On this night, our very last in the time out room downstairs, we were joined by Jen, Ken, Jane, Sam, Scott, WendySue, Vin and Bill and his 'That Was Easy' button, Dan, Artie, and myself (Arlene).

Our theme was hits and favorites from previous jams and I insisted we must play WOOLY BULLY. It's always been one we pull out to impress and have loud fun. On this occasion we faltered a bit on the second row of chords but it still deserves space on our list of favorites.

Next from me was Stevie Wonder's YOU ARE THE SUNSHINE OF MY LIFE from our Motown night. Friends, this has one of my favorite chords, Gdim7. It sounded beautiful. One trick you can do to impress friends and family with how cool you are: at the end of verse 2 and 4 replace G7 with G7sus2. So it would be 4 counts of G7 the 2 counts of G7sus2 and then 2 more of G7. To play this chord lift your ring finger off the 2nd fret of the A string. It couldn't be easier.

I remember from Movie Night almost 2 years ago how much Ken enjoyed SOMEONE TO LAVA. So, I brought it back. We did an awesome job on it and also watched a very cute video. Even Sam said he "lavas this song" too.

I also gave us Sam Cooke's BRING IT HOME TO ME. We played this originally on open jam night back in December. Here's what Dan had to say about it then: " I saw an old guy in Penn Station sitting on a box and singing this song into a microphone, with a young guy accompanying him on electric guitar. It sounded so good that I made a mental note to learn it when I got home. It has all our favorite chords. I heard Lennon's version of this on his 1975 Rock and Roll album before I ever heard the original." It was going along well until a sloppy ending. We can fix it.

Ken submitted I MELT WITH YOU by Modern English. Originally played in June 2014. I tried to see what the theme was that night but I got a danger warning about malware on my computer when I clicked the link so....

Anyway, I didn't know the song until we got to the verse. It was actually quite good. (Ken: We did this song on 5/30/2014 for the '80s Decade Jam. I don't think there's any malware embedded in my chord sheets but maybe there are some hackers more clever than I.)

Ken also gave us the WELCOME BACK KOTTER theme. It was fun and has potential to be a good one with some practice.

Next we did one from Dan, I ONLY WANT TO BE WITH YOU, a hit by Dusty Springfield in 1964. I can't figure out what theme this was from but it's a nice song that we played well.

When we did a 50's Decade jam one year and a day ago Vin gave us SHAKE RATTLE AND ROLL. And he brought it to us again tonight. Folks, this was the best of the night. A rousing song that's fun to rock out and is sure to impress any audience we play for. WOOLY BULLY will have to take a back seat to this one from now on.

Jen gave us Culture Club's KARMA CHAMELEON. We last played this January 2016 for geometrics night. A nice effort but a bit sloppy in spots.

Jen also gave us YOU BELONG TO ME from Nobel Laureate (Bob Dylan) night. It was also played in Shrek. Dan and I both prefer the original version by The Duprees. Yet, we played this well and it's a very pretty number.

Next up was Dan's SWEET CAROLINE. Another excellent performance. It's always a winner.

Back to Ken: THOSE WERE THE DAYS (Bill jotted up the chord sheet for this) a 1968 hit by Mary Hopkins. Pauses, tremolos on verses. We stuck together through it all. This one strikes me as rather gloomy song of days gone by but it's always been a fun, loud and get silly number.

And finally, with minutes to spare before being thrown out Scott and Sam gave us VENUS by Shocking Blue. Who you ask? Yeah, we first played this on One Hit Wonders night last August. A nice one and fun to play.

I have an idea for a future theme: a repeat of TV theme night. I have been playing with the Munsters and Adams Family themes. But not until after July please. I will be traveling on both of our July dates.

Please Note: Our new meeting hours as of July 2017 will be 7 to 9pm.

The next theme is DIRECTIONS: up, down, in, out, over, under, north south, east, west, etc. either in the title or the lyrics.

Until then: You keep strumming,

-- Arlene.