Amen Brother Nick. Wise man!

Roger

Nick, you hit the nail on the head and thensome. It seems like I'm either jamming far away from the porch of Hallihurst, or playing way past midnight, kind of like you mentioned.

And I too enjoy playing with beginners and intermediate, especially ones who show empathy and enthusiasm.

There's a status ladder at Augusta that has turned me off for years.

And for those involved with staff at Augusta, I'm sorry if my attitude is upsetting, but being told to play somewhere else took the cake. I was there first with a small group of people and we were only on our 3rd song. It's just plain, d*mned rude.

And I didn't move, I ignored. If I made some enemies because of this, so be it.

This is more upsetting than someone telling me I can't jam in their "click", which also happened twice.

Absolutely fantastic video! Loved seeing (and hearing) this... Thanks Jim!

R!CK

Cheers Rick, thanks, my brother

I applaud you for not moving my friend. WTF? What, or why would someone tell you to move to a different place in order to make room for someone else. That really would have ticked me off too. Couldn't you just share the bill. I jammed in Mountain View, Arkansas, this July 4, weekend and there were other Cajun Musicians (non-Louisiana), and I shared the jams with equal respect. We would do a song and then I would ask them to do one. Like my quote says, "We're all in this thing together". That being life. And we all have to eat and defecate. And nobody's smells like roses, I can tell you that. And if they think theirs does, they're sadly mistaken. Michael

Yeah, I was actually hoping that they'd join us, but this person who said we should "move on", and perhaps another of their group were a little too elite. I'm not saying everyone in that particular jam is like that. Just a couple people who seem to regulate, and have been doing so for years.

I didn't move and just kept playing, not hardly taking a break between songs, so they finally found their selves another spot. That Hallihurst porch is big enough for alot of people, but when you have an accordion, the porch shrinks. Not true for fiddlers, there's always loads of fiddles at jams.

The best occasion I had jamming Cajun is when I got there Wednesday, I made a point to get a spot. I got out on that porch at 4 o'clock PM, looooong before people showed up. Got to playing, and got to jam with people I really wanted to see.

And by nightfall, I was happy to pass my accordion around to my Cajun friends. And thankfully, there was no regulator around

Wow
What you all said above. I've had so many similar experiences. The best Augusta jams I've experienced were either not on that ****ed porch, or were far away from "prime time". The best went until about 4am, and part of what made it so great was hearing the "purists" complain about having been kept up so late, by people laughing and singing! I guess we broke the "rules" by actually having fun, and expressing it.
Anyway - thanks everybody. It's a relief to know that it wasn't me.

I call it the pecking order. Go to the jam tent at Festival Acadianne and wait for the jam police to show up. I do what Jim does I keep on playing. In Thibodaux I had to fight with the old fools that used to run the jam. It was advertised as an open jam but open it was not. They finally got run out of there and starting the first Monday in August I will be in charge and my rule is if you come to play you will. I make sure the time is shared. I call the jam police Elvis on stage. They all think they are something special. It's funny we usually don't think alike.
Le Piquant