We played. We rocked. It was good. Jam Sessions III. The advent of a new era and the introduction of a new year. The raw power of a group of guys, joining together with instruments and energy, and changing the lives of those (namely, themselves – or me, at least) who got sucked into the vortex that was their rocking . Walls shook, pictures and candles fell, donuts flew.
While terribly missing the slapping base sounds of Gruber, Jam Sessions III saw the debut of an up and coming new drummer in Patrick Kernan. Once setup and settled (and finding the right seat height), Kernan laid down beats that redefined rhythm and groove and set a new standard for percussionists the world over (ok, maybe not the world over, but he is really good). The addition of Kernan and his drum kit definately filled a void that our little jugband was missing. As a side note, once again Greg floored everyone as he, in his ever-so-humble-Luyt-fashion, sat down at the drums to try them out and ended up being really good also! Who knew?! Word has it that next session Tursman and Bageris might surprise everyone with a harp duet… 
The song list was not quite as defined as the previous session with more impromptu playing taking form. But we did manage to knock out Light My Fire, Born to Be Wild, Go and Say Goodbye, Henry, La Bamba, Johnny B. Goode, Rockin’ in the Free World, and a few others. I do believe that Rockin in the Free World may make a encore appearance at the next session as everyone seemed to fully embrace the true rock of that song – if we can just get Kernan to hit the chorus on time (as a backup singer, that is), we would give Neil Young a run for his money!
Once again I managed to snap a few pictures (Kernan helped also) and take a couple of 30 second video clips. Just click on the links below to see each clip. A quick note about the pictures: there is a series of Kernan shots (the drummer) that appear to be his impersonating a seal, when in fact, he is merely trying to catch a donut hole (tossed by Tursman) in his mouth. He never made a clean catch, but the effort was there!
A quick thanks to Wayne and his wife for hosting us (again) and feeding us and I am already counting the minutes to the next session!
In the words of School of Rock’s Dewey Finn:
“Dude, I service society by rocking. Okay? I m out there, on the front lines, liberating people with my music…”
Rock On! DUDES!