Winter
2007-2008 Musician Jam Session at the Slabs!
Steel Pedalers and Other Pickers-- Pull In, Set Up, and Join In!
All Levels of Experience Are Welcome. Plenty of Chances to Learn from
Old Pros!
COST: ZERO, NOTHING, NADA!
Unlimited Free Parking, No Limit on Staying!
This winter and all next year, 2008, there will be
constant jams, Saturday nights and some daytime Sunday or Thursday jams
and picking going on at an old abandoned military base in
the CA desert. After end of April it is going to get hot as hell here.
I will be gone by the end of April, 2008, probably heading back to Baltimore,
MD. After WW II they tore down the
buildings and left
nothing behind except concrete slabs. On one of those slabs there is a
picking stage called the Range. Pix Here.
A sound system, AC generator for picking, free parking, camping, etc.,
for as long as you want to stay. There are acres of desert to camp on.
No rent, no utilities, no water, but free water, cheap food, and
services in town about 4 miles away. Dry camping with tent, van,
pickup, travel trailer, whatever. Plenty of beer flows and smoke, for
those who indulge. My vices are cheap beer and cheap cigars. We live on
Slab time there. Pick late, sleep in, do repairs to our rigs, if
needed, have a few beers, share some meals, now and then, pick into the
night. Free shower on site. Water from one of the hot underground
springs. Hot springs soaking pool free to all.
Get loud and get down. Ain’t no one gonna complain!
I’ll be there with pedal steel, lead, and bass joining some really
great musicians for the entire season. Drummers, bass, lead, keyboard,
harp, and other players spend part of, or all, the winter there. Some
really great singers, too.
There is a big jam the last weekend in January when pickers from all
over arrive at the Slabs to join in the fun. Plenty of free food pot
lucks during the season and at the January jam. Reno Jones did a big
recording jam there and may be coming back for another round of some
good get-down music again.
If there is any interest, I plan to hold some informal learning
sessions on picking pedals, lead, or bass, sharing my style of picking
with anyone who is interested and learning some licks from them. Naw, I
ain’t no ex-Nashville picker, mainly because I never was that good,
spent most of my picking days in clubs backing up various singers with
varied degrees of talent. Long retired from the smoky bars and have no
desire to go back to them. Might be I have a few pointers others can
apply to their picking. Play strictly E9th on pedals, and old rock,
country, and blues on all three instruments. Ain’t no hot picker on
pedals but just good, smooth backup for singers.
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