My new day off is Sunday again, and the main event today was the jam session at the Castle. I spoke too soon about the days cooling off; it was near 90 out there by noon. That ensued a typical pattern. The heat made it impossible to work, I took a siesta and when I awoke it was too late to do anything but go to the jam.
Brian, the English guitar player, was one of the three people in the audience listening to up to seven musicians on stage. Drums, bass, keyboards, saxophone, lead, rhythm, and a blonde lady singing. I declined to play as the mood was mostly Blues, not my schtick. Brian is a critic, mind you, and he was not impressed. I liked it as far as “liss-nen” music goes, let me expand on that.During the last century half, jamming was often synonymous with the 12-bar Blues and there are plenty of pockets where this still holds true. My point of view is that if the group is playing well and having fun, let them carry on, I can’t add anything to Blues. At the same time, 12-bar Blues is all too often the 3-chord Blues. No matter how well-played, a steady diet of that is an audience killer. One desperate patron even tried to play “The Breeze” on the juke box between their songs.
And those songs tended to be 10 minute marathons, with each instrument doing a break or two. Or three. The keyboardist remembered me from that single gig at “Marvelous” over a year ago (Monday, June 9, 2008). I plead the Hunt Brothers defense. The band slipped in a couple of originals, something else I am leery of doing until a room gets used to your sound. Brian promptly left over it. Then again, I’ve never heard Brian play and he has always refused when asked to join me on stage.
In all, the show was musically a success, in my opinion. Nobody can judge the crowd reaction as there was no crowd. The club has potential but only if music can prove a draw against the all too obvious trade that is carried on in that location at other hours. Apparently the music earlier was rock, but it was all Blues once I arrived, and I was there a while. Another hesitation for me is too many musicians at once. Each part tends to get lost when more than four people are playing, although this show was admirably crisp and balanced, like hearing a recording session.
The Hippie is not committed to next week, says he’ll advertise. The blonde babe was attractive, my type actually, but all the musicians were hovering around her. That’s another area I let them carry on. Besides, everybody knows musicians are way cooler at picking up women than all other men, it is just an undeniable fact, they are even better at it than movie stars and billionaires. So there.
This was a good week, although that does not make up for a bad month. Nor am I leaving you with a one topic blog. There’s another quest I have scheduled: Finding a real toaster. Yes, I said real. Where have all the toasters gone? My gripe is the incredibly long wait for the first batch to pop up. Price does not seem to be any guide to quality. Today’s model, currently a “T-Fal Avante Deluxe” courtesy Theresa, takes 3 minutes 56 seconds. But the same goes for “Black & Decker” and “GE”. Utter pieces of junk, very high-priced junk at that.
Nearly four minutes is an eternity when you are trying to get out the door in the morning. Some of these toasters make the subsequent slices faster, but who cares? Your coffee is already getting cold. Safety is not an issue as we had plenty of toasters when I was growing up that produced results within the minute. Another modern phenomena is the 1-1/2 toaster and its companion, the 3-1/2 slice model. I’ve owned three since arriving in Florida. You know what I mean. I don’t smoke, but back when I lived in a whole household who did, we had toaster elements that lasted for ten years. Let the search begin.
For the record, that new fish I tried last month, Tilapia, has been declared the new nutrition fad. I believe I mentioned it here. That’s coincidence, since I’d never heard of it and couldn’t pronounce it, either. But it goes to show you I’m not adverse to new things and wish there was some way to know if I was being first. I heard that, Ruby! Last, again I toy with the idea of publishing small booklets. Five copies of my directions to use Limewire without downloading viruses went out for $10 each last week. I heard that also, but that’s five more books I’ve authored and sold than you ever will! And nobody reasonable doubts I can turn these booklets out by the dozen. (Those were the only sales, as it appears Limewire is about to be declared illegal.)
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