There was a whole lot of action going on at the 222ND JAM including the Lou Shields double record release, Rene Garcia's birthday, the return of Larry Day, the debut of Pablo Baldetti who accompanied another returnee, Rodney Golson, Brice Clark who played his banjo with a bow and Rich Boban leading the Paul Henry's Shakers in a tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis. The food on the Potluck table was outstanding as usual and a crowd of 67 was thoroughly entertained by eighteen performers until close to Midnight. Thanks to everyone! We will do it all again, same time(7PM), same day(Thursday) with the 223RD JAM on December 11th. Same time, same day but always something different!
— Taken from Paul Henry's Art Gallery Facebook Post
I loved the Sonic Highways series on HBO for many reasons. The biggest one is that I love listening to music. Another reason is I am fascinated how music is created. While sitting at tonight's Acoustic Jam, I thought about Dave Grohl's comments throughout the series about community. He talked about his group of misfit friends who felt like outcasts everywhere except in Washington DC's punk music community. So here I sit among a group of people from 20 to 60 plus years old from a variety of backgrounds. But we all have at least one thing in common...music...maybe we prefer different types of music but we all enjoy music...some by playing, some by listening. Maybe The Beatles had it wrong...love isn't all you need...maybe music is all you need to bring people together.
The format tonight was very simple. Due to the large number of performers signed up to play, everybody gets to play three songs. This is Brice Clark picking on the banjo after using a bow for a unique sound on his first song.
He switched to guitar for his third song. As you can see in the background, this space is for artists of all types. I love this place as an art gallery because for it's first 100 years it was a hardware store in downtown Hammond. It has amazing ambience and is a great place for photographs.
A Bob Dylan fan.
Chris Volek
He switched to acoustic bass for his last song and when a string broke...he tapped out the melody with his hand on the guitar body....the show must go on.
Larry Day brought a little punk edge to three songs by female artists if I remember correctly. I know all three had a theme of heartbreak. Though the last one was a cover of Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice" as done by Kesha. The Dylan fan pictured above said it was the best version of that song he'd ever heard.
Mark Biegel and Harry Claussen.
The cool thing about this night was how the musicians asked others to sit in with them during their set. Mark played with several performers.
These two performed as Fragile Soul. I really enjoyed their original songs and harmonies. They also played Sam Smith's "Stay With Me" very well. They are Rodney Golson on vocals and Pablo Baldetti on guitar.
Jeff Martin on guitar and vocals with Rene Garcia on percussion. Jeff's songs were heartfelt and moving even though he sang in another language...Spanish I think but not sure.
Karac Von Thweatt played some amazing piano...maybe some old school concerto stuff...what do I know except it was incredible sounding.
Carol Estes during her spoken word performance.
Michael Stupar did interesting country songs...
...Rene Garcia decided bongos didn't work with Michael's songs and returned with an ice scraper brush and a some kind of wire sieve he found in the other room and created the perfect sound for the songs...it sounded like brushes on a snare drum.
Here's an artist that I already knew because I bought several pieces of artwork from him. Tonight I bought both of his CD's. Lou Shields has traveled all over America searching and learning about our heritage and musical past. He performs songs that capture all he has seen and learned.
The percussion is provided by a license plate and a skateboard with bottle caps loosely nailed to it. Isn't this absolutely perfect...it sounds great...just like most poor country folks created music on front porches, in barns and shacks for years. A perfect way to end my night...with music created and played in it's simplest form...making sounds from whatever you have lying around...that is how music was originally created...and all you need is music...once there is music...there are people gathering...once people meet...there is bound to be some love...so music is all you need.
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