Thursday, July 31, 2008

Wednesday's 7-30 Tin Star Jam

When I arrived at the Tin Star last night, Laura was practicing her deer in the headlights impression.


Click any picture to enlarge, click the play button to listen to a music link.


Shortly after 9:00, we counted 23 musicians in the room.
We had guitars.


We had horns.
Little ones:


Big ones:


And we had several other sizes in between. In fact, between the three of us sax players who showed up last night we had nearly the entire saxophone family represented. Lance, pictured above with his 1933 Marine Corps-issue B-flat soprano also had an alto with him. I had my 1923 Conn C-melody nickle-plate and a 1970's-vintage Buscher-400 tenor. Georges is pictured above with his Selmer S-80 bari.

We also had a couple of trumpet players:

First, we all put our names down on the sign-up sheet.

Then, we tuned.


Then we played some music.


Yolanda graced the stage for a number.


Tony Buford led us on Stand By Me.


Miguel, one of the staff of expert servers at the Tin Star performs a QA inspection on someone's drink prior to dispensing it.



Throughout the evening (which went on until 1:30am, btw) there was plenty of time to socialize, enjoy the music, dance, and relax with a beverage.


Folks gathered around to listen to a few classical pieces by Maurice.

A little behind-the-back Concerto, anyone?


A few moderately famous people were enjoying the jam last night. Actor Sam Shepard, star of The Right Stuff, King Kong, and other movies took a spin on the dance floor.


Mike Chaves, drummer for local band Felix Y Los Gatos and an acquaintence.


Gordy's dog.


As well as other moderately famous people, too numerous to mention.

Later in the evening, around midnight the bar again was near capacity. Where do these people come from at this time of night?


Los dos Primos. Ben introduces Daniel.


Daniel's playing was all it took to get some of the ladies bumping butts.


We finally wrapped up around 1:30 after Gordy led a few numbers.

Good job on packing the Tin Star jam one more time, everyone!

--Doug

Wednesday's Tin Star Jam


The post for last night's jam will be up later today.

--Doug

Monday, July 28, 2008

This week at the Tin Star

Hey everybody -- here's what's happening at the Tin Star this week.

Wed. July 30th TIN STAR JAM 9pm No Cover
Thurs. July 31st Rhythm & 53rd (Rock/Blues) 9:30pm $3 Cover
Friday August 1st THE JAKES (Classic Rock) 9:30pm $5 Cover
Sat. August 2nd KEN VALDEZ (Funk/Rock) 9pm $5 Cover
Sun Aug. 3rd TIN STAR Dance Party with Sterling O'Neill Band - 7pm $5 Cover

Also, a big thanks to everybody who came out to the Tin Star jam last Wednesday. It was SRO and rock'in from about 10:30 - on. Check out the post, maybe you'll see a picture of yourself:
http://tinstarmusic.blogspot.com/2008/07/wednesdays-7-23-tin-star-jam.html

Hope to see you all back again this week.

--Doug

Friday, July 25, 2008

Tom Bodean at the Tin Star last night

The music was fine at the Tin Star Saloon last night. Tom Bodean and his group were chill'n.


Click any picture to enlarge, click the play button to listen to a music link.



Here
's one of their numbers from early in the evening, with Prakash joining on harp.


Tom Bodean.


Dave Clausen.


Case Tanner.


Mark McKenna.


There are at least two musicians and a bartender in this picture: can you pick them out?


The place was quiet, but not too quiet.


A bit later they had me back up to do Route 66.

There was a guest star in the house last night, Felix Peralta of Felix Y Los Gatos.

Tom invited him up, and Case led off with Ain't No Sunshine, one of my favorites. I couldn't resist joining in.


Thanks everybody for some fine music last night.

--Doug

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Wednesday's 7-23 Tin Star Jam

Ben's Tin Star jam just gets bigger and better each week. It was nearly standing-room only for much of the evening. A bunch of musicians and a bunch of dancers showed up last night. I'll try and pass on the flavor of the evening.


Click any picture to enlarge, click the play button to listen to a music link.


Local musician George Adelo dropped by early on to check out the jam.


We didn't waste any time kicking off the evening's music. Our friend Juan Ortega led us right off on this happy number.


Then we had a nice quiet number, led by "dban", whose voice reminds me of a young Dylan. Prakash on the mouth harp, Ben Bower on Drums, Pete on guitar. I didn't catch the bass player's name.


And then, Brad took out the brand new guitar he had just finished making earlier this week. It had not been played yet. Check out this smokin' blues number with Brad, Ray, and Ben on guitar, Brit on drums, Phil Montoya on percussion, and Elijah on conga and vocals . Elijah came all the way up from Silver City to play last night.

Of course, there were a bunch of other musicians who played last night.

Also featured, naturally, is our number one server: Laura. What do you suppose she just did to Ben here? Something unexpected, it would appear.

Here she is striking a model's pose.


Also present were plenty of people who had come out to have a beverage, listen and dance to the music.

Sometimes all three at once.


The dance floor was packed from about 11:00pm on.

As you can see, the Tin Star Wednesday jam is a fun place to be. Hope you can make it there next week.

--Doug