After X-Mas Ramba-Jamba

Had a splendid little 5-hour jam will J.A.S., Sick Rick, Stumpy Pete (for the latter half), and Alesis drummer machine.

Set List: Adam Raised a Cane, Creep, Dead Flowers, Factory, Time, Blowin in the Wind, Powderfinger, Save Tonight, Hurt, Sweet Leaf/Born on the Bayou/Sympathy for the Devil, Knockin on Heaven's Door, Last Days of May, Lucky Man, Malicious Hallucinations, Down By The River, Mad World, Right Down the Line, For the Turnstiles, Tangled Up in Blue, Big Girl, Yoshimi, Comfortably Numb, Dwight Frye, House (x2), and Farewell Ride (x2).

Way II Be

(Dismalhead "Way II Be" and "Way to Be")

We have had these informal jam sessions and relying for content from my giganormous binder of music, which contains just about every cover I've tried to work on for at least the past 7 years or so plus some from older than that. My conceit is that the info for each song be on two facing pages. That way a musician doesn't have to worry about flipping pages during a song (I hated that in full-on sheet music).

The two main problems with giga-binder are: #1 All the singers and musicians are looking over each other's shoulders, and #2 The binder itself around 2/3 of which is something probably not suitable for a garage jam session.

I decided to put together a simple song book for our most common tunes along with some blasts from the past, but what to call it?

I happened to be listening to Sick Rick's old CD of music he put together way back in 2012 when our friend and singer/guitarist Stumpy Pete was moving back to Cali from Colorado. Sick Rick's faux band (every instrument was performed by Sicky over the thump of an Alesis drum machine) he called "Dismalhead" and titled the CD "Way to Be" (an old 70s exclamation of positivity related to "way to go" which was a sarcastic counterpart).

I thought that this songbook, from my perspective, was similar in idea to Sick Rick's CD - a group of material encouraging our small band of players to adopt some material.

The new songbook, dubbed "Way II Be" and reflecting our various influences plus a few originals, contains the following:

“Adam Raised a Cane” Bruce Springsteen, “After Dark” Tito & Tarantula, “Ballad of Dwight Fry” Alice Cooper, “Blowin' In the Wind” Bob Dylan, “Comfortably Numb” Pink Floyd, “Creep” Radiohead, “Dead Flowers” The Rolling Stones, “Dominance & Submission” Blue Oyster Cult, “Down by the River” Neil Young, “Factory” Bruce Springsteen, “Farewell Ride” Beck, “For the Turnstiles” Neil Young, “God's Gonna Cut You Down” Traditional, “Heaven” Talking Heads, “Helpless” Neil Young, “House of the Rising Sun” Traditional, “Hurt” Trent Rezner, “Institutionalized” Suicidal Tendencies, “Jackhammer” Stumpy Pete, “Knockin' On Heaven's Door” Bob Dylan, “Lucky Man” ELP, “Mad World” Gary Juyles, “Malicious Hallucinations” Stumpy Pete,  “Nebraska” Bruce Springsteen, “Powderfinger” Neil Young, “Rats” Pearl Jam, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” Sick Rick, “Right Down the Line” Gerry Rafferty, “Save Tonight” Eagle Eye Cherry, “Sedan Delivery” Neil Young, “Submission” Sex Pistols, “Sweet Leaf" Black Sabboth, “Sympathy for the Devil” The Rolling Stones, “Tangled Up In Blue” Bob Dylan, “Then Came the Last Days of May” Blue Oyster Cult, “Time” Pink Floyd, “Wild World” Cat Stevens, “You're A Big Girl Now” Bob Dylan, “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” Flaming Lips.

Another Informal...

So this fine Friday afternoon we met up in the Valley of Jo for a ripping good time. Myself, Sick Rick, and J.A.S. for the entirety, Hunger Mehigh for all but the very end, Stumpy Pete and Vlad comprising some two different sections.

Set List: Bass/Drum Groove, After Dark, Anybody Seen My Mind, Last Days of May, Dead Flowers, Factory, Farewell Ride, Hurt, Down By the River, Knockin' On Heaven's Door, Lucky Man, Mad World, Right Down the Line, Save Tonight, Sympathy for the Devil, Wild World, Yoshimi, You're A Big Girl Now, Dwight Fry, Comfortably Numb, Dominance and Submission, Jazz Odyssey.

Informal Jam with Firends...

A little gettogether with friends Stumpy Pete, J.A.S., and Hunger Mehigh a drummer. Debut of the inverted 5th-tuned bass. Sick Rick was due but turned-out sicker than ordinary.

Set List: Pete's Jazz, Last Days, Dead Flowers, Yoshimi, Factory, Lucky Man, Helpless, Down By the River.

Classical Carlos Jam Video - BORKED!

I had a nice, long, video-taped (yes, actual tape) Classical Carlos jam at Ur-daughter's home with Tahoe the Cat. Unfortunately I dropped the camera setting up and scrambled the audio pickup. Dang!

Anyhow, here is the setlist: Creep, Heaven, Rain Dogs, There is a Light That Never Goes Out, Tender is the Night, Old Country Waltz, Her Diamonds, Yoshimi, Doolin Dalton, Sweet Jane, Waiting for the Great Leap Forward, Your Racist Friend, God's Gonna Cut You Down, Hurricane, Sedan Delivery, Dominance and Submission, Don't Cry No Tears, Desperado, Pumped Up Kicks, Soldier Sign.

Classic Carlos Jam re: Burn

Housesitting for omdaughter and her hubster during the Burning Man festival and had an opportunity to jam on the Classical Carlos! I must bring a tune book...

Beat to the Bass

While I have pretty much spent the past 2-3 years getting acquainted with the guitar, my background is bass guitar. Funny, I was jamming with a bunch of old mates back in April and everyone expected I would be playing bass guitar - which I hadn't practiced for years having given my electric 5-string bass off to middlin-son the Owl Man.

I kinda had second thoughts before the jam and was looking to find a decent bass on eBay hopefully for around $100, when I realized I had this $2,500 Takamine fretless acoustic-electric just cased-up down in my living room. There was no way I ought to spend any money when I have this expensive instrument existing as a mere conversation piece.

The Takamine bass entered my life more than 15 years ago (last musical instrument purchased PWI - Purchasing While Intoxicated), but I never was really able to use it because of feedback problems in the various loud bands I hung with.

So, while I jammed regular guitar back at April's informal gig, I resolved to figure out how to get this rig playable. The journey of the past couple months was basically #1 - solve feedback issue, and #2 - learn fretless.

Here is my first impromptu set (flubs and all) after about 6-7 weeks practicing: Jesus and Tequila, State Trooper, People Just Ain't No Good, Swamp, Dead Flowers, Jane Says, Keep the Glove, Corona, Moonchild.