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Welcome to The Annual Jam Official Website
The tradition started in 2004...Joby, Jay, Nick, Nad and others came together from three corners of the USA to rock out Nick's garage for two days and continue the Rockford and college impromptu concerts. Every year, Bradley players, Rockford players, and friends come together and jam with guitars, bases, and percussive instruments to create awesome and unique music.

Nick's garage is packed with instruments and microphones and is the perfect environment for jamming, togetherness, and party atmosphere. Joby and Nad contribute their guitar and drum skills, and Jay brings his talents on guitar, drums and bass. Nick and friends can be heard rocking their behinds off on any of 2000 percussion instruments.

Any jams that were recorded and mastered are available in the downloads area.

Please enjoy the fruits of their labor!

Posted by elrickxxv on Sunday 01 November 2009 - 17:46:26 | Comments are turned off for this item
2013 Jam a Complete Success
This post has been a long time coming now. The Annual Jam went off without a hitch this year, building from a few people jamming out on Wednesday night to full on jam party by Friday and Saturday. It was a killer year that, surprise surprise, set another record with a total of 93 tracks recorded. The tracks from 2013 are availiable in the downloads area here including zip files from each day for ease of downloading.

There are so many jams from this year, that it's hard to say which ones even make the top 25. A few that stood out to me are: Diddley Bow, Octaban, Volume Knob, Octobass, etc... Listen for yourselves and let me know what your favorites are.

I cannot wait to see what 2014 will bring. Till then people.

Posted by elrickxxv on Friday 27 December 2013 - 01:59:49 | Comments are turned off for this item
Drinking Since 8 AM - The Annual Jam Greatest Hits from 2009 - 2012
With the 2013 Annual Jam less than 2 weeks away, we've finally completed the proposed greatest hits album from 2009 - 2012. We've dubbed it "Drinking Since 8 AM," and it's available, as a zip file, in the downloads area here. The compilation includes 37 of the best jams, and 4 of the funniest interludes captured over the past four years.

Much thanks to Dan for all his help putting this together. He and I have gone back and forth as we reviewed and evaluated the over 220 tracks recorded since 2009. The original goal was to have a greatest hits compilation that would fit on two CD's, but in then end, that just wasn't enough room. We did manage to keep it to three CD's though.

I'll be bringing printouts with information on how to download Drinking Since 8 AM, and I'm also hauling five sets of CD's to Rockford with me for those who may be less than computer savey.

There are so many great jams on this album. I just can't wait to add a bunch more to the library here in a couple weeks. See you all soon!

Posted by elrickxxv on Sunday 25 August 2013 - 16:07:45 | Comments are turned off for this item
2013 Jam is Set to Go
It's approaching that time of the year again ladies and gentlemen. After chatting with all the Jam regulars, we've settled on Jam weekend being September 6th and 7th. Turns out we're doing it the weekend after Labor Day again.

Sarah and I have already bought our plane tickets. We're flying in the Saturday before, on August 31st. The plan is to spend a night with the Chicago family, one with Nad & Lisa, and one with Gary, Jill & Calvin before we head into Rockford.

From what I've heard, Jay is trying to get at least a couple weeks off for this one, like the last couple years, so I'd expect him in the greater Illinois area close to a week before we get there.

It's the 10th anniversary of the Jam this year, so let's make it one to remember for a lifetime!!! Wish I could say that I've done many of the things we talked about last year for the 10th anniversary, but given life and my lazy nature, I haven't pulled it off. I still have some hope, but time is running out quickly.

Posted by elrickxxv on Sunday 14 July 2013 - 07:15:01 | Read/Post Comment: 0
2012 Jam Rocked the House
2012 Jam... Oh how I love you. Let me count the ways, Family, friends, jaming, partying, failing to wake up before 3pm, failing to go to sleep before 7am, BEERS, SHOTS, GREAT FOOD, disc golfing, complete and total insanity!

I realized this year that sometimes it takes a week plus of insanity to regain the sanity lost throughout the rest of the year. All of our lives and jobs are taxing, and it turns out that the Annual Jam is a great release for all the pent up energy that we really don't have a good outlet for the rest of the year. I can honestly say that I don't know what I would do without the Annual Jam... Not only do I get to bang on drums, strum the guitar, mess with the bass, hang out with friends and family, but I also get to blow off all this steam that I didn't even realize I had built up. What can I say, every year The Annual Jam becomes a bigger part of my life, and I never want to give it up.

We delayed the jam to the week after Labor Day this year because it was beyond scorching hot last year at that time. Turns out it worked for us; Labor Day weekend was super hot, but the next weekend, which was the jam, turned out as beautiful as we could possibly have hoped for. At this point I think the jam should always be after Labor Day.

I don't have the recorder yet, so I cannot speak to when the jam tracks will start appearing on the site, but I'm hoping that I should have it by next weekend. The last I remember, around 7 am on Sunday morning of the jam, there were over 60 recordings on the MR8-HD. We'll have to see how many of them actually boil down to decent tracks, but I'm thinking this may be a record setting year.

Jacob rocked the house this year with the help of some of the regulars, Jay & Nad, you know who you are. He even sang some Gogol Bordello, man was it awesome. Not only did Jacob tear it up this year, but Jay Man decided to learn how to sing. Who can possibly complain about a bunch of custom sung Gogol Bordello? I cannot my friends... It was flat out awesome! Turns out that's a great description of the jam in general this year.

Hell yeah everyone. I'm not sure how we pulled it off, but this year was better than last. Man I love it.

Partial List of Players
Nick Jacob Julie Kristina
Nad Jay Joby Sarah
Keith Angela Bill Nicole
and others

Posted by elrickxxv on Saturday 15 September 2012 - 08:02:31 | Read/Post Comment: 0
2012 Jam Scheduled
We've all been discussing it for a while now, and it appears that we've come to a consensus.

The 2012 Jam is taking place September 7th and 8th. I cannot say for sure that we won't start on Thursday the 6th, but currently that's not the plan.

I haven't decided exactly when I'm flying into Chicago, but it won't be any later than September the 1st. There's a slim chance I may try to come in earlier than that to spend more time practicing for the jam.

As always, the prospect of another jam has me about as stoked as I can be.

See you all soon. I'm sure it will be another awesome year!
Posted by elrickxxv on Saturday 07 July 2012 - 15:16:33 | Read/Post Comment: 0
2011 Jam... Awesome.
What can I say all... Another great jam has come and gone. Like those before it, this one was an absolute blast that I think I may still be recovering from :)

This year Nick decided we needed to start the jam on Thursday, thus making this the first three day jam in our history. Those of you who join us know that adding that extra day could be rather dangerous... and it was. But we all soldiered through, partied, jammed, consumed, etc...

There was an unseasonable heat wave in Rockford this year, so we all cooked in the garage Thursday & Friday. We had to keep an industrial fan going just to keep us cool enough to play. Unfortunately that means the recordings from those nights will have a nice little hum going in the background, but that's what it took, so no complaints here.

I got the recorder in Monday. I was getting ready to write a program to extract the tracks of the device because I'm sick of the 20 some steps it takes to get one full recording off it. Fortunately I did a little searching online and found that Fostex, the manufacturer, provides a little utility that allows me to extract the 4 tracks that make up 1 recording in a single step. Score! It doesn't completely automate the process, but close enough that I'm half way done extracting Friday night.

A couple other items of note from this year. Nick's family acquired a dog this year that was just under five months old at the time of the jam. I tell you, that is one mellow puppy. This year also includes Jacob's very first guitar Jam. He played rhythm, Nado soloed, and I banged on some drums. It was pretty sweet. Go Jacob! Look forward to jamming with you next year.

Partial List of Players
Nick Jacob Gary Jill
Nad Jay Joby Sarah
Keith Angela Bill Nicole
and others

Posted by elrickxxv on Wednesday 14 September 2011 - 01:58:40 | Read/Post Comment: 0
2011 Jam Schedule
The 2011 Jam is scheduled!!!

This year it's on labor day weekend. Friday September 2nd and Saturday September 3rd.

I'm flying in August the 27th and flying out September the 4th.

Here comes another one. I hope everybody's practicing.

Peace.
Posted by elrickxxv on Monday 27 June 2011 - 21:14:11 | Read/Post Comment: 0
2010 Better and Better and Better ...
The 2010 jam was a complete success!!! On top of that... No major injuries for anyone involved; Fantastic! This year we determined that we were attending the 7th Annual Jam. After so many jams it amazes me how different each jam is even though the same core group of people attend every year.

This year was more mellow than the recent years in that not quite as many people attended and a few of us did our best to avoid the hard liquor, but it was by no means a snoozer. There was a great jumble of catching up with friends/family, eating wonderful food, jamming on all sorts of instruments (including congas), playing frisbee, and drinking a plethora of beer and liquor.

I spent around eight hours last Sunday (10/03/2010) in a marathon of pulling tracks off the MR8-HD recorder. Last year it took me a long time to get everything transferred to my computer for processing, but I managed to get all the tracks off the device on Sunday. Now comes the fun part... Over the next two - three weeks I'll be ripping jams from all those tracks. Once I get a couple mastered, I'll create a download area, post them up there, and modify the website's player to have the 2010 tracks on the play list.

Partial List of Players
Nick Jacob Gary Joby
Nad Jay Dave Joe
Lisa Angela Bill Nicole
and others

Posted by elrickxxv on Friday 08 October 2010 - 01:07:57 | Read/Post Comment: 0
Annual Jam 2010 Scheduled
Well... It may not seem like it, but yet another year has almost passed. That brings us around to the question: when is the next Annual Jam?

Well guess what, I have the answer to that question. The 2010 Annual Jam has been scheduled for the weekend after Labor Day, that's Septemeber 10th and 11th for the calendar challenged among us.

I've added the dates to the sites calendar, and I look forward to seeing everyone there.

Here comes another Jam!!! Let's see if we can't top last year, a tall order, but doable none the less.

See you all in September.

Joby
Posted by elrickxxv on Sunday 01 August 2010 - 23:06:59 | Read/Post Comment: 0
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Chatbox
bullet nad
9 years ago
I had to hold the cards in my teeth while typing, but i did what i could.
bullet HANZUKI
9 years ago
Yeah! What he said! You gonna do it! (I already did it, so put 'em up there Nado)
bullet elrickxxv
9 years ago
The lyrics to the Annual Jam Folk Song should definitely be on this site. I'm going to start a thread about it, but I need Jay and Dan to step up and populate it!
bullet nickknuth
9 years ago
that is one goddam jam
bullet elrickxxv
9 years ago
I have to agree with Nick, they're tight. I'm especially digging the Goddamn Jam.
bullet nickknuth
9 years ago
hell yeah jams are tight this year
bullet HANZUKI
9 years ago
The Black Keys - Little Black Submarines. Go!
bullet nad
10 years ago
We also need a common Black Keys song.
bullet nad
10 years ago
Songs we have (late night drunk) planned to play this coming Jam: "Stubborn Love" (Lumineers), "Little Talks" (Of Monsters and Men), "It's Summertime" (Flaming Lips). Rock.
bullet elrickxxv
10 years ago
That jam is so awesome...

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