still working. They say fortune favors the brave(or is it the stupid?) -MJ-

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 9 Apr 2003 2:44 pm

Back in the very early 70's, if I found myself out of work on the weekend, I'd head on down to the Imperial Inn in Sante Fe Springs and play in the all-night jam sessions. More times than not, the next week I'd have a gig with a different band. It's simply a way to market yourself.

Of course, those were the days when there was a country joint with a 4-5 piece band on every block in every town and suburb in So.Cal. Times are different now, fer sure fer sure.

------------------
Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 9 Apr 2003 2:44 pm

Yeah....long dry spells where you just hope to "set-in" somewhere to prove to yourself that you are still in the game.......then, multiple job opportunities all at one time and you can only do one of them, so you pass them on to your friends hoping that they will reciprocate when the same thing happens to them.......and the wheel keeps turning!.... www.genejones.com [This message was edited by Gene Jones on 09 April 2003 at 03:46 PM.]

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 9 Apr 2003 3:20 pm

Yup. I just get panicky when the day thing goes to hell in the winter. Then, like now I fill up every weekend, and try to do two 5 niters a month besides. THEN the day job breaks loose, and I'm swamped. No rest for the wicked I guess...

I'm proud to say that in all the time I can remember, I *never* took a job away from another Steel Player. If I found out I was doing it, I split. I LOVE taking jobs from keyboard players and female vocalists. If lucky it *stays* a *steel slot*.

I've always passed on any work I could. That IS how it works.

I just forgot "the magic" that happens when you *get out there* to *jam sessions*. I rarely "sit in", except to just assure my brother steel players that I can't play an Emmons or a Sierra, AND that they have "nothing to worry about" anyhow.....

Time to crank up the old Panhead tonite and head out after a month of nearly solid RAIN..

I've probably spent more time here than I will once things get rolling. It's been really nice to meet everybody and swap stories, and not get flamed back to the stone age.

In *some cases* I didn't realise that there actually WERE people older than me

The first *hip* thing I remember was having a "Sparkle Shirt"... (Circa 1960)

I feel like such a kid sometimes at damn near 50..

I really don't think I've "matured" all that much. That was a dozen dogs, women,cars, bikes and guitars ago. ( A few *durn nice lookin'* sheep too SG). Still on my Second Banjo..

EJL[This message was edited by Eric West on 09 April 2003 at 04:22 PM.]

Jerry Hayes · Post by **Jerry Hayes** » 10 Apr 2003 4:55 am

I did the same thing as Herb in the SoCal scene for a lot of years. Man, that was a great time. We had afterhours jams at the Imperial Inn in Santa Fe Springs, The Blue Fox in Redondo Beach, the Time Out in Santa Ana, the Aces Club in the City of Industry, and some others. Back then we had a morning session at the Blue Room in La Puente which at one time even had Johnny Paycheck as the bandleader. If a guy (or gal) couldn't get a gig at one of those places they just couldn't pick. Everyone had a gig and another one to go to if that one fell through. I'm glad all that happened while I was young enough to enjoy it. There's a jam on Wednesday and Sunday nights at a club here in Virginia ran by a guy (Tracy Wilson) who's a Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard freak. I love to take my steel down there and get to do all those great songs. The band leader can't play lead very well but he's a good singer and fun to be around. He let's me play all I want when I go there. It's almost like being back in the 60's and 70's.....JH

------------------
Livin' in the Past and the Future with a 12 string Mooney Universal tuning.

Chris Forbes · Post by **Chris Forbes** » 10 Apr 2003 5:49 am

Jerry, where is Portsmouth?

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 10 Apr 2003 12:20 pm

Sometimes in the 80s after coming home from one of those miserable half country crock gigs I used to stop by either the Spinning Wheel, or the Rim Rock and sit in with the Jimmy Patton Band. I just remembered. Jimmy was a local guy that "made it" for a while with a few songs. Blue Darlin' was the best one, "Okie in the Pokey" was another lesser known one. He was from Allowe, and got banned from the state after scrounging a little more than "cylinder gas" from the rigs. ( He finally outlived the judge that issued that "fatwa" in the 80s and was able to return. Allowe however was underwater by then...) ( My wife's clan comes from Nowatta and Dewey.)

Just being able to play "loud and tinny" ( He'd tell me to "tin it up" to someone who REALLY was country, and enjoyed me playing wnat I wanted to play did a world of good for me in those "times".

Jimmy never discouraged Anybody when they "sat in" and I really miss him. I never played with him more than filling in for Neil Rogerson once, but it did my spirits a world of good. I'd go back out and play with those Cover Bands that couldn't play a shuffle to save their lives, and take the money to live on.

EJL

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 12 Apr 2003 12:59 am

I caught the tail end of same scene as Herb and Jerry. It probably was already declineing, but it was still very cool. I met a lot of great pickers, and just about every time I went out to jam, I got a gig from it.

It's really too bad the whole scene died. Almost all the clubs are gone now. Some have gone out of business completely, some have gone dark, some have gone Latino, and some have switched over to Kareoke or use disc jockeys instead of live bands.

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 12 Apr 2003 3:20 am

...reminds me of the "Deep Duce" (referring to downtown N.E. 2nd street in Oklahoma City) where musicians of diverse venues from jazz to big-band to western-swing, would gather after-hours and jam together until dawn... Musicians such as Charlie Christian and Noel Boggs had their beginnings there, but the scene is long gone except for an annual jazz & blues festival... Sadly, those days (and most of the musicians)are gone forever.

www.genejones.com [This message was edited by Gene Jones on 12 April 2003 at 01:23 PM.]

Michael Holland · Post by **Michael Holland** » 12 Apr 2003 5:24 am

I notice none of you guys live in Nashville! There's lots of opportunity here to do freebies with wannabes, gonnabes and usetabes. Ironic, isn't it, that if he lived in just about any other city, an 'A' player might be able to get a gig playing on the weekends for $50.

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 12 Apr 2003 6:59 am

JamOphobia is a good name for a band

------------------
Steel what?

Larry Robbins · Post by **Larry Robbins** » 12 Apr 2003 11:11 am

Eric,
You sure know how to hit the nail right on
the head.I too used to find that if I would force myself to attend one of those "hokie"
type jams I would find more work than I could
handle.Unfortunatly, where I live there are
a lot of local bands lacking what I will politly call "ability"to the point that for
the last six years I have been in a type of
self imposed exile.There are very few venues
locally as well so the competition among the
groups is stiff also.Sometimes I feel like if
I dont get out and play music with another
person that I will surely lose my mind(too late)but, then I go out and hear some of our local heros and think I will just stay home
for a wile longer.Belive me Im not being an
elitest, its just this area dosent have a lot to ofer I guess.Sometimes I go out and
think somebody must need a guitar,dobro,steel,banjo,mandolinist,but,then
I usually find that I am probably better off
just sipp"n my beer!Thanks I feel better now!
Larry

------------------
Larry Robbins
GFI-s 10
Morrell lap steel,Reagl 75 dobro and Marshall half stack(I know,I know)

chas smith R.I.P. · Post by **chas smith R.I.P.** » 12 Apr 2003 2:41 pm

I feel like such a kid sometimes at damn near 50.. I really don't think I've "matured" all that much.

I'm 55 and while I look my age, I've maintained my immaturity. I'm absolutely convinced that "grownups" don't make art and I think that retaining the "wonder" of what our instruments sound like and what making music feels like is not only imperative, it will keep us alive longer or at least make living that much more enjoyable.

A while back I was whining to my therapist about what the hell am I doing. His reply was "do you realize how many men your age fantasize about throwing a guitar in the trunk of a Cadillac, playing a gig and driving home with their arm around a babe (my girlfriend)."

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 12 Apr 2003 2:54 pm

Some therapist. He should know that musicians have fantasies too, like health insurance and babe-free Cadillacs.

John Lacey · Post by **John Lacey** » 13 Apr 2003 7:22 am

Our local jam is still going strong here in my home town of Black Diamond, pop. 1500. after 3 years. Sometimes the energy level really ebbs and flows and other times it's just bloody magic on that stage. Seldom boring, though. It's always a challenge trying to make people sound their best when they're frightened and amateurs.

Jim Bob Sedgwick · Post by **Jim Bob Sedgwick** » 19 Apr 2003 7:05 pm

Charles: You can afford a Cadillac? You don't play full time, do you?

ray qualls · Post by **ray qualls** » 20 Apr 2003 10:54 am

Hey Eric, I remember back in "87" I think, I played with Jimmy Patton on a 4 week gig at the Whiskey River club in Reno, Nevada. I was just learning to play steel then and my wife Norma Jean and a guitar player friend named Fred Chanchelor made the trip from Arkansas to play. We ended up staying in Winslow, Arizona for 7 months and playing local clubs. Fred was originally from that area and thats how we got the gig! I still have one of Jimmy's "45" records.

------------------
Ray Qualls

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 20 Apr 2003 1:09 pm

Jimmy was a Gem. No doubt about it. That was probably after his first major heart attack.

At what he did, I'd call him close to being a "master". Oh it was loud, and he played clubs where civilized and sensitive people just didn't go, but he DID it. He never discouraged anybody that I ws ever aware of. He used to tell me "Turn it up, and Tin it up."

I missed his funeral here mainly because it was pitiful to watch and listen to people who had cut him and his bands/gigs down the last half of his time here in Portland, all of a sudden were his "Buddies" and "Peers". The whole lot of them weren't fit to lick his boots, the way I look at it. All I'd have done is get pissed..

Just before he passed, I was talking to him just outside a van he was driving during a five nighter he'd come to see me at at Mr B's in Troutdale. He was not in good shape, and we'd always use the standard "black humor". We opined as how ANY musician is ONLY as good as his Last Gig. His had been miserable. He was talking about taking Lou Crenshaw, his FINE guitar player for 30 years and "the band" to WhiskeyTown in Calif. I wished him the best.

Sadly, that was the last time I was to see him. A drunk T-boned him while driving home from The Spare Room on Alberta and Cully Bvd and splattered him. His oldest friend Lou had to make the decision to unplug him at the end. Hope I have one that good and true.

I loved Jimmy. A Local guitar player of Note, Craig Hutchins shares my thoughts about him I'm sure.

"I was a Fool, broke every rule, Blue Darlin'.."

Happy Easter.

Christ is Risen.

Wish Jimmy'd come back.

EJL

chas smith R.I.P. · Post by **chas smith R.I.P.** » 20 Apr 2003 8:19 pm

You can afford a Cadillac? You don't play full time, do you?

It was a '73 Coupe de Ville, ( the '56 in the front yard is a "lawn ornament"), I had to sell it and have moved up to a '77 Lincoln Mark V, 20' long with 2 doors, I just love lookin out over a half acre of sheet metal.....