The Bitter End Jam Band

~ The Bitter End, at 147, Bleecker Street is one of those classic Greenwich Village venues that has been around since 1961. So many famous and infamous musicians have performed at the Bitter End, that it would take a couple of pages just to list them all.

However, since we’re talking about it, how about Woody Allen, Peter Allen, Mose Allison, America, Tori Amos, Joan Armatrading, Joan Baez, Jackson Browne, Harry Chapin, Tracy Chapman, Judy Collins, Shawn Colvin, Chick Corea, Jim Croce, David Crosby, Billy Crystal, Miles Davis, John Denver, Bo Diddley, Bob Dylan, Jose Feliciano, Steve Forbert, Steve Goodman, Stephane Grappelli, Arlo Guthrie, Bill Haley, Tim Hardin, John Hartford, Richie Havens, Gil Scott Heron, Norah Jones, Billy Joel, Kris Kristofferson, Patti La Belle, Jay Leno, Neil Young and many thousands more.

I went to The Bitter End on my first weekend in New York City, and was blown away by the All Star Jam Band that played that Sunday night (the jam band performs from 10pm until late, on the second and fourth Sunday of every month).

I was determined to return to The Bitter End at least once more before I left New York to catch the jam, and this I did on the night of Sunday, May 11, 2008. There seem to be at least three core members of the jam band – Mark Greenberg (drums), Dave Fields (lead guitar), and the brilliant Brett Bass (bass). On this night Brian Charette was playing keyboards.

I took my video camera along to record some footage, since I think these guys are too good not to share with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, despite trying for a couple of days, I can’t seem to upload the file to this Blogger site so that you can view it. Hopefully, I will be successful in the next day or so. I can't upload it to my YouTube page either because it exceeds their 10 minute limit on video length.

Sigh... sometimes you wonder if it is worth all the stress and mucking around. Given what I said in my last post about sitting in front of the computer... here I am doing just that, and it is a beautiful day in New York City today.

Anyway, make a note to visit the Bitter End during your stay in New York, and if you can catch the Jam session on the second and fourth Sunday of each month - do so, you won't regret it.

Visit The Bitter End Jam website...

And since you are online anyway, why not check out their MySpace page…

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