Jam session...

Nothing to do with the bands we saw last night.

Joan was coming back from the laundry here in the park and asked, "Are you going to the jam session at 3:00?  I met a really nice couple while walking back, and he is looking forward to having someone to jam with."

"Well, I wasn't planning to do it, but let's give it a shot.  How bad could it be?"

Everyone has a different idea of what a jam session is.  I have gotten together with a couple guys now and then, after we know we have compatible music tastes.  In some parks, the jam session is: everybody plays together.  In others, it is: each person takes a turn.  In others, they have a song list that they all know, and anyone new is lost.  This turned out to be the second kind:  There was a guy playing accordian, another guy playing bass and trombone, a woman who sang along with a CD, a couple (that Joan visited with) - he plays guitar and she sings, and a guy doing cowboy poetry.  Oh, and me... an old rock 'n roller.  How's that for variety?

When my turn came up, I played a Van Morrison song.  We can safely say that it was completely different from anything else (polka, waltz, country, country, poetry... and me).  The couple invited me to play along once they saw I could follow what he was playing.  Second song, I played some Jimmy Buffett, thinking everyone knows Margaritaville.  Did my last round with Stand By Me.

Joan took this photo while I was playing with the other couple...

The guy running the jam (bass and trombone) thanked us and said, "Nice to have some new, young blood here."

Yep.