Howdy Folks.

I visited the new Annandale hotel this week to watch the wonderful guitar stylings of Mick and Kez of The 4 Kings at their first show there.

As we sat in the beer garden after their show, we started talking about the long gone Blues Jam at the Empire, just up the road.

It features in our creation myth - both for Mick and Kez and indeed for Stormcellar. The Empire Jam was where it all started for us.

We also took a moment to remember and reflect on the people and times from the Jam. To remember Gerard, one of the first people to say a kind word about my harp playing. To remember 'Pete' who used to do Rolling Stones covers - Dead Flowers -  every week, strutting, preening and doing his best Mick Jagger for all the world to see. for one shining instant, to be the man. To remember doing 'Can't change my ways' with Dan every Wednesday for 4 years, which to this day I thank for my facility with Draw 3 Semi Tone bend :-)

Like coral reefs, mangroves and wetlands, Jam Nights are the nurseries for our local talent.

Though the jam at the Empire is gone, it lives on up the road at the Bald Faced Stag, and in the many other jam nights that rise, fall, rise again and keep people out midweek to live their dream of being like their heroes, and for some, as a place to meet their future wives, partners, band mates or just Human Beings with the same sacred love of being within the music.

As I watched Mick & Kez being watched by the supremely talented Robert Susz, himself showing support by his simple presence at the gig, I thought about the Empire and the number of bands it inspired.

If you love music, if you play it, think about supporting your local Jam Night. It's way more fun than sitting behind a screen, you might meet people you will come to call friend, and you never know, you just might wind up in a band and go on tour overseas.