To anyone that sent something to my hotmail address, I apologize for the lack of response. It seems that my junk mail filter has been sucking out more than junk mail! Again, my sincere apologies.
As a Tuna fan since the mid 70's & as a bass player since the late 70's, I looked forward to this weekend with great anticipation. I have met & spoken with Jorma & Jack many times at shows, but the idea of spending a more interactive musical weekend was really appealing.
As this was the opening session of the FPR, they were getting things in shape as we all rolled in. I drove from Catlett, VA across the mountains through West Virginia on Rt. 33 & into Ohio. It was a cool & adventurous drive.
I have say that everyone I met was unfailingly nice - campers & staff. I'm quite the picky eater, but I must say the food was outstanding! The accomodations were 2 person concrete cabins with bunk beds. The fellow I roomed with the 1st night was a nice guy, but snored in unbelieveable fashion. Fortunately, they were able to provide alternate accomodations for him & I was able to sleep the rest of the weekend. The bathing facilities were basically of the high school locker room variety - group showers, etc. At this point in my life I don't much care for that set up, so if I were to go back, I'd probably book a room in town & go in for the sessions & meals.
Logistically, the bass players were set up down in the recording studio, somewhat removed from the rest of the camp. We had a nice cozy set up with Jack & about 8 or 9 bass players of varying experience levels.
As part of the admission process, they asked you to briefly descibe why you wanted to attend & what you hoped to get out of the weekend. I, as a Jefferson Airplane fan, was curious how Jack approached playing tunes written by Paul, Marty, Grace & Jorma - 4 writers with VERY differing styles. Over the course of the weekend Jack selected different pieces by each of them & showed us what he was doing & how he approached them.
For example, he took 99 Year Blues, an ostinato in B - Jorma didn't write it, but it's one of his staples - & gave each of us a part to play - ie: one guy plays root/5th; one guy plays root/octave; another guy plays a 7th figure in a higher register, while someone takes a solo, etc. He had all of us going at it simultaneously! It was unique, to be sure. I gained an insight & respect for Jack's ability to arrange parts.
One of the things I always loved about Jack as a player was his improvisational approach - rarely does he play it the same way from night to night. Well, he was improvisational as a teacher too. He was showing us something from I See the Light/Sunny Day Strut when I mentioned how cool I thought the his last run in the tune was - starts on the low A & goes in a penatonic run up the neck more than 2 octaves, resolving with a melodic note that ISN'T part of the peantonic scale - it IS cool! Well, he says OK, you show me how YOU think it goes. So I did. I was pretty close. But I guess my point was that he wasn't so rigid with his course plan as to exclude points of interest when the arose.
As I said, we had varying levels of experience in the class, from near beginners to a couple of folks like myself, who had been playing for a number of years. Jack seemed to spend more time & take a little more interest in the folks with little experience than those of us who had been playing a while. I think at this point, they have beginner, intermediate & advanced classes, which surely would have solved this dilemma.
One thing to note & is simply a matter of policy is that there is no alcohol consumption allowed on the premises - completely understandable from a liability standpoint as well as the fact that both Jorma & Jack are on the 12 step program. Naturally, because I'm so contrary by nature, it made me want want to have a beer all that much more. Smoking a cigarette was restricted to very small, specific areas. It's Jorma's place & I respect their right to set the ground rules & I did abide by them. But it was a little on the PC side for my personal taste.
In summary: I thought it was a bargain at $350 for the weekend. I think demand has been high & the price has doubled since I went. Would I be interested in going again...perhaps...I'm not sure it's such a bargain at twice the price however. If I did go again I would: A) Stay in town - I prefer private accomodations; B) Take an advanced class, which was not available the first time around.
I've babbled on far too long here for someone of my somewhat limited attention span! I've got plenty more charming little anecdotes for anyone with specific questions...
