Hosting the open mic jam at Pharaoh's has become a regular thing for The Jones. We do it just about every other Thursday. I have to say that it's becoming one of my favorite things to do. It's not the standard audience/performance dynamic that you might get at a regular show, where the band plays, the audience listens, and never the two shall mix. The difference is that most of the time the people in the audience are also musicians, and they've come to participate. This creates a more sharing, atmosphere, one that's more about maintaining a dialogue, or rather several dialogues, a multi-directional communication. There's always that aspect of communication with music, but when you open that up to other people in the room it can make for some exciting times.

Walter usually gets up and jams with us at some point in the evening. Walter is the owner of Pharaoh's and also a talented blues musician. I look forward to the jams with him because his guitar has a very 'mellow' sound and his style is so confident and polished. It really adds a touch of authenticity to our sound. This past Thursday, we were jamming with Walter in A - just a standard blues progression - and we suddenly stumbled across this lick. Walter got up to the mic and contributed some impromptu lyrics, and just like that, we had a song. It was very cool. A similar thing happened a couple of weeks ago, only there were lots of musicians on stage, including a sax, and we jammed for about 30 minutes. Let's face it, a long jam can sometimes get really boring - for the player as well as the listener. But in this environment, where people pop in and out of the conversation, it keeps things fresh and interesting.

The whole environment reminds me of something you might have stumbled across at some dark night club in a back alley of New York in the 30s or 40s and it's very cool to be a part of it. It's really less of a 'performance' and more of a 'conversation.'

Speaking of band-related things, we have two shows at DC 9 coming up in the next few weeks.

Tomorrow, October 18th, we're playing with two great bands - Mason Dixon from Brooklyn, NY and Omega Band from DC. Our set is at 9:30pm.

Then on Tuesday, November 1st, we will be opening for The Roustabouts at 9:30pm at DC9.

Sorely, we will be missing Mat on drums for both shows as he is honeymooning with Em, so percussion will be provided by George.

And on a non-music related note. The Broncos took down the Pats this weekend, though it got a bit close at the end. I hate to even mention this stat for fear of jinxing it, but Plummer hasn't thrown an intereception in over 100 passes. Amazing. Apparently, it's all about the beard.

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