11th Jam: Party Harder

Date: 4/15/09
Location: Mt Prospect Studios

Mike: Bass
Kevin M: Vocals
Ryan: Guitar
Kevin C: Drums
Carl: Guitar

So, I missed the Jazz show at Fitzgerald's, but this was worth it. Kevin C invited his friend Carl to jam. Kevin vouched for him, but I gotta admit I was a little worried when he pulled out the acoustic. No worries. He was solid, even over Stooge. I definitely never heard an acoustic part in Stooge, but it sounded good. Hopefully, we'll keep him showing up with Kevin C.

While we were waiting on Carl, we jammed through a little riff in Dm. Good stuff. Even remembered to turn on the 8-track. Someday, I'll have enough time to develop some of this stuff, but in the meantime, it's just fun to jam through it.

We whipped through Tomorrow and some Stooge after Carl arrived. The Stooge outro was rag-tag, but it finally held together. I know Mike is going to want some clean transitions, but I kinda liked how we followed each other through the mixed-meter stuff. Okay, maybe it was five minutes too long, but I was digging it. Kevin M had the idea to jump back in on vocals after our musical adventure, which was something I had in the back of my mind as well. Great minds, eh? Ha ha ha...

After Kevin M left, we worked through some Cowboy Song. We have a few parts now that are pretty cool. We're going to have to try to work some melody into the fold in the near future. And I haven't even busted out the original bridge I wrote for the song.

When we got bored, Kevin C took the mic and I laid down a beat. It was an upbeat blues groove. Kevin was spewing gibberish, but I liked the sound. I'd love to keep going, but...God forbid these guys let me start switching instruments.

Oh, one more milestone: This was officially the night I realized that my back problems were from extensive guitar jams. The Gibson is by far the heaviest guitar I've played, and thinking about it, I've rarely played standing up for 2+ hrs straight. If it's just me, I'll take a break or sit down. I'm usually on acoustic for composing anyway. Anyway, hanging a 12 pound weight off one shoulder for 2 hrs is a problem. I'll have to figure out how to handle that going forward.

And to think I blamed ice hockey. For shame!