PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic When is the last time you have been to a open mic/blues jam?

Jim, it's more that I am never in a position to do that. Other than playing full gigs, over the last 20 years I have not been in a bar other than to see a songwriter perform in a situation that NOBODY is invited to the stage. To topic, the last time I was on a stage that wasn't a paying gig situation was at a benefit in 2015 when there was a post holiday jam night that was a benefit for the local food bank and my band of the time hosted. I may have been on stage for ONE song that was not my band playing because it needed some keyboards and I was the only keyboard player in the place. I don't "hang around" bars looking for the recognition of "Hey let's see if Eastside Eddie will come up and do a few." Those jam night situations where I live are typically just that: Attention whores who don't play in a band and want to get their 7-8 minutes of fame playing the 2 songs they actually know so their friends can tell them how great they are. And those 2 songs are Crazy Train and Gimme Three Steps about 80% of the time.

One exception was in 1991. The band I was in back them wanted to play this room that wouldn't even give us the right time if we asked for it. 4 of us from the 5 piece band went to a karaoke night at that place and got up to do "You've Lost The Lovin' Feeling", in just our regular clothes. The guy running the show (Joey Gentile - an old friend) then said "Hey let's get those singing fools back up for one more. Okay?" There was loud applause. This time we went up with our satin band jackets that said "Cruisin'" on the back and did "If You Don't Know Me By Now". In IMPECCIBLE 4 part harmony. Joey used to make cassettes to give to the performers, and he recorded us doing that song. We told him to give it away and then stood by and watched 2 girls GET INTO A FIST FIGHT over who would get that tape. They broke up the fight, Joey made another copy of the tape, and the owner booked us for 6 shows, 2 weeks apart. Now THAT we did for free, but that was an investment, not a plea for attention.

Bottom line (standard disclaimer "IN MY EYES AND MY OPINION) music is NOT fun. Music is hard work. I have now invested 66 of my 71 years into music, and much like I. M. Pei will not design a building for fun (he did the Louvre Pyramid, the Rock HOF and MANY others you'd know), I don't give my craft to people so they can make money selling beer while I work for free. To this day I never say I "play" music. I perform music, I work in the music business, I work in the entertainment business. I don't PLAY anything. But also remember I am a huge music snob and a finicky SOB who experiments with silly things like mic placement on a guitar amp and using cardboard circles to block different sections of a speaker so the mic only hears one part of it. I had a guitar friend in here years ago who looked at me like I was crazy because I made him do so many takes of a solo as I moved all 4 mics around to be in different places relative to the amp, and the moved the amp around facing to the side, facing away... He must have played that 8 bar solo 75 times. Somehow we are still friends. Maybe because I bought him wings afterward. LOL!!! But every take had slightly different room acoustics and decay times that were so subtle that maybe nobody but me could tell, but I drew a room sketch of every take to show where the amp was and where the mics were. That's just how I am. Anybody surprised I can't keep people in a band? LOL!

EDIT to add that the "Life Is Hard" thing was about the camaraderie. Just about everybody who can tolerate my attitude was involved in that day. And we all wanted to do that as a collaborative promotional video for the software as a matter of thanks to PG for their product. It was SO hard to keep a straight face with that hokey Bob Dylan impersonation... LOL!!