Date? : I answser a request
on a usegroup (sp?), posted by Steve Legate, for a lead guitar player. I
join Steve and Chris Goldthorpe at Bruce Townly's house to jam.
Date? : Lukas Hermes joins 'the
band'.
Date? : I believe Bruce decides
we're going to play at a Halloween party at his house, so we need to name
'the band'. We come up with Audio Artillery. Steve puts "Fast Jimmy
and the ...." in the hat. At least I'm guessing it was Steve, I've
never asked. I had one lick that was fast. Still do :) I've considered myself
to be Fast Jimmy ever since.
Date? : Towards the end of the
Halloween party, complete with a pumpkin stout made by one of Bruce's and
Steve's friends (this beer should be declared a pharmaceutical, that's how
wicked it is...folks are projectile vomiting against the walls, falling
down the stairs,...oh, man :), we butcher a song to within an inch of it's
life, and someone in the crowd shouts out, "you sure butchered that
one". Lukas steps up to the mic and proclaims, "we are no longer
Audio Artillary, from hence forth, we are The Butchers." And it was
so. How can you argue with a man who sees and speaks the truth :)
Date? : I start running the
open mic and the Mt. Tabor Theatre. Lasts nine months.
Date? : Myself and a dude named
Steve ??? start running a monthly jam at Mentor Graphics. I think we just
rekindle something that use to exist.
Date? : I start doing Fast Jimmy's
Jam at Bozwell's Bagel Deli, where NE Sandy & Prescott collide, where
Sweet Home currently resides. Goes on twice a month for one, maybe two years.
Back up band was J.A.M.M. (Jimmy's Autonomous Music Machine, i.e., my laptop
playing MIDI files, runnning Cakewalk and Band-in-a-Box).
Date? : Go to a jam in Milwakee
with Bruce Townly to meet Cornell Garrett. While I'm jamming Lee Garrett
shows up to jam. I'm left on stage with Lee, the only guy not trapped behind
a keyboard or drum kit, I can't remember where the bass player, i.e., Cornell,
was, spinning like a top and stopping facing a wall, not the mic or audiance,
calling out tunes I never even heard of, let alone know what key they are,
shit like that. Me, the first ever I've been to a jam in Portland. Initiation
by fire. So, after getting a taste of Lee, and Cornell saying he's got all
of that, I say yes, let's form AWOL Blues Band. OK, there were some intermediate
steps, but that was the end result. AWOL in that original recipe lasted
a year or two I guess. What strange ride that was...I'll say this, Cornell
got me to play the blues way further back in the alley than I ever had before.
I'll stop there before I say something I'll regret in the morning :)
Date? : I get the monthly jams
at Mentor restarted. Get the company to buy a PA and drum kit. We be jammin'
y'all. We do a couple noon gigs for the lunch crowd. Pretty fun.
1999/02/26 : Hurricane Mitch
Blues - A benefit concert for Mercy Corps efforts to help the survivors
of Hurricane Mitch in Hondurous. Opennnig acts were Robbie Laws and Fast
Jimmy's Jam. Headliner is The Tommy Castro Band. Concert held at the Aladdin
Theater.
2001/08/25 : Mercy Corps Benefit
Concert. Opening act was the Second Wind Jazz Ensemble. Fast Jimmy was suppose
to sit in with them but it just didn't work out. Co-headliners are Robbie
Laws and Dan Balmer. Concert held at the Aladdin Theater.
Date? : I join Unicru, start
a jam there ala Mentor.
Date? : Tim Anderson points
me at the Lucky Labrador. Within a month Fast Jimmy's Jam has monthly home
at the Lucky Lab for the two to three years.
2003/??/?? : Raful Neal Benefit
Jam. I decide the all the money put into the tip bucket at the next Lucky
Lab jam is going to be sent to Raful Neal to help pay for his medical bills.
Next thing I know Kenny Neal is going to come to the jam. A month and half
later we have a full blown benefit concert at the Lucky Labrador. Kenny
does come, blows everybody away, and we have the most awsome jam on the
planet. Want proof, see my the home page of my web site. We only raise a
small amount for Raful, but considering we're just passing the tip bucket,
in that context, it was fucking huge. Other than every second I spend with
my wife Paula, this night was the highlight of my life to date.
2004/??/?? : I become chairperson
of the Blues-in-the-Schools (BITS) program of the Cascade Blues Association
(CBA), and shortly there after a member of the Board of Directors of the
CBA.
2004/??/?? : I win the "Back
What You Believe In" Muddy Award from the CBA for my work the BITS.
The Raful Neal and Mercy Corps benefits probably help too.
2004/??/?? : I turn the Fast
Jimmy's Jam gig at the Lucky Lab into the CBA BITS jam, gearted towards
providing a place where kids and blues newbies can come and jam without
the pressure of playing with "named" players.
2004/08/13 : BITS Benefit Concert
starring Kenny Neal. Opening act is a BITS Jam Session, basically the BITS
jammers from the Lucky Lab. This turns into being half the time split between
Ben Rice and the Youth of Blues, and the folks from the Lucky Lab, i.e.,
Matt Schaff, Michael Feldman, Chris Goldthorpe (recovering Butcher), Lukas
Hermes (recovering Butcher), Rick Hafele, and yours truly. If you don't
know it already, Matt Schaff is Stevie Ray Vaugh reincarnated. I believe
he's teaching for Robbie Laws now at Six String Central, all of twenty-one
or two. The kid has more natural talent than I've ever seen. Brains and
attitude, well, let's just say he's young :) Ben Rice, well, let me put
it this way. B.B. King, step a side. I'm sorry, it's just the way I feel
about it. The young man has what it takes to step up onto the throne and
carry the weight. If he chooses that path, I will throw my body into the
flames to help him make that happen.
2005/??/?? : I get sick and
tired, decide to take a break.