Christy's first jam on congas

My first jam on congas went much better than I anticipated.   Really fun, actually.

Mark Soth gathered a group of us at his place last night to jam a bit in prep for a gig in mid-October ~~ Mark plus Mike Scanlon, Danielle Nance, and David Bordow.   Others will probably join later ~~ players will come and go from practice to practice, and from song to song during the gig.   Mark is calling the project Out of Context, which has layers of meaning . . . and a specially personal meaning for me: doing percussion in a band sure is a new context for me!

This is not just a whim, though, this is a strategy.

We, Burnt Sugar Blues, have been without a percussionist for three months and I figured to jump into the breach as a supplemental percussionist to fill in a little during parts of songs when I'm not singing.   Never having mastered snapping my fingers in steady rhythm while singing with focus, I set my goal for alternating between singing and percussion without awkward fumbling of percussion pieces and microphones.   Nominal grace would be a significant accomplishment for me.

When my children started lessons in West African drumming from Fonziba Koster, I started right along with them to give them a little boost of confidence in the new endeavor.   Even before that, I'd been joining in at drum circles, but I did not have much confidence for keeping a rhythm for a band during a whole song, plus pounding it out loud enough to make a difference instead of just scooting around on the edges.    So confidence was the next goal after nominal grace.

After confidence I wanted creativity ~~ to be able to tune into the needs of the song and add a rhythm to support it.   I figured I'd be asking for a lot of advice from other band members.

Well.   Maybe it was beginner's luck.  

Mark Soth heard I wanted to learn this new skill, so he invited me to the jam and set up a nice pair of congas plus a microphone on a stand, which was weird for me because I like to hold the mic in my right hand.   So I ignored the mic and started with r-e-a-l-l-y simple rhythms, just to keep the 1 and 3 going, sometimes all 1, 2, 3, and 4.   It was fun, though, having two drums in front of me, so I played around a little, and a little more.

By about the middle of the jam, we played "Can't Find My Way Home," for which I happen to know most of the words without a lyric sheet in front of me, although I wondered if I'd freeze up and forget them all.   What a shocker to find myself playing all the way through while singing at the same time!

Maybe I'll be able to work with a mic stand.   Maybe I'll be able to juggle multiple pieces and parts without dropping them.   Seems I can maintain some kind of beat while singing, although I don't have the perspective to know how steady it is.   It was a heckuva a lot more fun than I thought it would be to play one single rhythm all the way through a song without changing it up.   I always wondered how drummers could do that without going crazy.   Well, gosh, it felt cool, not crazy.

To add to my astonishment, I found enough creative juice to use a different rhythm pattern for nearly every song we played that evening.   I thought it would take several jams to learn some grace, confidence, and style with percussion, so I'm really pleased to get this far the first time.  

Our mascot Bodhi

Bodhi offers cards to listeners
photo by J.Y.Welty

Bodhi in profile
photo by J.Y.Welty

This is our mascot Bodhi, which means "Buddha-nature".   Bodhi is the final goal of a Bodhisattva's career.   Plus the name has a natural ring for a card-carrying blues master.   "Blues is the healer," says John Lee Hooker, who ought to know, and healing is the bodhisattva's work.

~ other resonances ~~~

Bo D . . . echoes of bluesman Bo Diddley
Bodey . . . ominous
Bodey . . . the waiting kind who bides the time

Notice that Bodhi has big hands for serving cards and for reaching out to people and has big feet for good under-standing, and also for stomping the beat to music, especially while we have no drummer.

Bodhi has no head ~ no ego ~ it was lopped off by Kali during a moment of the goddess's wrath.   Let that be a warning to any who would burn sugar: confronting Kali at the charnel grounds ends one way ~ her way ~ as she threads a new skull on her already long garland of past conquests.

Whew!   I guess you could say I have some strong feelings about burnt sugar.

I got the little squirt last year as a birthday gift.   After roughing out the background of our logo with orange and yellow fire, I looked around and saw these bright orange acrylic gloves and boots sitting on my table and figured they would coordinate perfectly with the orange/yellow firey logo on the next version of our wallet cards.   Now it can nestle among chocolate chips and sit right next to our tip jar to offer a warm welcome and farewell to listeners.

Which reminds me: I'm seeking a tip jar.   I'd like to use a cookie jar or a honey pot (reminiscent of the HUNNY pots that Winnie-the-Pooh used).  

Giglet: Open Mic July 24

This is a reminder about our giglet tomorrow . . . .

Wednesday, July 24, 9 pm - 9:30 pm at Cafe Paradiso.

We're doing a half-hour set for Open Mic starting at 9 pm at Cafe Paradiso, featuring our new drumless* sound ~ some original, some cover, all smoky sweet.

* No drums yet, but I've been shaking the tambourine lately and snapping my fingers when I'm not singing, and I welcome you to join in, too.   As a matter of fact, snapping your fingers is the special Burnt Sugar Blues call for encore.   A snap a second ~~ that's the way we start Fever, one of the first songs we did as a group. 

A donation of $2 supports Open Mic and other musical affairs at 
Cafe Paradiso, 101 North Main St, Fairfield, Iowa

Stilettos for giglettos?

My black strappies
on stage in a detail
of this bigger pic.

"Are you wearing stilettos for your giglettos?"

My friend Bob Miller of Foliba loves to play with words and sent me that question three weeks ago.   What an adorable rhyme!   Plus, it's a fair question because

   (a)   I love my stilettos ~~ they make me 5 inches taller!
   (b)   I have four different pairs.
   (c)   I've worn them for other gigs.

From my favorite shoe store:
Family Discount Shoes and Furniture
in Keokuk, Iowa, which is where
I got my stilettos, too
photo by J.Y.Welty

But I didn't wear them that night ~~ I wore my trusty black canvas Keds instead.

Lately they've been dancing Lindy Hop with me.   It's a lively swing dance that's wearing them out!