I've been playing the once a month blues jam at Chan's off and on for the last year and a half. If you read any of my earlier posts from this year you can see that at one time it was just a terrific place to play. It had been a while since I had the chance to go until last month and then again last night. Things here have really changed. No longer is there the big crowd turnout to hear the music. A lot of the jammers have stopped coming too. There used to be keyboard players, horn players and really great musicians from other working bands that would stop in to jam-not any more. What happened here? Here's my observations: For what ever reason Jam Master Ken has let a 17 year old guitar slinger just take over this jam. Now don't get me wrong. The kid plays pretty well for his age. However, he is not even close to what Monster Mike Welch's ability was when he was that old. This kid also plays way too loud, even after being asked to turn it down a bit. Attitude problems? The smart remarks he makes over the mike between songs gets old quick and enough with the constant Hendrix and Cream tunes. But the real problem here is that he is up on the bandstand just about all night long. Last night he was up except for about 30 minutes during this 3 hour blues jam. Give this kid his spot of 3,4, 5 tunes and he's done just like everyone else. Let the rest of the jammers play the blues(It is still a blues jam isn't it?) and everyone will again enjoy a night out listening to the blues instead of having to babysit this guitar child.
