I had an interesting Sunday evening. I went to the blues jam at The Bistro in Hayward hosted by Dave Walker, except that Dave Walker wasn't there. The bar was almost pitch black. There were a couple of lights illuminated the bandstand and amplifiers were working, so someone was paying the electric bill.
The five piece band consisting of guitar, bass, drums, saxophone and key was playing blues, so I hung out for a bit. Of course, I showed up one song before the band decided to take a break. One of the keyboard players had brought a little dog into the bar. It was huddled under one of the bar stools shaking. That sort of thing seems like animal cruelty.
Guitarist Don Yonder showed up and sat in with the band. There was another harp player that I had never seen before. He connected some sort of pre-amp or amp simulator to the PA. He sounded pretty good, but I sort of felt sorry for him. It took him three songs to get dialed in and all he got was three songs. He didn't really get a chance to be heard.
The jam host asked him if I could use his setup. I felt sort of relieved as he exited the stage, he took his stuff. I plugged a microphone directly into the PA and I realized his sound challenge. Only one PA speaker was working. The bass player, Andrew G sang a tune. Don sang sang a very nice version of the Sonny Boy Williamson classic, "Help Me" and Andrew sang a Slim Harpo tune. About ten minutes later, it was in the book.
Hayward and The Bistro have kind of a weird vibe, but it was pretty fun. When the music was concluded, the bass player told me he liked what he could hear. He asked me to come back in a couple of weeks and bring an amplifier. I may be going back.
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