It finally came off! After a year and a half of inactivity, we got together for a nice 4 (or so) hour jam session.

There were 4 of us present: Jeff Boyle on drums and a little guitar and a little vocals, Bill M. on lead guitar, Bill B. on bass guitar, and me on keyboards, rhythm guitar and vocals. Bill M. was about an hour late, but we still had a bunch of time to play with a full lineup.

Our playlist included:

ONLY LOVE, BoDeans
CLOSER TO FREE, BoDeans
BEST FRIEND'S GIRL, Cars
AUTHORITY SONG, John Mellencamp
JUST WHAT I NEEDED, Cars
SUMMER OF '69, Bryan Adams
I MELT WITH YOU, Modern English
HONKY TONK WOMEN, Rolling Stones
DAY TRIPPER, Beatles via Cheap Trick
DOWNED, Cheap Trick
COME ON COME ON, Cheap Trick
WISH YOU WERE HERE, Pink Floyd
SOMETHING, Beatles/George Harrison
DOG NAMED ZERO, Jeff Boyle
SOMETHING SO STRONG, Crowded House
BETTER BE HOME SOON, Crowded House
ROCK THIS TOWN, Stray Cats
SWEET HOME CHICAGO, Blues Brothers

There may have been a few more that we fought our way through, but I was amazed at how good it sounded with really very little preparation on anyone's part. Of course, some of these tunes I've played and sang so many times I sort of know them without any sort of conscious process happening, but others I'd never sang or played except for a little messing around. For example, DOWNED by Cheap Trick. I'd NEVER played it with any band. But it just sort of came off. (I think the other guys had all played it.)

And yes, the song DOG NAMED ZERO was written and recorded by the guy playing drums with us. (He was a little embarrassed that I knew the words better than him, but hey, I probably listened to it 20 times in the week prior to the session, and had the words and changes imprinted on my memory...and we didn't tell him in advance that we were going to do it...)

Anyway, I do think we're going to do it again, maybe in about a month. I would like to add a 5th musician to the mix, preferably a guy who can handle rhythm guitar and cover some vocals. Jeff is probably the best singer out of all of us there, but he was a little reticent to sing a lot. And I like to sing, so I belted out one after another, even the ones out of my key. (Jeff sang the Cheap Trick stuff, and his own song...) So I'll find a date, then see if I can add one more guy, and go from there.