There are only so many ways I can say it. Try as I might, I can’t sugar coat it. I am usually okay until the first week of November, before the 5:00 (or should I say the 4:30) shadows set in. What’s up with driving to a jam in total nighttime darkness at 6:30? The dark period begins to ease about the end of January before subsiding finally in March although there is one significant milestone date early on in this shady period; the Vernal Equinox ~December 21, the shortest day in our current revolution around the sun. It is significant, in my perspective, only because the days start getting longer right after that. Certainly only minimally noticeable at first but important cosmically…to me.
I only played my bass three times in this dark December. That is the longest drought I have had since the mid 90’s. I played a winery party gig on December 2 with my Ames jam friends and then through circumstances that I’ll explain more thoroughly below, I didn’t play again until I went to two jams on December 20. No practice, no jams, no woodshedding or heck, even no bass fishing. How did this happen? My normal schedule is a jam Monday night, a jam Tuesday at lunch, Jams at lunch and night on Thursday and every other Saturday with my “woodshedding group”.
I certainly didn’t plan this layoff. Without getting too much into specifics, the issues resulting in no jams were: a week long cold, ski trips for jam partners, Chrismahanukwanzakah stuff, broken locks and jammed doors, planned grandkid visits, plans with spouses, etc. All this resulted in no jams for December until the 20th. I count around 17 blown opportunities in the entire month.
As for getting to the ‘shed, that’s all on me. I could try to blame it on Chrismahanukwanzakah but that would be taking the easy way out. I might try to pass the story that my woodshed was too cold or wet but you all know that the “woodshed” is just a metaphor, no real shed or no real wood. My “woodshed” is a fully creature comfortable back room, so that’s not it. No, I just try to blame the shadows but even that is a stretch as when I’m playing 4 or 5 times a week in jams, I tend not to woodshed unless I am working on something new. So I’m going with, out of practice and lazy.
Thirty days hath September… blah blah blah, all the rest have 31. Not me I called off December on the 30th and went to a New Year’s Eve jam. In my own convoluted mind, I’m calling that January and that I’m getting off to a great start. I have a couple of jams scheduled for today that I plan on attending unless the shadows overtake me.
The start of 2019 is promising. I have a couple of “woodshed” recording sessions on the calendar and I’m even planning on brewing a juicy IPA this month. What can I say, the days are getting longer.
News Flash: Since I finished this story yesterday there have been new developments. My noontime jam has been cancelled, and, get this, the reason is (no lie) the government shut down. The jam is on Moffett Field and it is closed due to the political machinations of the times we live in today. And I thought the days were getting longer. Rumor has it though, that if the shut down continues we are moving the jam to the same winery where I played on December 2nd. Seems like a good trade to me.
Catch you next time when the daylight lasts past 6:00.
