Last week Marikaneni gave me some nice plum jam and Krisztina gave me some delicious fig and almond jam, and of course I went to the now bi-weekly Monday night jam at Potkulcs. Brian Scoffield, Ashley Brees, Chris Parsons, Stuart Relph and Eric Bosque made up the band this time. With Mike Kentish on tour in Poland, Eric took up the slack on base, and both Brian and Eric played percussion with Greg absent. Ashley, as always came equipped with a good selection of songs that begged audience participation, including: The Kink's "Summer Afternoon," Huey Smith or Frankie Ford's "Sea Cruise," a great rockabilly song, some Billie Bragg, and Bob Dylan's "One More Cup of Coffee," the first song I ever learned to play on guitar....

I met American couple Laura and Martin on the Orkney Islands in northern Scotland, then again the ferry to the islands of Lewis and Harris in the Western Hebrides where we decided to pool resources and rent a car to see the archeological sites such as the Callanish Stones. None of us had experience driving a UK car, and the one-lane roads with cliffs on one side and ditches on the other did not make it any easier. I just remember us taking turns yelling, "center! center!" to whoever was driving. We eventually aimed for a youth hostel on the coast. The road ended and we had to walk a few kilometers the rest of the way, spotting a stag on the cliff above just as we were parking. The hostel was really a dark shack with a peat fire, the peat being delivered by boat to the rocky beach once a week. The hostel was inhabited by a hermit, at least until we arrived. He left the next morning, but not before he taught me "One More Cup of Coffee" on the guitar. I still have the words and music he wrote out for me. I remember Laura, Martin and I talking about our plans and dreams, and me wanting to open a used bookstore-bagel-Ben & Jerry's shop in the Western Hebrides. Well, I was not far off. Given all these memories attached to the song, I was very pleased to hear Ash sing it.

Chris Parsons did a perfect solo guitar part on one of the Oasis tunes, especially having never played it before. I could not imagine anything else fitting so well. The guys did a Jam tune, something full of melancholy mixed with aggression that reminded me of every time I go into the bank. The whole gang did a tight, rocking version of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart Again. Stuart showed he is very much front man material with his very charismatic performance on this song. Brian debuted his new song "Locked In," and I highly recommend you give his newest tune, "Simplicity," a listen next Monday.