Hail and Well Met!
Life is full of twists and turns so I have not been able to wrap my head around the Jam descriptions for a bit. What follow are some of the moments from the past few weeks…
June 25th – Given that we had just had just hosted the Devastating Dan Yarnell, it was a really pleasant surprise to walk into the Meadow and see Craig Simon along with Gary Auerbach (and the Wonderful Wendy) in as Guest Jammers. Also in attendance were The Oracle, Fearless Lou, The Ageless Trevor Brown, Mary-Mary, Ralph Heaver, Kevin, Bradford T., Richie Regs, Doug E. Fresh with BenJAMin and Claire, Roger with The Lady Tricia and Calvin the pooch.
What I remember most about that evening was that it wasn’t raining! We had more than 10 inches of rain in June, so this was notable. Craig was shredding it up, doing a whole lot of high degree of difficulty maneuvering and making it look easy. Gary (as usual) was magnificent. Of the many players I have had the pleasure of Jamming with and seeing play, he right up there at the top of the list. Not only does he do things that most of the best only dream of, he does it with a flow and sense of style that is uniquely his own. I had my best Jam of the evening with Gary and Roger. Ted and the lovely Chrissy were Yella and I had to split early since I was heading to Chicago for a wedding early the next morning.
July 2nd – One is the Loneliest Jammer… This is what I was thinking when the rain returned to NYC and I was sittin by myself at the Bandshell. The Meadow was incomprehensibly open, but it was too wet to put your stuff down on so I went to our alternate site. The Lovely Chrissy called to say that she and TedShred were stuck in Jersey due to the thunderstorms and traffic–making them both DOUBLE-YELLA!!!
So I sat there and waited…and waited…and waited. Finally, Kevin rolled up, followed by Roger (He really is reliable!) and we got it started. Fresh and Fearless Lou showed not to long after, as did another round of heavy rain. But hey, we don’t need no stinkin’ conditions so we went at it pretty hard.
Richie Regs and Craig came shortly thereafter as did The Oracle. And more rain too. It came down hard enough that I just took off my glasses and Jammed, tracking the orange blur until I could read the spin and then figuring out what to do. As Fresh always says “Seeing is overrated!” Jammin’ in the rain is actually a boatload of fun and we all got in a damp but smokin’ round of plastic tomfoolery.
July 9th – Good Day, Sunshine! We finally got a good day on the Meadow. I strolled in to the sight of Gary A. Jammin’ with Richie Regs, while my boy Fearless was nailing up and chatting with Kevin and the Ageless Trevor Brown. Bradford T. came a bit later as did The Oracle. Got in a Heave with Ralphy Boy and Jestin Heaver, and Ivan-TJH came too, so I was a happy camper. I just took a break to get myself a Jam when TedShred and the Lovely Chrissy arrived being the Gamboa. TO was wearing the loudest neon yellow shirt, yellow shorts, and yellow shades. TLC was wearing a yellow top and matching shades as well. While this was a fine show of contrition, it did not prevent The Oracle from bestowing the Yella Jersey on Sir Tedley with a flourish.
The Jams of this day were all excellent. There was much mixing and matching of people, with Gary showing once again that he always has just one more thing to pull out of his bag. After waiting and watching Joey, TedShred, and Gary go at it for an appropriate interval, I busted into that very hot Jam since the sun was now behind the buildings. Later, Fearless Lou and Fresh join that one and it would up being the Everybody in the Pool end the day dusk Jam.
The Gamboa was awarded—according to the panel of 2-69 judges—to Doug E. Fresh. Once again he showed that can step it up when the pressure is on. TedShred made a bid to be the first to keep it in his hot little hands, but Fresh was simply THE MAN last week. Yella? Well that would be Roger.
That’s all for now…
Peace Out, Yo!
TP, TJH
All Star Thursday 