The Olean Jam Band

It all started with an e-mail from my cello teacher. Looking back, I realize that I should have saved them, because quotes would look good here, but I didn't. Basically what he said was that he was putting together some kind of benefit concert for the Red Cross to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. He wanted to know if I had any chamber music ensembles that would want to play for it. He said it could be serious or fun, classical or fiddle, whatever. 'Basically like what street musicians do.'

That last sentence got me intrigued. I've always wanted to be a street musician. It's one of my life's goals (in all seriousness). This desire, coupled with the fact that my teacher, his wife and my school's violin professor would all be playing trio music before whatever group I scrounged together, led me to create what I did. Those three are good. Seriously, exceptionally good, and I really didn't want to compete with them, nor could I, even if I wanted to, so I figured I should take a completely different path.

In my head, when I think of 'street musician', I think 'Jam Band'. More specifically, a big group of people standing on a street corner, rocking out and getting money thrown at them. Since this concept is pretty much the exact opposite of their piano trio ensemble, that was the idea that I decided to run with.

The next day, I talked to my friend Jenn during lunch. Jenn plays viola, and she knows how to jam. I figured this was a good place to start. I told her what I was thinking: throw together a group that could rock out on simple chord progressions stolen from church praise choruses for about an hour in the Olean mall, to raise money for the Red Cross. And by the way, it's in 4 days. Just as I'd hoped, Jenn thought it sounded like a great idea, and she signed up on the spot.

Next I decided to go for the rhythm section. Or rather, someone drumming on a 5 gallon bucket. I figured that a fancy hand drum like a djembe wouldn't really fit with the whole look that I was going for, but a bucket drummer would fit right in. Right on cue, Matt walked by. I called him over and pitched the idea to him. Want to drum on a bucket for my band this Saturday? It's for a good cause. He said, and I quote, 'That sounds like something I'd really not like to do.' It's not that he's a bad guy or anything, but he's a percussion major, and a purist, and in all honesty I hadn't really expected him to say yes. But I still had 4 days, so I wasn't too worried.

Jenn and I chatted a bit, and came up with two guitarists who would fit perfectly - Paul and Sean. I ran over to the print center to print out a paper that was due that day and while I was there, I sent them an e-mail. So far we had bass (me), viola, and two guitars. All we really needed was a bucket drummer, so I sent my teacher an e-mail and told him what I was pulling together and to count us in. He responded later in the day that it sounded like a great idea and he would schedule us from 2:00 until 3 something. The next day, I got a replies from Paul and Sean.

It turns out that BOTH of them were already booked to play for the freshman retreat that weekend. I asked if they could possibly squeeze it in somehow, but it was a good hour away, in the wrong direction. All of the sudden I'm back where I started, with me and one other person. I decided that I needed to find at least one guitar before anything. So I went down to the second floor of the music building and copied down all names on the lesson schedule posted on the guitar professor's studio door. Armed with this information, I went back to my computer and sent out a mass e-mail, explaining what I was doing, what I wanted, and why they should do it for me.

Of the 9 names on the list, two said yes, they'd be interested. One was a freshman guitar major named Hannah. The other was Steve, but it turns out he was already booked as well with a trip back home. This brought the grand total to a bass, a viola and a guitar. Not exactly the results I'd hoped for, but since one guitar was a lot better than no guitars, I rejoiced anyway.

I decided to tackle the lack of a drummer problem next. I sent out an e-mail to the percussion studio, and came up with even less than I got from the guitar studio. Nothing. By now it's Thursday, and I'm starting to run out of time. I had lunch with Dan, and remembered that Dan's a fairly decent jazz player, so I got on his case about playing for me. He's a clarinet major, so I figured that would add a fun different color to our sonic mess. He said yes, but that he'd rather play guitar. I hadn't realized that he played guitar. It was one of those moments where the clouds part, the sun breaks through, and God smiles down on you.

I told him that would be fine, but if I could find another one before Saturday, I'd rather use him on clarinet, because as of then, the group was lacking in melody instruments. Actually it was lacking for instruments in general, but I was trying to be positive.

I spent the rest of the day in various rehearsals, all the while wondering what I was going to do. I still didn't have a drummer. I figured if I could find one, the group could stand on its own. Someone suggested the son of the jazz band director, (and drummer for jazz band) but since he didn't go to Houghton, nobody knew how to get in contact with him. Enter Friday.

Friday arrived, and I was still striking out. The only lead I had was that Caelin works with a high school marching band a few towns to the south. She promised she would talk it up like nobody's business at rehearsal that evening and try to get someone from the drum line.

That afternoon, I was pacing around my apartment generally freaking out, because I didn't have enough people to cover all the parts, the performance was the next day, and my type A side was starting to come out. Then I remembered Janette. Yes, the same Janette who got her Jeep foiled. Janette can hold a groove, she's fun to be with, and she doesn't really have any sense of dignity that would be marred by banging on an upside down bucket for an hour. Plus she now only lives an hour away (as opposed to the 20 that it was going to be). She was perfect. I gave her a call.

She said she would love to! Just like I knew she would! Of course the marching band she works with had a show Saturday afternoon during the time we would play. And I ask, why shouldn't they? It would make too much sense for the perfect solution to actually work. But it wasn't a total loss. Somewhere in the course of our conversation, she asked, 'What about Gemma?'

Gemma! I'd forgotten about her. She graduated last year, got married, also lives in Rochester, and played violin in my quartet last year. I gave her a call. In a nutshell, I asked what she was planning on doing the next afternoon, and she said nothing. I asked if she wanted to play violin for me, and she said sure! And even better, Ben is also a fiddle player, and she would bring him along too. Two fiddlers! Still no drummer, but things were looking better, and I still had an afternoon, an evening, a night and a morning.

But that evening, I got a call from Caelin. She asked, and she got nothing. She begged, and she still got nothing. She was sorry. I said it wasn't entirely her fault, but I wasn't going to hold it against her. My one and only lead, and it suddenly crashed to an abrupt halt.

Not really knowing what else to do, I wandered up to the music building. Earlier I realized that not only do I not have a bucket drummer, I didn't have a bucket either. I called Dan, and he asked his landlord, and they were reasonably sure that they could track down a bucket by the next morning. I trusted them, so I focused on finding a bucketer.

The music building is fairly dead on a Friday night. I found Matt, and I begged again, but he still resisted. I listened to him practice marimba for a while, then returned to stalking the empty hallways.

I finally located Sarah up on the third floor in her usual practice room. She's an amazing pianist, but she also plays percussion in sym winds. I could have sworn I'd already asked her about playing, but I stuck my head in to ask again anyway. Like I said, I was desperate, and not above begging, bribing and otherwise cajoling. It's a good thing I did, because it turns out I hadn't even mentioned it to her, and she thought it sounded like great fun! I almost collapsed from the shock. I explained what the plan was, and she decided to try and get her roommate Emily (another violin major) to come along. Emily is also quite the fiddler, so I agreed immediately.

So when I left that evening, I had a bass, a viola, 3 fiddles, a guitar, a clarinet or guitar, and a bucket drummer. Things were looking good, and I slept easy for the first night in 4 days.

I had a rehearsal Saturday morning for a Sunday evening worship service. Bethany was playing guitar for it. Bethany is a piano major, and before then, I hadn't been aware that she played guitar. I sang her my sales pitch, and to my shock she agreed to play! And the group grew once again.