Dinner, like all the meals there, was fantastic. Fur Peace contracts to 
have the meals catered by a local restaurant, and the eats are GOOD! I 
had to swallow twice, though, when Jack sat down next to me (mostly bass 
players at the table) and started to dig in. He talked with everybody at 
the table, mostly about the "old days", who he'd played with before 
heading West, and so forth. I can't describe how it feels to be sitting 
down right next to a guy I've admired and emulated for 30 years, just 
chowing down and shooting the breeze...
 After dinner I discovered my biggest mistake. I own two bass guitars - 
the JCBass, and an El Capitan 5-string ABG. I decided, based on the fact 
that this was to be an "electric" weekend, to leave the El Capitan at 
home. Big mistake! Acoustic guitars appeared instantly and some amps 
were dragged out on the porch. Fortunately, there was a bass amp handy, 
and the camp owns an El Cap 4-string. Somebody else had the forethought 
to bring a Martin ABG (not thrilled with it, but anything in a pinch), 
so us bass players did alright on the porch. Jack and Jorma didn't join 
the jams, but Mike was there, just jammin' along with the rest of us. We 
started after dinner, and kept up till about midnight, when we retired 
by mutual consent - alot of us had been on the road since early that 
morning.
 I gotta say that those porch jams became, over the weekend, just as 
important a learning vehicle as the classes. There were some great 
players there, including one kid who's only 13 - Johnny Lang, check your 
6...

next - breakfast and a full day of workshops, plus an extended essay on 
Jack's teaching style!


     John