Halloween Party at the Tin Star with Y.Que!

9:30pm, $5 Cover. Costume Contest!

Wednesday's 10-29 Tin Star Jam

You know, I've never figured out why they call him "Freaky" Freddie. He seems so, you know, *normal* to me.

But we're always happy to see him show up at the Tin Star jam.

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

"Sparkles' the dog showed up too, doing her red/green eye thing again. She's a sweet little dog, but grew a bit irritated by the idiot who kept setting off the flash in her face.



We had a good turnout of musicians -- here are a few mug shots:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you mumbling. But how was the music?

Pretty cool, actually. If you go to enough jams, you begin to realize that each one has its own particular flavor. Last Wednesday's jam flavor was, well, something that you usually clean out of the cat box. Must have been all the left-over karma from the SID ambush of a couple weeks ago. But we won't go there.

The start of this the jam last night was how it should be. Somebody just started playing. Was it you, Tone?

I think so, but it doesn't matter. Somebody started, and the rest of us just drifted in.

The dog was giving us the red light again, but hey! Everybody knows dogs have no taste.


This week the flavor of the jam was like honey. Considering that the flavor last week was cat box.

There was a little bit of Texas swing. Listen to Freddie bend a few notes.

Two hours into the evening, it starts to become a blur. Oh wait, I remember. A bunch of guys just got up on stage and started to play. This must be that part of the jam where Ben is completely out of control. Hey, have you ever tried to herd cats? Let's take a listen.

But wait! There's more!

Also, in case anyone is wondering, Laura is still an angel:


Finally, at about quarter to 1 Ben kicked off an Y.Que number.

Which sort of brings up to Friday: Y.Que is playing at the Tin Star Halloween Party tomorrow!

It will be a blast, see you there.

--Doug

Wednesday's 10-29 Tin Star Jam

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

--Doug

High School Football

So, the Los Alamos HillToppers had a home game last Friday. However, the LA high school band (which is actually pretty good) was out of town at a competition. As a result, the high school asked one of the bands that I'm in -- The Los Alamos "HillStompers" -- if we'd sit in for them.

We said "Sure," even though only about 1/2 of the band was going to be in town last weekend.

It turned out to be front page news for the Sunday Los Alamos newspaper:

http://gallery.me.com/photojx#100113

Oh, and in case you can't tell, the Los Alamos HillToppers school colors are green and gold.

It's all good.

--Doug

Early Tin Star Halloween Announcement

Last year Halloween just happened to fall on a Wednesday. And I have to tell you, it was one of the more surreal Halloween evenings I have experienced (at the Tin Star, of course. Inventive costumes that night...)

This year, there is a confluence of Happy Halloween Happenstance:

1) Halloween Happens on a Friday!
2) Y.Que, led by Ben Lucero is the venue for the evening.

Be there.

Or be square.

--Doug

Wednesday's 10-22 Tin Star Jam

One of the visitors to the Tin Star jam last night was giving us mixed signals early on:

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

but we decided to go ahead with the jam anyhow. Ray was thrilled.


The usual bevy of musicians showed up.


Somebody stole Lela's chair. Never mind that -- can we get some more cow bell, please?


About 2 1/2 hours into the evening Johnny West led us all off on a bit of Marshall Tucker.


The patrons seemed glad that the Tin Star was open again...

Note to self: stop lending camera out to musicians wanting to take self-portraits.


Good to see you all, hope to see you back again next week.

--Doug

Wednesday's 10-22 Tin Star Jam

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

--Doug

Weekend Events

Update, 10-22-2008: The Tin Star will be open tonight! Come on out to the jam and help us celebrate the reopening.

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Update, 10-21-2008: The Tin Star is still closed.

--

Folks,

Over this past weekend at least two prominent Santa Fe establishments were hit with multiple citations by the Santa Fe SID squad. I don't know what SID stands for, but the SID's job description seems to include trying to shut down popular music establishments.

As a result, at least one of these establishments has chosen to remain closed until they have had the benefit of consulting with their attorneys.

Stay tuned...

--Doug

Wednesday's 10-15 Tin Star Jam

Interesting night, last night. It was a real jam. Translated: some of the music was pretty good; some was a bit rough. Here's some of the good. As requested by someone who left a comment on the previous post, here's Naiz, Case Tanner, Ray Dera, Britt on drums, and me letting Naiz lead us on Stevie Ray Vaughn's Tin Pan Alley.

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

More good stuff: Tony Buford was there and jumped in to join us on this reggae piece.

Serena, the Dolphin Diva made a return appearance.


Earlier in the evening a group calling themselves Front Range, from Taos played a few numbers. Here's a taste of their music.

As I implied up above, there were some rough bits here and there throughout the evening as well as the good bits. One of these days I'll give you a "rough bit", just to show you what I mean.

But not today. To get the full live flavor of the jam, you will still have to come on out to the Tin Star on a Wednesday night.

And speaking of coming out: we had a full house again last night, including a mystery woman who came all the way from Dallas, just to hear us play! People from Dallas seem so friendly...


There was the usual dancing


Serious discussions


Contemplation


And clustering around studly bass players.


In other words, it was a good time.

See you at the next one.

--Doug

Wednesday's 10-15 Tin Star Jam

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

--Doug

What it is really like to open up a jam

Ok, let me set the stage.

Any Wednesday night at the Tin Star. Sometime after 9:00pm. Not all the musicians have showed up yet. The good news is that it looks like all the important parts might be covered. We have a drummer. We have a bass. We have a, ... you know ... , a guitar player who knows his way around the E-String.

It's now twenty past nine. The bar owner is getting a bit concerned. Why hasn't the jam started yet?!!

The jam master tallies up what he's got to start.

The bar is only about half full. Who is here who can play? Count them up:

Drummer.
Bass.
Guitar. Two of them! Another one just walked in!
Horn!

Let's go: we're up. Here's what gets recorded as these five guys hit it, in the key of E.

Come by the Tin Star any Wednesday. Only the names change.

--Doug

Wednesday's 10-8 Tin Star Jam

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

Let's just start this week's jam post of with some music: Naiz, Case, Britt, Ray, Alice Cooper(?), and me joining in a bit of smoky, Cajun-flavored darkness.

Naiz & Case.


Several suspicious looking people were spotted hanging out at the bar. They must have slipped past the doorman.


We had a bunch of musicians show up early on -- Ben was hustling all night to make sure everybody got a chance to play.


A newcomer, Pegs, did a few numbers on acoustic guitar. Here's a bit of her stuff.


And here's a bit of Linda.

Mike did Stormy Monday for us.



We had a slew of other musicians as well. Here are some of them, in no particular order:


Dancers? Of course.


Beautiful people? Of course.


And finally: has anyone else ever noticed that bass players are, well, you know...


Just kidding Case. You are great musician. But you are, well, you know...


Thanks, Ben, for doing a great job herding all the musicians last night.


'Til next time,

--Doug