Entertaining...

I was playing my guitar for Joan and Izzy around 6:00 this evening.  The neighbor behind us came by and said, "They have a jam session here on Fridays - you should go check it out."

Last time I did a "jam session" at an RV park, it turned out to be a round robin, where each person plays a song, but nobody plays together.  As close to an open mic that this ol' rock 'n roller has ever done.  It was not what I would call a good experience... didn't want to repeat that.  The neighbor said, "They have all kinds of amps, usually a couple guitar players, a bass player who is a good singer... and a drummer who kinda can't keep time."

I chuckled; looked at Joan and she said, "It's up to you, but it could be fun for you."

I asked the neighbor if they played any rock 'n roll... "Well, it's mostly old time country, but they play a bit of everything."  When I asked if he'd be there, he said, "We did it last week, but we have friends in town tonight and we're going to a show..

I decided to give it a try.

When I walked into the room, I could see this was going to be an "oh-oh" situation.  There was a guy with a Telecaster, another one with a Taylor dread, and the drummer.  They had 3 mics set up, and a decent PA.  How bad could it be?

I will say that they were very gracious in inviting me to "join right in."  Every song they played was a 3-chord progression, making every song sound pretty much the same.  I would have been able to follow along... if the two guitar players played the same chords at the same time.  They decided it would be best if we each took a turn picking a song.

I asked them, "Do you know any rock 'n roll songs?"

"You mean like Elvis?"

I asked, "How about the Beatles?"

"You mean like: 'She was just 17...'?"

I gave them the chords to I Saw Her Standing There (4 chords), and they kind of followed.  When my turn came on the next round, I asked, "How about Dave Mason, Feeling Alright?  It's two chords: A7th and D9th."  (Easiest song I know)

Once into it, I looked back, and it was just me and the drums... "That whole 9th thing isn't something we know."

My turn again, I pulled out the only "country-ish" song I play: Roger Miller's King of the Road.  Three chords.  The two guitar players handled it, the drummer sped up to the point where it was almost comical.  The small crowd is used to these guys, so there was always polite applause.  When it was my turn to pick a song, sing and play... it was like looking at deer in the headlights.

In spite of all this, everyone playing kept a sense of humor.  The lead guitar player asked me, "Do you know any Eagles songs?"  I broke into Take It Easy.  I think they could see I was making an effort.  I was picking every two to three chord song I could come up with when it was my turn.

At the end of the night, the other players shook my hand and summed it up with, "Well, that was different for us, but you're good!  Hope you'll come back and join us again."

Several folks from the audience came up and said, "Thank you for being here - I enjoyed your singing."

It was a 2-hour event.  Even though it wasn't my style, it would have been less than gracious to play a song or two and bug out.  After the first half hour, I decided to just grin and enjoy it.  Definitely not my style, and I have no doubt that I wasn't theirs.  But, everyone participated.  And everyone was nice.

As we walked back to the coach, Joan said, "Well, you never know what it's going to be like."  I asked her if she got any photos with her phone... "No.  I wasn't sure you'd want to remember this."

Really, after the initial shock, it wasn't bad.  Just different.  Very different.

;-)