The Pickle Factory Freezer Jam

So, I had a gig that night with my jazz chorus group in a fund raising concert.  Rob had told me about the possibility of visiting a jam afterwards.  And, although I was interested in checking it out, I had the concert to go to and had to bring my music with me.  He also indicated that it was in a garage that had formerly been a pickle factory and unfinished, and said that it would be a good idea to bring a chair.  Well, I thought. . . lug my guitar, a chair, my jazz music from Astoria into Brooklyn??  I don’t think so.  Plus, my sister was coming to see the concert.  I was 99% sure she was not going to be interested in going to the jam with me.  Why?. . . .she doesn’t even come to my house jams‼

So, my sister and I had a relaxed dinner together after the concert, and she took off for home via public transportation (to the other side of Brooklyn) and I took off for Union Street on the R.  I had Googled the address earlier from home and had even brought up a photo of the area and could see the garage door.  But, it wasn’t the same as being there in person.

So, I arrived and I took a look at the garage door, but there was no door within it to walk through.  Hmmmm???  I could see the jammers through a wall with windows in it.  To the right of the garage door was a door with the address I was looking for, but it looked strictly residential (like apartments).  There were several bells on the side of the door.  But, I was sure I would be irritating someone if I rang one of them.  So, I returned to the wall with glass windows and started pounding on the glass in hopes that someone would hear me.  I could see my fellow jammer, Dale, through the window.  But, no one heard me.  Then, it seemed that they finished their song and I pounded again.  This time, Dale heard me and started walking toward me.  As he almost reached me, the glass wall slid open and I realized that it was some funky type of door with metal prongs on the inside.  I have never seen a door like that one before.

So, I walked in feeling pretty foolish for not even realizing that it was a door and pounding the hell out of it.  Steven Skollar walked out of the jamming room and welcomed me so warmly.  I followed him into the freezer (a/k/a the jamming room), which was a rectangular area of about 10 feet wide by about 20 feet deep (or maybe smaller?).  Not a very large space.  But, after all, it’s a freezer.  This room was packed with about 20 people, if not more.  And, right at the entrance were my jamming buddies, Lynn and Dale.  The rest were seated at the walls and mid-way into the space the chairs were turned around and facing the door and set up like a theater and had the fiddlers and singers.  And way in back, my buddy, and others, who had just been in the concert with me.

I had no chair available for myself, so positioned myself against the entrance wall between Lynn and a guitar player.  Steven told me I could sit on his guitar case, but I didn’t want to possibly cave the darn thing in.  So, I just leaned against the wall.  Well, they played a new song and were in the process of taking breaks.  I don’t remember the song, but it was very catchy.  So, I got very enthused about possibly daring to do a vocal harmonica break myself.  I mean, I didn’t even have any instrument with me, so what’s a girl to do?  When I couldn’t wait any longer and saw an opening, I raised my hands to my mouth and started making all these ridiculous buzzing harmonica sounds.  But midway into it, I thought I heard the guitar player (Gary?) to my left playing a break.  Oooops‼‼  I had been buzzing right through his break.  He turned around to see what all this buzzing noise was about.  Soooo sorry‼!  I stopped, like a dog with his tail between his legs.  

But when Gary finished his solo break, he turned to me and gallantly offered me my time to do a solo.  I did a repeat of my buzzing sounds.  When I finished, Gary asked me, “how do you do that?”  I answered, “I don’t know, it just happens.”  Then Gary went even further in his gallantry and gave me his chair.  Wow‼!  Look at this bunch of great musicians. 

Then Christina (my concert buddy) yelled from the back of the room, “Conchi , sing a yodeling song.”  Huh??  How does Christina know I can yodel?  I don’t remember ever having told her.  At this point, the banjo player on the opposite side of me (Richard?) hands me his “huge” guitar to play for the evening.  The guitar is hanging down by my knees and I even asked if I could adjust the guitar strap.  But, I decided it probably would be alright if I sat with it on my lap.  I chose Jimmie Rodgers' Any Old Time.  I hadn’t played it in a while and screwed up a bit with the wrong chord order (you know how great that sounds).  But, Lynn helped me out (yay!!!  she knew the song), and also added some lovely harmony to the song.  I finished and all I could see was a sea of smiling, friendly, good natured faces. 

What a pleasure to be in that room with such great (and friendly) musicians.  It was heaven.  And the fact that it took place in a freezer of a former pickle factory made it even better.  Soooo very cool‼!

The sad part is that the pickle factory is being rented and turned into a bar.  So, there goes my possible great jam session with these guys.  I’ll think of another way.  

Photos for your pleasure.