I headed down to The Hungry Tiger Cafe and Restaurant without any clear expectations, and half a thought to giving myself a break from this little writing thing I do. It happened again anyway, though. Wherever Tommy Whalen plays, the Jam is sure to go. The first pleasant surprise was seeing Bob Laramie playing bass. He's my new man-crush; I might even have to travel down to CT even when Tom isn't playing, just to worship- I mean, watch Bob. Scroll down to "Liviu's Invitational" for more; suffice it to say here that Bob Laramie is an animal-by-surprise. He starts of all mild-mannered and mellow; in fact, when you talk to him he's actually fairly soft-spoken; but when he plays, he builds up steam. Moving through phases, or levels of aggression, he morphs from Clark Kent to Super Monster on the bass. Really, he might be the most amazing bass-man I've ever seen. If you know Rudi Weeks, take his jazzy fluidity and punchy funk; and if you know Pete Evangelista, take his animated and aggressive approach; and mix these with the ease and authority of, say, John Entwistle. Multiply by some factor greater than awesome and you begin to get an idea of Bob Laramie. He's a lot of fun to watch. In fact, when Tommy did his Strat-strut, walking it out-and-about around the house and serenading the populace with his licks, I kept my eyes on Bob.

The REALLY unexpected treat for the night was a set from Gina Gunn. Tommy called her up, saying something about her playing bass while singing, and along came this blonde-haired, blues-ID'd Presence. She carries it, she sings and plays it; she delivers a vocal and a performance that is clearly Blues-Identified. None o' that new-fangled "neo-blues" stuff here; this lady delivers the goods and sounds like she packs a pedigree from the College of Blues and Boogie. So securely rooted is her conviction that she has given her life over to playing blues music; she left her home area to peddle her wares in Texas for a couple of years before settling anew in the D.C. area. Now she plays around the D.C. metro and Virginia area, while making trips up to Hartford/Springfield for family, fun, and further opportunities.

Gina play rock-solid bass. She sings really well. She has stage presence. She is the full package. Her choice of material was blues-based but eclectic, which translates to entertaining and contributory to the genre: she is not not just churning the stuff out, she is "keeping it alive" by putting her spin on chestnuts like "Shaky Ground" (my new fave!) and encouraging an interest in more from the listener. As Gina continued her set, the lucky ones in the house got more and more excited, 'most all were dancing through the set, and my road-mate, Terri and I kept looking at each other like, "Holee Crapp- this lady is good. She's REALLY good!!!" The way she handled Bob's beautiful hand-made instrument was really fun to watch, too. Don'tcha just love it when an artist is comfortable in their craft and handles the tools of their trade with ease and authority, allowing them to play playfully? I know the feeling of being in that zone; once in a while it come when I ski or cook. I really love and respect (dare I say 'honor?') seeing others enjoy their callings.

This is why I love seeing Tommy Whalen play. He carries that same artistry and craftmanship into his work. He puts his spin on classics and spices the set with the occasional original (Gina has those too, by the way), and interacts with the band in a way that's both professional and fun to watch (Gina does that too, by the way). When Bob cam back to finish the night with Tom, there was no momentum lost along the way- in fact, they seemed that much more fired up after Gina's contribution. This is why I say Tommy gots the Jam- the energy follows him around. Those last few songs were downright incendiary. Like I said to Bob later, just when I thought I'd been amazed to full capacity, he raised it up another level. Same goes for Tom. I only meant to dash off a few thoughts today, but look at me rave! This is what they do to me... I'm a lover, not a critic- a music lover, that is.

I just had to try to sell Gina on the idea of a visit to the Sunday CatJam- at the risk of poking my nose into other folks' biz, sometimes you just see a match and ya gotta speak up. Mostly, though, I just really wanted to share. I saw in her that which I know Wildcat O'Halloran and the others up our way would appreciate, and I had to do what I could to facilitate some small summit of sorts. Gina was quite receptive to the idea of a trip to Northampton, so I found myself telling her all about Tommy's 'residency' at the Waterfront, and the Wednesday jam at Theodore's and all like that ... not my business! Can't help it! "Stella! I coulda been a promotah!"