The 55 Party! 

Kensington Park

July 31, 2010

** A Cooperative Event **

** Retrospective **

The XBHS Jam Band! 

This was a really cool jam session.  It's nice to be able to share recordings of the jams so those who weren't there can get a chance to hear them, and so those who were there can enjoy them again. This page also provides links to websites associated with the fine BHS-related musicians who most kindly and excellently jammed at the party, most definitely for our mutual amusement.  

THIS PAGE: As you scroll down, you will come across a smattering of pictures, a section with links for the musicians websites, a section with links to the best available recordings of each jam (there were two (hand-held or tabletop-sitting) video recorders in use during most of the jam session, with at least one in action throughout), and, while we're at it, a additional section with links to a few selected alternative recordings, for those who may be interested...

GREAT THANKS!  Rick S not only played guitar and sang, but also provided the generator, organized the Jam Band, and produced the show.  Thanks also to all of the "XBHS" Jam Band (or, was it the Berkley Boys Bucket Band?!) participants*, Jeff Grand (guitar, lead vocals), Rick S (guitar, lead vocals), Mark P (bass), Greg Manning (drums), Tom H (lead vocals), Irv   Hordes (keys, harmony vocals), Dan F (sax), Danny F (percussion), Bob C (guitar), and, for the finale, Greg's wife, singer/songwriter Sweet Claudette (lead vocals).

Thanks also to James C, who kindly made a cool design for a shirt contemplated to be produced to commemorate the event, at least as a thank you to the performers...as follows:

LINKS to the musicians' websites:  In the spirit of fostering information flow, following are links to the XBHS jam participants' various websites, MySpace pages, Facebook pages, etc, as available at this time:

		Click/press here to go to Greg Mannings's Front Street Blues Band website. (Please note: The FSB Band also has a separate page on this website.)
		Click/press here to go to Jeff Grand's MySpace site. You can even stream/listen to several of his recordings at the site!
		Click/press here to go to the website for the radio station, WCSX, associated wtih Mark, The Paz Man!
		Click/press here for the Denver Public Radio Station where Dan F Jazz-DJs, KUVO...via which you can even stream/listen to him live on Thursday nights!
		Click/press here for the website of Sweet Claudette, Greg Manning's wife, and a recording artist in her own right!.
		Click/press here for Irv Hordes' Facebook page to catch up with him; he'd be happy to hear from you!

Admittedly, not all of the jammers were contacted prior to letting people know about this updated, post-party website; sorry for any inconvenience, if applicable.  Hopefully, everyone will be glad (or at worst neutral) about all this being posted here.

Please note:  If you played at the party and would like information modified, added or removed, or have any comments, please (contact us). 

*In keeping with previous website policy, initials represent last names unless/until the person requests/permits using their full last name. FEEL FREE and encouraged to make requests; making text updates is incredibly simple.

The JAMS: Following are video recordings of the seven jams. There were two video recorders for most of the seven jams; one that mostly just sat on a picnic table far enough away to see most of the stage area, and the other hand-held, with much better views and usually sound.  For each jam, the best overall recordings was selected for presention in this section. Unless otherwise noted, each of the selected recordings was from the hand-held recorder (nice job, Nancy!). 

The jams started with a couple of the absolutely greatest rock/blues classics, Voodoo Chile and Crossroads, followed by, from the very dawn of psychedelia, the Cream's transcendent Sunshine of Your Love.  Pretty well rockin' by then, they then jammed out the more "recent" classics, Feelin' Allright and Pride and Joy. The next jam was an original composition; Jeff Grand's Long Distance Call, a slower blues jam led by Jeff, a highly regarded and renowned (locally+) blues and rock (and country) guitarist. The jam finale, as it turned out, was a blues classic, Sweet Home Chicago. (We didn't know at the time that this would be the last song, and that the musicians wouldn't be able to reconvene after it was requested that we take a break to have group photos, because someone had to leave...but we digress...)

Please understand that not only were these outdoor audience recordings made under extremely difficult conditions, but also that much of the band had not even met before the party, let alone practiced together, and the jam lasted well under an hour.  Most of participants play professionally on a regular and/or recent basis; but not with each other. There were a lot of excellent moments, but don't expect perfection throughout as this was truly a jam session; a friendly jam between bunches of old and new friends, with some intended participants unable to attend, and everyone welcome to participate.  It was definitely great to finally get to hear some of these people play together, especially amplified, outdoors at Kensington. As long as you go into listening/viewing these recordings with an adequately precautioned perspective, you will hopefully agree that the recordings sound pretty dang good overall, especially under the circumstances.

Following are the overall best recordings of the seven XBHS jams, chronologically:

		Voodoo Chile  - Having never before played together in more than 2-3 man combinations, the jam band started off with this great Jimi song, and only got better as they progressed through the seven songs, sung/led by Rick S. (click/press here or on the picture to the left)
		Crossroads - XBHS doing the classic classic; sung by Rick S. (Unfortunately for this recording, the picnic table was left in charge of the camcorder, so the view is distant and static...) (click/press here or there)
		Feelin' Alright - Another classic, with the jam being joined by Tom H on lead vocals. (click/press here or there)
		Sunshine of Your Love ...alot of fun to hear the jam band play this!...with Tom H on vocals. (click/press here or there)
		Pride and Joy - FYI, Tom left the assemblage and this song was sung/led by Rick S.  (click/press here or there)
		Long Distance Call - As you watch this video, a fine Jeff Grand original blues tune, which included plenty of Jeff's notorious slide work, you will see a somewhat controversial but amusing turn of the camcorder toward the audience, with the hijinx obviously impacting the quality of recording.  (click/press here or there)
		Sweet Home Chicago - For this, the final performance, the jam was joined by Claudette, an XBHS-in-law as Greg Manning's wife, and a fine blues vocalist in her own right. (click/press here or there)

As noted, for each song, a link to the recommended version was provided above, mostly videos.  This section may not be for everyone (feel free to skip past this to get to some nice pictures of the jam). This is for those few who may be interested; it provides alternative/supplementary recordings, mostly to provide complete versions where the very begninning of some songs were not available, as described below:

		Voodoo Chile - The consensus is that the vocals were more prominent in the picnic table version "mix", due to the different microphone locations, so here is that alternate, audio-only version for your enjoyment (click/press here or on the picture to the left).
		Feelin' Alright - The best overall version did not include the beginning, so here is a complete, alternate audio recording (click/press here or there).
		Sunshine of Your Love - The very beginning was not available in the hand-held video version (above), so here is a complete, alternate audio version (click/press here or there).
		Pride & Joy -  The very beginning was missed on the above video; here is the complete, alternate audio recording, for completeness (click/press here or there).
		Sweet Home Chicago -  This audio-only version is included because it includes a nice introduction of Claudette by Jeff (click/press here or there)
		(Now.  Please don't think that the performers were particularly anxious to have these crude recordings posted by me; they are just being good sports about it, and I do appreciate it.)

And, courtesy of our fellow photographers...here are a few more nice shots of the jam session...

As indicated elsewhere, these media files are very large (up to 35 MB or so), and take a long time to load; therefore, some (most?) computers/phones may have difficulty getting through the video(s). Sorry about the many amateurish aspects to the presentation of the available material, but it's the best it can be for the moment.  There have been several tests; sometimes the videos work, sometimes they don't.  Please check out whatever strikes your interest and know that any comments you have would be welcome and appreciated. I hope this works for you and that you enjoy them, dispite the acknowledged, non-professional nature of the recordings/presentation.

(For your convenience...following is another set of links to the various (55 Party mostly) pages, with photo pages organized by photographer/subject, etc.)

  <(Dave A's)>  <(Nancy's)>  <(Greg S's)> <(Brian S's)>  <(Greg/Claudette's)>  <(Diane/John's)>  <(Andrea S's)>  <(50 Party (2004))> 

   <(55 Party Music (index))>  <(Front Street Blues Band)>  <(Jan Krist)>  <(XBHS Jam Band)>  

 <(55 Party (main page))>  <(The 60 Party (index))>   <(Party Central (Home))>