WELCOME TO OUR SECRET JAMMERS RESOURCE PAGE

SUNDAYS AT CJ’S LOUNGE MUSICIAN GUIDELINES FOR PARTICIPATION

I’m awe struck at all of the fun we have had so far doing the Sunday afternoon jams at CJ’s Lounge. We have now had more than 30 different artists come to contribute to a good time in a great place ON Sunday afternoons. This will be our 11th week coming up! Now that this has become a regular thing, I’m laying down some guidelines to maximize participation, quality and satisfaction for not only the musicians – but the audience as well. Rather than telling people parts of this one at a time I elected to write it all down to share with you. Here’s what’s new:

We’ll be utilizing a sign-up system so the program will be more organized. I will control the actual order of artists with an eye towards the ‘flow’ of the entire show, Slow-fast, Individual vs group etc., but here’s the big picture of how things will work and some guidelines that will help everything run better:

1. After we warm things up with the first three songs or so, we will rotate artists in to the first ‘half’ where you are welcome to perform three songs in a row – let us know what you are going to play or sing ahead of time so we don’t duplicate and can manage bands vs individual acts. If you are on the list, you will be called on to play, I will organize the order as necessary.

The second ‘half’ after we get through everyone, we will invite you back if you like, to do 2 more songs if you are prepared. Sing upon the list - be ready when it’s your turn – I will let you know when you are on deck. Again, we are trying to include everyone and might need to insert some late comers here as well. So be ready for at least 5 songs if you really want to play a lot, we will accommodate you. It’s a long afternoon on purpose.

The final segment will be more ad hoc and spontaneous, potentially with people combining together for good jam songs etc. We don’t have a hard end time, as long as there is an audience there and people who want to play, we will keep going. I will designate the ‘closing songs’ of the show – which will probably be some long easy ballad type songs with lots of choruses etc. where we can have maximum participation by the most musicians. Please don’t do those types of songs in your earlier sets. The close is the close and we aim to end on a crescendo – also please don’t just come up and plug in and start doing something after the close. There will always be next week.

2. The signup process pre-supposes that you are prepared with your own material, know what you are going to do and who you are going to play with. You can certainly ask people to play with you etc. when you get there, just make sure you and they know ahead of time what will be happening and they are also ready to go. We want to minimize the mayhem of creating it on the fly. This will make for a better show with more organization and less stress.

3. Don’t just jump up there and start playing or singing with someone because you know the song or whatever. Clear it with the artist first. Many of us want to do a song in a certain way rather than having to accommodate someone singing on top of them, changing the tempo, singing too loud etc. etc. Don’t feel disrespected if they tell you ‘no’, it just means they want to 100% control what they are doing. Every artist should be aiming for the best quality possible. Some actually want to play alone for some songs.

4. Singers who Bluetooth are welcome to come and participate – have your karaoke version of your song already pulled up on a phone or whatever, know which version you are going to do – we might Bluetooth it from your phone, or we might use ours depending upon the technical logistics each day. Get that arranged BEFORE you walk up to the stage so it can be an easy plug and play and we can help you sound great.

STAGE BEHAVIORS AND EQUIPMENT:

Respect the other performers – when they are on stage- get out of the way and let the main focus be on them – that’s what the stage is for. Don’t sit there messing with your gear, having conversations with others behind or in front of the artist trying to perform – take it elsewhere if you have to talk to someone. When you’re not on stage become an effective audience member, listen and don’t be afraid to clap! It will really help the artist and the overall vibe.

No spillable drinks anywhere near the equipment - I know it’s not easy, but find a different place to set your drink down – we have had some spillage that could have ruined our mixing board, amps etc. and no one wants to take home a bunch of cords smelling like beer etc.

The tables we bring are for amps and music gear only, organized and prepped for the show. Don’t set a bunch of personal shit down there, it only gets in the way. Don’t move other people’s equipment if it is already there and set up – we have limited space and a distinct way of organizing things that you may not be aware of.

Guitar cases and other equipment bags should be stored over by the outdoor bar to the left of it – don’t leave your cases or gig bags on tables or chairs or block the areas we need for the audience to sit- we are there for them – give the audience the prime seats, plus we need a cleaner and more organized functional stage area – which is big- but not that big.

We only have two microphones for singing and that’s on purpose. We don’t want people to bring their own microphones for a couple reasons: we want to control the volume and the sound, don’t want any surprises with extra mics being too loud or not technically working right in the case of wireless mics etc. and we have a limited set of inputs on the board. If you are singing backups you will probably have to share one of the mics with someone else – get used to the idea. If you’re not the lead singer of the song, don’t get in that person’s face and start trying to sing with them. Share the mic with the other backup singers- and again check with the person doing the song first. Sometimes we will have a short mic stand for the percussion area. That’s what it’s for, don’t grab it and start singing into it, it’s adjusted totally differently and is often off if we aren’t using it at the moment. The only exception to bringing extra mics is for harmonica players who bring specialized microphones and we will get them dialed in. I always bring a music stand if you need it.

Please don’t take the mics off of the mic stands so you can walk around with them or whatever. The cords run beneath the carpet and are often wrapped in complicated ways that we set up. Yes, we can adjust the height etc. for you, but please don’t re-arrange the stage mics – and OH Yeah – sing into the mic. They are often hotter than you think – test the max by getting close to it and then back off a little – we really don’t want to have to keep running up on stage behind you to crank up the volume. Mics will be pre set the way we want them. We have feedback issues and other stuff to deal with the way everything is set up.

If you’re a regular, try to vary what you do each week so the audience hears new material from you. You can do it!

Other set up> If you are a guitar player with a pedal board we encourage you to bring it BUT—

You don’t own the whole stage and we don’t want you to leave it on the front of the stage when you’re not playing. Some of those setups are incredibly complicated and we already have enough cords and power etc. running everywhere. The best plan is to arrive early – test everything to make sure it works and slide it under the table so all you have to do is pull it out and turn it on, plug in and you are ready to go. Help us make it easy for YOU. We really do have limited space and we want to make the best of it. When you are done, immediately pull your board out of the way, don’t sit there taking it apart while someone else is on stage. Wait for a break in between if you need more time.

Other plugging in details: If you are planning on plugging in to the board, if possible, run your xlr or other cord all the way right there to the board without plugging it in, so if we have to, we can pull something else out and plug you in right before you play, no time wasted. As much as possible run your cords behind the tables and under them, rather than across the middle of the stage area- we have had some fandangled tangles and trip and fall close calls... If you amp is loud enough there is no problem with playing through your amp without going into the board. It is a relatively small area and being loud enough is rarely our problem.

Guitar players – bring a guitar stand. Bring the cords you need, bring extension cords so you can plug in your amp just about anywhere. Your guitar does not have to sit on the stage the whole day, put it up there a little while before your set – that way you can be plugged in, tuned up and all you have to do is walk on stage and grab your guitar. And please don’t set up your guitar in front of the mixing board. We have to get at that constantly. Watch your levels – if we are too loud people will leave.

THE THREE GUITAR RULE – It’s really two guitars and a bass.. heh heh. Three guitars playing over one another is not manageable except in rare cases. Again, don’t just jump up there and plug in – chances are your timing, volume, how you are playing etc. won’t go with the way the person is trying to do the song and you might mess them up. Don’t create mud. We want people to be able to listen and hear each instrument clearly – especially when they are complimenting each other.

If you are a bass player make sure you can actually play the song- guitar players- make sure the bass player is comfortable with it before they start noodling around on your song. Bass players, we love you but if you don’t know the song or feel like you can fake it effectively, just skip it. Not every song needs to have a bass as much as we like it.

This is not all about my own pet peeves, but if possible, please be sensitive to NOT WALKING ON CORDS. Standing on the mic cords, guitar cords etc. all day might cause them to short, get dirty or fail. Another reason we will try to keep the stage better organized. Also – don’t touch the board – ask for something first if you feel you need to.

When you are prepping for your spot, try to do it over to the left of the outdoor bar, in a more private area where you can spread out your case or whatever, tune up, make sure your guitar works and fiddle around with whatever you need to – then we’re not taking up valuable spectator space or distracting the audience. We’ll adopt this area as our ‘green room’. When it’s your time to get up there, be ready with your axe on already and walk up there like a pro. If you’re not ready, we reserve the right to move on and fit you in later.

If you absolutely need to sit in a chair or on a stool, bring it with you when you come on stage and take it with you when you get off. Be very careful where you put it down so it’s not on a cord or anything else and don’t start moving everything around on the stage. It’s cool to sit, let us adjust your mic stand for you.

If we have keyboards which we always love, we may make some big rearrangements of our space to accommodate them if they don’t come early.

Drums and Percussion- if we have a guest drummer who brings a full kit they take precedence over the ad hoc set of cajons and other stuff people bring. If they are a serious percussionist with timbales or whatever, try to fit them and their gear in together with the drummer on the left side of the stage. This generally takes up a lot of space that might put the drummers into the sun. Avoid the creep onto the rest of the stage that seriously limits our space. Not much we can do about that. All percussion and drums go on the left side of the stage. You are welcome to use our shakers or whatever else we bring if you are standing at a microphone or anywhere else. If you have a lot to set up come early and take your time. Once we get the music started, we want a continuous show without interruptions and we don’t like to start late.

@@@@ALSO – load and unload from the driveway fast – make a pile and go repark your car, then bring your stuff all the way in. Leave the prime parking spots for audience attendees and hotel guests.

@@Smoke and drinks – I will have a cooler for musicians and will bring some stuff to share which I have OK’d with the house, if you want to bring your own type of beer or something you are welcome to put it in there. CJs Lounge are a bar and in the bar business so if you have other guests don’t have them sneak in bottles etc. We need them to make money so they can stay open so we can keep doing this. If you’re going to smoke weed, keep it discreet. We don’t want to shock some of our more conservative audience members and give them a reason not to come back…

So, in summary -

Sign up on the list with your song names. Know what you are going to do and who you are playing with before you get up there. If you are just there to jam – look at what others plan to do and ask them if you can play with them – or create something and ask others to join YOU.

Be ready to go when it’s your time, we will have less wasted time and more playing time.

Keep your gear together and organized and prepped ahead of time.

Respect the stage

And we’ll have a better program overall – less mayhem in between acts, clear pacing and organization for an overall better show, better support for you the artist, and a tighter show that people will want to come back for every week. And you are a big part of creating it.

So, hey – start practicing some new stuff for Sundays. We need you!

I know much of this might be obvious to you veterans, but at least we will all be reading from the same page, so thanks for reading this.

####### ALSO – Make sure I get your whatsapp or phone and email so I can keep us all in communication, let you know about other gigs and whatnot.. I will put us up a private facebook page for posting pics or whatever else..

############### AND FINALLY – Our Next August Sunday jam – after this week- will be switched to SATURDAY August 29th , rather than that Sunday the 30th because it’s Cj’s first CHILI COOK OFF – which should also be a lot of fun – rewind band is playing.

LOVE YOU GUYS GRACIAS!

Bart