Jammin' at the Parents House

Jeffrey was on spring break this week from Tech and it was great to have him home ( even if he spent most of the week at Tommy's & Becky's due to his work schedule.)

This past weekend, before Jeff returned to school, the boys were all here for a jam session. They are practicing for a performance at a friend's graduation party...also just enjoying playing music....any excuse works for them or no excuse at all is needed.

They have a great time together and I really enjoy getting to hear them play.
That is one of the main things I miss about the boys not living at home. They always had music playing around the house. It seemed that they weren't really happy without it playing ALL the time. They even had CD's going when they were in the shower!

Many times when they lived here, they would have impromptu jam sessions in the basement. Tom & I have spent many nights (and I mean late nights) going to bed with the boys rock'n in the basement. It never really bothered us much, nor did it usually keep us awake. I always preferred knowing that the boys were home vs. out and about to worry about them.

I am always amazed how long they can entertain themselves when they are together. This weekend they played for NINE hours.... pretty much nonstop. They play a wide variety of music even though they are pretty picky about what songs they like to play...partly because one of the group is a perfectionist, one likes a certain style of music, and one is pretty laid back and will play just about anything. Tom & I do suggest song choices but they never seem to take us up on our recommendations. After many years of suggesting certain song or bands, occassionally they will decide to give our requests a try. Usually they are pleasantly surprised that some of our ideas for song choices are not such bad ideas.

I am the non-music person in the family...so I try to do my part and be the "recording for posterity" picture taker. Might I just say that sometimes this is met with extreme displeasure from the picture subjects? I restrained myself this weekend and didn't take one single picture. Tommy told me the last time I took pictures when they were in the basement: "Mom, I'm wearing the same JMU sweatshirt that I had on the last time you took pictures ....so quit!"
Well, anyway, I like listening to them and like taking pictures of them.
I am definitely a proud parent when it comes to the musical abilities of my boys!
I reminded myself of my mom today when the exterminator that was here to give me an estimate on using his services, asked about the musical instruments he noticed in the basement. He asked several questions and then said that he played guitar too. That lead to a full out discussion on the boys and even a sample song being played for the poor guy. He acted like he was really enjoying the music but I thought later ...what else could he say when he was trying to get my business! That is where I am reminded of my mom...I always said she would talk to even a shoe salesman about her grandkids. (She kept some poor shoe salesman captive for several minutes one time going on and on about how wonderful they were and I was pretty embarrassed about that at the time!) Now I see how that happens sometimes!

Well, I will be looking forward to the next jam session...Michal said his fingers were pretty sore from the nine hour extravaganza. My neighbors will also be interested in the next session...I probably will have to bribe them with cookies to keep them happy! Nine hours is NINE HOURS no matter how good I think they are!