Roger Zee Memoirs

"Life and Times of a Pandemic Musician"

Misha 1 6/10/20

Welcome to another excerpt from my memoirs, "Life and Times of a Pandemic Musician." I dig in deep today! As a loner, I've always lived on the fringes, in the cracks and crevices, straddling the borderline between politically correct and the deep, raging underbelly of the "Real World." I sweat blood now as I share my tale of reaching out, grabbing hold, and striving to sustain the ecstacy and pinnacle of my life! ?? Funnily enough, the story begins at the turn of the century at the Wednesday Next Door Cafe Jam in Stamford, CT. New to this area after moving from Teaneck, NJ to White Plains, NY where my kids and ex-wife settled afte the divorce, I searched for a place to get back into playing music. At first, I tried the jam at Hogwash in Mamaroneck, but the gentleman who ran it usually never put me up. So I let my feet do the talking!

I reached out to my brother-in-law, Jon Gaines, who turned me on to another jam near where he lived with my sister Lisa in Old Greenwich, CT. Sponsored and run by a local music store in a club owned by keyboardist PJ, I tried it out and really enjoyed myself. The room brought in a different, top-notch, featured band every week and treated the Jammers with respect. I made a lot of great, lasting friends from there including Gil Parris, Kip Sophos, Rudy Feinauer, Jimmy Johnston, Steve DePra, Sweet Lou, and many more. Eventually, the club gave me a featured artist gig once a month.

But that just fed the flame! I needed to play more! So I started attending another jam on Thursdays in downtown Stamford at Greene's, just around the corner from UConn. Club owner, bassist, and bandleader Yale Greene ran a more "down low, Lower East Side" type situation which suited me just fine. Of course I kept getting lost driving home because you couldn't leave the same way that you came, LOL!

I met up at Greene's with a very talented guitarist (and visual artist) Robert Z and we ended up playing together a lot. After a few weeks, I noticed this very tasty, foxy, tall, lanky, brunette who always seemed to accompany Robert. She definitely piqued my interest and I just had to find out the connection between the two. Turns out Misha M. just came along to provide "friendly," moral support. Oh boy!

So over the next few Thursdays, I tried to work whatever magic with her I could muster up, LOL! Not a great time in my life after the divorce and moving to a strange area... I started walking her out to her car at the end of the night. No aggressive play, just real friendly. But finally, I just couldn't wait any longer. Did she feel the same way that I did or not? So I put the pedal to the metal, pulled her in close and unleashed a kiss that expressed my deepest feelings!

Tune in tomorrow for more of this (at least in my mind) epic love story. But today, in the midst of the massively spiking Coronvirus relaunch in NY, I focus on learning the bass lines to James Taylor's "Classic Songs." Please stay safe and let someone else test the waters first! One <3

YouTube - Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight - James Taylorc