Birds of a feather

At Derrick’s wedding dinner last Sunday night, we were seated among Joe’s friends who are musicians. Jeffrey, who is being retained as a singer at a pub, said he will be at work from 10 pm. He said his boss recently bought a drums kit, electric guitar and bass guitar for jam sessions during their breaks.. Boss’s son plays the drums, so it is like giving him exposure (lucky fella).

Here I am, aged 55, still thinking of a jam café set-up while that young man has everything set-up for him.

In my late teens, because of my interest in drums, I bought a used set with a broken bass drum (where the legs were) from a schoolmate. I got complaints from a brother, terrace house neighbours and private school across the road. This still haunts me whenever I play, always imagining I am upsetting people.

To give an idea of how professionals became what they are, Lewis Pragasam, our best known drummer, once mentioned to my daughter during an interview for her college newsletter, that when he started at the age of 16, he used to practise over an 18-hour stretch! Roger Wang, classical guitarist known for his improvisation of old tunes, of Double Take fame, mentioned in an article on him, that he used to practise when others go dating! So it all boils down to passion for it as well as inherent talent. Most of us are destined to be admirers and wannabees only.

Anyway, since I have not been to that pub before, I suggested to those present to jam after dinner. Seng, a lead guitarist, and Peter, guitarist cum singer, agreed.

At the pub, we listened to Jeffrey and his partners, Dominic and wife, Jo, performed a few numbers before we got the chance to jam. It was like expected that the boss’s son plays the drums, until he could not play a rhumba beat for a Los Indios number, that Jeffrey asked me to try. Well, I could manage something like it, so it sounds slightly better than a totally different beat, rock, for instance.

With my present networking with a few bands, a jam café will not be short of sessionists. Now, how to deal with my procrastination?