Paul E wrote
X-rated Bob wrote
There used to be a club in Hillbrow named "The Boogie Barn". They had a weekly "Jam night" which amounted to players coming along, bringing their instruments (drummers had to bring their own snare, sticks and bass drum pedal) and getting up on stage in various combinations (possibly with players they hadn't even met before) to see what happened. If things weren't going well the guy who ran the evening might call another guitarist or another drummer onto the stage to see if the new combination gelled, or might announce a drinks break and get a whole new combo up there.
I've never heard of this usage before... But I have godda admit, this sounds like one of the greatest places on earth! Seriously, how awesome! ?
Well thanks, Paul! Now I really feel old! ?
People used to say things like "come around for a jam" which basically meant "we'll get our instruments out and see what happens". "Jamming" was loose, not pre-planned. A jam could lead to something else, but that something else was not a jam, though it may have it's origins in a jam.
This actually happened at the Boogie Barn. The DJ (clubs had DJs in those days), Des Wooldridge, had a home studio. If he saw something on stage on jam night that he thought sounded promising he'd get the same players into his studio and tell them to carry on where they'd left off - with the tapes rolling. A few bands, mostly short-lived, started this way.
And that club was certainly one of the greatest places in Jo'burg in it's day. Live music was nearly all about cover bands, with the fare being mostly disco. Artists looking to play their own music, live, to an audience, had few options. The Boogie Barn opened up - or re-opened under the same name but very different management - and was a success (until it got shut down for reasons that were nothing to do with the door takings). Other clubs followed, but Bob Anderson, manager at the Boogie Barn, had sown the seeds.
Bob managed a band named Shag who had nowhere to play. So he did what any resourceful manager would do and opened a club so his band would have a gig. Shag eventually morphed into the Asylum Kids who, if the Boogie Barn had lasted, would have got too big for that club anyway. But they weren't the only band to grace that stage in that short, golden period. I can't remember everybody who played there, but certainly Baxtop (Larry Amos and Tim Parr), Flash Harry, The Other Band (from CT, led by Dax Butler whose current band is Them Particles), The Gents (from Durban, drummer Steve Howells ended up in the Asylum Kids), Peach, The Lancaster Band (Robin Auld), Corporal Punishment (James Phillips), Edi Niederlander... it was the best scene in town by miles.
