I haven’t written about the Polish Home Club or the Blues Jam yet. It is time.
I heard about this from a drummer that was playing with Dave and I figured I’d show up and play some bass while a hundred guitar players fought for solos. It’s ended up being a big part of my musical and social life.
This is a Polish membership club and I had to ask want the hell that meant my first time in. Being from the south I’ve never heard of this type of thing. They accept all kinds of folks, it’s a real warm community semi-lead by the bartender Teresa. One of the sweetest and shockingly salty lady in her 90’s. That’s right. Over 90 and still kicking ass. Best bartender ever, name who’s done it longer?
Scott is the main guy/guitar player that holds it all together and scans the signup list for temporary groups to put on stage. And then there is Tony, a total bad ass bass player that is a part of the house band and spent a lot of time down in Mississippi playing all around the delta. This man knows his shit and is Bad. As. Hell.
Tony is in Europe for a month or so on tour with his old band playing gigs and backing up some Mississippi folks over there ,so the house band needs a bass player. Right place right time. That’s why I’m finally writing one of these up because it was an actual gig not just a jam.
I show up 20 minutes before start time and my buddy Larry is playing with Terelle and another dude I’ve never met before , I hop in to warm up a little before Larry and I got out to smoke.
Larry Dennis is one hell of a cool dude, 71 years old and has been a part of the scene up here for 50 years. He is a monster guitar player and generally when you see the two of us there is smoking going on! On occasion he and I meet up at this dude Steve’s house for some Sunday afternoon playing. Load of fun and when Larry says “Rice, let’s go play” Rice wants to go play!
There are three drummers at the jam I love playing with. Tim is the main house drummer and hits like he is trying to kill his kit or at least break it in half and is one of the nicest dudes in town. Terelle is a maniac that was trained and can hold down a small, quiet groove that is tight as hell when he wants but is generally changing the groove up every time we get back to the top. Usually he is just trying to mess me up or see what I’ll come up with, keeping my head in the game. Finally (and not last) is Louis, mostly a jazz drummer and I honestly did not think we would mesh musically as well as we do but we ended up in the same “group” so many times that we are right together with no effort. As you might guess he can swing the hell out of a tune.
This night only two other bass players showed up and one did not have a bass. When I handed him the lefty he looked at me like I was from another planet. From “Oh Yeah” to “WHAT THE HELL!” In a half second.
The other fella hopped up for three tunes then took off. So I played the rest of the bass for three and a half hours. YES!!
This is exactly what I want.
It’s pretty much straight blues but we had a little Chuck Berry/James Brown set with a couple of singers somewhere in there. This fantastic guitar player Kevin, who has this rhythm/lead style where it sounds like he is doing both at the same time in a really magical way. Unreal. When you are up with him you’ve got to be on it. He always makes the room jump.
I love it there. Not everyone is an amazing player but most everyone there wants to have fun with no bullshit so it’s always a great time. Also these dancers are there!
This group of 10-20 folks show up every jam to just to shake it. Lot of the same folks but new ones every time. As much as I love playing and being a part of this scene I think I have to admit those dancers may be the best part of the night. It would feel off if they weren’t there.
To wrap it up I am absolutely thrilled to be involved in this thing.
