Adam, a French-horn player and music teacher, was here for the first time, along with Charlie for the second time, and Scott, Sam, Dave, Frank, Joe, Arlene, Vin, Bill, Jen, Ken, WendySue and Suzala to play songs of the 1950s. Here's what we did:

1. Sea of Love, Phil Phillips with the Twilights, 1959 (Dan)

2. Show Me the Way to Go Home, Irving King, 1925 (Bill)

3. Mr. Sandman, the Chordettes, 1954 (Adam)

4. Kansas City, Wilbert Harrison, 1959 (Arlene)

5. Keep A-Knockin', Little Richard, 1957 (Arlene)

6. I'm Walkin', Fats Domino, 1957 (Arlene)

7. Makin' Love, Ukulele Style, Dean Martin, 1958 (Arlene)

8. Bye Bye Love, Everly Brothers, 1957 (Arlene)

9. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself A Letter, Billy Williams, 1957 (Arlene)

10. Twilight Time, Platters, 1958 (Arlene)

11. All I Have To Do Is Dream, Everly Brothers, 1958 (Arlene)

12. It's Only Make Believe, Conway Twitty, 1958 (Arlene)

13. Love Letters in the Sand, Pat Boone, 1957 (Arlene)

14. Sh-Boom, Crew Cuts, 1954 (Arlene)

15. Glow Worm, Mills Brothers, 1952 (Arlene)

16. In the Still of the Night, Five Satins, 1956 (Arlene)

17. Harbor Lights, Platters, 1960 (Arlene)

18. Love Potion Number Nine, Clovers, 1959 (Arlene)

19. Only You, Platters, 1955 (Arlene)

20. Sea Cruise, Frankie Ford, 1959 (Arlene)

21. Young Love, Tab Hunter, 1957 (Dan)

22. Raining in My Heart, Buddy Holly, 1959 (Ken)

23. True Love Ways, Buddy Holly, 1959 (Ken)

24. The Great Pretender, Platters, 1955 (Arlene)

25. Twistin' the Night Away, Sam Cooke, 1962 (Arlene)

26. The End of the World, Skeeter Davis, 1963 (Arlene)

27. Shake Rattle and Roll, Bill Haley and His Comets, 1954 (Vin)

28. Earth Angel, Penguins, 1954 (WendySue)

29. Bye Bye Love (again)

This must have set a record for the most songs played in one night. We were much better musically than the last time. Part of the blame for last time can go to bad chord sheets. Being a technophobe, I don't know what it entails to post a chord sheet on Ultimate Guitar, E-Chords or any other of the common websites, but it must take a little effort. Didn't that person play through the song to see if it sounded right? Why put something up for all the world to see and have such obvious mistakes? There are chords missing, the wrong chords, chords which do not belong and chords over the wrong lyrics.

When I'm looking for a song, more often than not, there are problems in the chord sheets, and therefore I don't get to pick my favorites. If I'm really set on playing something, I'll type and xerox my own thing. I'd like to be able to type something, have my wife scan it into the computer and have it fly to our website. This would avoid illegal use of the machine at work to make paper copies.

Anyway, the chords we used this week were better overall, and we played and sang with gusto and rambunctiousness. Everyone was in such a good mood. Was there a secret bottle of gin being passed around?

To select a few numbers, Vin's pick of Shake Rattle and Roll was done brilliantly, with a good rock and roll sensibility.

I love the Conway Twitty song. We had the 45 and might have played it a thousand times while growing up. The vocals build and build to the point where it's impossible to keep from screaming if you want to hit the top note, or back off and drop down an octave if you want to preserve your dignity. A great thing about a group singalong is that you can change octaves, go a little higher or a little lower, and no one really notices because everyone else covers up for you.

I missed the great doo-wop song, In the Still of the Night, because my throat was getting irritated and I needed to get a soda. I couldn't figure out the futuristic machine in the lobby and had to get Jen to rescue me. (I encourage everyone to try this machine and see the freaky way it dispenses your bottle.) Back in the room, throat newly coated with Diet Coke, I was able to get through Young Love, a song I had been practicing all week. Long live the Coca Cola Bottling Company of Atlanta!

One of the last ones we did was the poignant heartbreaker The End of the World. This poor girl had been crushed when her boyfriend broke up with her. "I can't understand how life goes on the way it does," she says. Doesn't everyone see how devastated she is? Being the perverse people that we are, we were compelled to make a mockery of this beautiful and tragic song by doing a happy-ukey version of it. What is wrong with us? (It came out pretty well, though.)

One final thought is that the two lesser-known Buddy Holly songs Ken picked were really nice, and an antidote to some others, such as Peggy Sue, which have been played to death.

Suggestions for the next session included the sixties, Led Zeppelin and songs by people who had TV shows, such as Ricky Nelson, the Monkees, Shelley Fabares from The Donna Reed Show, and David Soul from Starsky and Hutch. We decided on a revised sixties theme, that being the BRITISH INVASION.

We’ll use the loosest possible interpretation of what that means and allow all British acts from the time the Beatles got here in 1964 all the way up to the present, back to the wartime ballads of Vera Lynn and to the songs of the wandering minstrels of medieval days. Click on NEXT JAM SESSION for a further elaboration.

-- Dan.