2007-09-18 - Jam Night at U. Maine Farmington

Another Wednesday, another Jam Night debriefing. This is the second post about the informal jam that I go to most Tuesday nights. I got all fancy and wordy with the intro to last week's Jam Night post, so this time, right to the facts.

The songs that I played on, in approximate order, were:

1. Waiting For the Man. This Velvet Underground tune started us off right. I played piano, and someone else sang, which is good because I don't sing this one well.
   
2. Something. As a fall back, I often bring a Beatles fake book to jams like this. Tonight it paid off with three songs, which I sang and played guitar on, accompanied by bass, drums, and a second guitar.
   
3. Revolution.
   
4. While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
   
5. unknown song. Not sure what this one was, but I suspect it was a Grateful Dead song. Someone else picked it and was singing. I just played guitar.
   
6. Roller Derby Queen. I moved to piano for this Jim Croce song, which I think I've heard before but didn't recognize when we played it.
   
7. random jams. For a change of scenery, I sat down at the drums for a couple instrumental jams. The plan for both: 6/8 time, start on E minor.
   
8. In the Street. Switching back to guitar, I jumped into this song, better known as the theme from "That 70's Show." The version on the TV show is actually a 90's remake (with different lyrics) by Cheap Trick, and I was working more from the original, which is by a great yet semi-obscure early 70's band called Big Star. No one else knew it, so it was just me and a drummer.
   
9. Crazy Train. Can't remember whose idea this was, but certainly not mine. I don't dare play it at a jam, because there's usually someone who can play it much better. I'm not generally the type to sing an Ozzy song, but this one went almost OK.
   
10. Fortunate Son. Trying hard to find something we could play together, we reprised last week's version of this CCR song. I was still on guitar, whereas last week I played it on piano.
    
11. La Bamba. Someone started playing this, and though I don't know many songs from memory, I know this one. It's tied to many early jam memories, as it was one of the first songs I ever played in a band.
    
12. Smells Like Teen Spirit. Again, someone else's idea. Easy to play, hard to sing. And I could only remember one verse, so we cut it short.