Fat Daddy's/Dunedin, FL


This was my second time playing this Tuesday night blues jam in the Tampa area. Music starts about 9:30 at this small club that has some loyal players. The leader is a transplanted CT guitar player Jimmy Griswold, who can really tear things up on the bandstand. Drummer "Pug" is also a great player and is always willing to let other drummers sit-in. He has one of the best sounding 13" snare drums I've ever played.

Green Iquana-West/Tampa, FL

Working in Tampa this week I checked out a new blues jam for me on Monday night. This one according to the keyboard player/leader has been going for 17 years! Good jam with some hot players, though the first few songs tended to be more on the jazz side of town rather than blues. The house drummer Mike was new since it was only his second week playing. Well worth playing here again, however the music doesn't get underway until about 10:30.

Firefly's BBQ/Framingham, MA


OK, It's been about 2 1/2 months since my last post. I've had the chance to jam at many places during that time-MA, FL, RI, Canada..... Last night it was local here in MA. I've always seen this acoustic blues jam listed on the Boston Blues Website, but never had the time to check it out. It turned out not really to be a blues jam. It was more of an open mike-singer-songwriter kind of thing. I did have my cocktail set with me and the host Bruce Marshall was kind enough to let me set up and play with him as well as some of the other musicians. Space was very tight for setup with a good crowd, good sound system and a wide range of music and skills displayed behind the mike during the night. No attitudes here, a well run program with everyone getting at least two songs. Highlights for me was getting to play with two dobro players at the same time and the one harp player that I jammed with was a former student of Jerry Portnoy. Bruce is a fine musician in his own right able to play and sing all different types of popular music. Even pulling a couple of tunes from his eighth grade band's set list. All which made me feel nostalgic and old, since I was playing the same songs during those years.