Green Life

while busking outside of Green Life food store yesterday, a few really cool things happened, even though i was feeling pretty down. first off, there's a busking dynamic here that's more courteous than i've seen in other places. in some of these sought after spots, people essentially wait their turn to play. the sessions are from and hour to two hours. so yesterday i was waiting for these folks to finish up at Green Life. after they finished they took their time unloading from the spot, finally i decide to just go take the spot regardless of their gear still being there, frankly i was getting annoyed at this. but as i was walkin' over the guy saw me and got from his table and said, "are you wantin' to play?" and when i said yes he and his buddy came right over and picked up their gear and introduced themselves. so that was a good way to kick off the session.

so i'm playing for a bit and a guy comes and invites me to a jam session later that night, which is taking place only a mile or so from where i am staying and it's also down the road from Jack of the Wood which is where i planned to be later that night for the old time jam.

then a few moments later tow other fellas walk up, one of them is a guy i forgot that i knew here. this fella Nic who left his camera at my house during SXSW last Spring. i was quite an ordeal getting that camera thing sorted out.... he was with this other fella that my friend Mike who used to live here put me in touch with two days prior, but we had not yet met. so now some more Asheville connections are made.

i went to the jam later and we had a real good time, and this guy that invited me, Derek is his name, we are going to get together and hit the streets to do some pickin'. he's a real solid player and quite good at making song ups on the spot, he'll just spit out a bunch of lyrics that sound like they were painstakingly scrawled out beforehand. there were other really good song writers there as well and each one of them had a different sound. more Asheville connections made.

all that from one hour in front of Green Life.

later i did go to the old time jam, but i just sat back and watched. it can be kind of intimidating still, to hear some people sawin' off these tunes so precisely. i don't know a lot of those songs, i usually just figure them out as i go and forget them immediately and sometimes the figuring process is a bit dicey. but sitting and listening and watching was pretty beneficial too, i'll probably join in next time.

let's see what happens at bluegrass jam nite tonite........