Carroll's 55th Street

1/3/2006

First jam seemed like it wasn't going to happen but John the drummer from St. Louis was kind enough to sit in for Coffee.

This was our first jam of 2006, fresh on the heals of a year that we got 50 jams in and it seemed as if this jam was destined not to happen.  A snow/ice storm hit the area in the morning and Trister was claiming we needed to move it to Thursday to avoid the weather.  Since the storm cleared as the day progressed and since it was forecasted to snow on Thursday, Trister decided to go on as planned and have the jam this evening.  We were all set for the first jam of the year when late in the afternoon we were notified that Marna, Coffee's wife pulled her back out on her and Coffee would not be able to attend.  This would have been the typical death blow for a jam but Scott was clutch enough to pull a drummer out of that Treo of his and we had six for the night.

John the drummer from St. Louis, who Rich, Scott and Trister jammed with in a giant ABB jam earlier in the year at Carroll's, was kind and eager enough to play with us.  He got there at the end of the Birdsongs and jammed with us for the rest of the night.  It was great to have the second drummer and everyone, except maybe Coffee seemed happy with the situation.

This was all to bad because we played the hottest Cortez the Killer which transitioned very nicely out of a China Cat Sunflower.  We ended up playing lots of songs for the night and played them all pretty well.  That Cortez song was unbelievable, so good, it should not be played again!  It's too bad no one will ever hear it because this was one of the few Deadstein jams where nothing was recorded and we played for the joy of the moment.

Besides that great Cortez, which was a killer, we played lots of songs very well, including a Foolish Heart where I felt Andy and I had nice interplay in the main riff of the song.  The Teddy Bear's Picnic was also really well done with Kevin hitting all the right notes.  Till the Morning Comes had a hot building jam at the end of it.  Tore Up was a nice welcoming song for Rich, fresh from his return from New Orleans where he was rescuing cats left homeless by Katrina.  Scott sang the Box of Rain leaving John to drum that song by himself and it was a fine effort.  We even did the Let the Good Times Roll at the request of John and being the fact that it wasn't the first song, it seemed better than usual.

In the world, 12 of the 13 coal miners that were trapped in West Virginia were reported to be rescued when I left the jam only to find out the 12 of the 13 were dead when I woke up.  The Giants one the eastern Division with an 11-5 record and will play a home playoff came against Carolina on Sunday.  The weather on the way home was dry so it was not an issue.  Finally I had the chopped beef brisket sandwich from Dasie Mays and it was spectacular.  The time of the jam next week still needs to be settled on since we all have at least one conflicting conflict.  Hopefully, I can be a part of it.  Marna get better!  We need Coffee back or at least we need his recorder.