Well, as usual, I’m late again with this report. We have had another wonderful year with so many "firsts" for us all. At the top of the list are the feelings I have been informed of from almost anyone connected with Westman Jams. We have all felt connected to one another not only from the music but from the friendships that have developed. I know I keep going on and on about this subject, but it is really easy to notice how we have destroyed all the ill feelings almost completely that usually exists between musicians from mixed levels of abilities. Most of us take this for granted, but I keep hearing horror stories from other jam sessions about this being their number one problem. We have far surpassed all of our objectives we set up for the past year. We now have a good constitution in place, thanks mainly to Wayne Morrissey and his abilities to put in writing, what we feel in our hearts would make a good club. We have to recognize all the hard work by the "principals" to get this in place. It wasn’t an easy task given our demographics. Our Christmas show netted us a record amount of money to be available to our IMC Music Scholarship Programme and we were able to help out 15 lucky Westman area students attend music camp. We certainly owe our area business community and our private donors a big thank you for their generous contributions. We purchased a 15" electronic display screen to proudly display our sponsors at each of our jam sessions. We are also very fortunate to have access to one of the finest theatres in our area thanks to CFB Shilo. I’m sure everyone still remembers the pride in our club when we presented the cheque to IMC last January. This entails a lot of work from everyone, especially those who canvassed the various businesses for donations. At the MOBS Shady Oaks event in September, I suggested to Joe Cote he should get a few musicians together and do a bluegrass segment at our Xmas show. Well, he certainly did!. They formed a group called "Gateway Express" and have been turning heads ever since. They not only perform their music great, but as well, they display and transmit how much fun it is to belong to a band. Our contribution to the Lieutenant Governor’s Winter Carnival in Brandon was great and better organized than in the previous year. It was more like a show this year and the musicians took everyone by surprise when we all teamed up to make a real professional show of this. Way to go.. gals and guys!. I would be remiss if I didn’t say how proud I am personally, by the effort put forth in producing Jammin’ Times. Right from the beginning the editors have made this little rag entertaining enough to have folks waiting anxiously for the next issue. We are getting all kinds of feedback from it, both negative and positive. We can’t ask for more than that. We revisited Souris Legion again last spring and as usual found the hospitality there to be second to none. Our camp out was another success this past year as we attempted to make this a simple project and concentrate more on pickin’ than the commercial side of it. It also lent itself to getting a few groups practicing to better themselves. The weather co-operated for us and we all had a great weekend. A special thanks goes out to Jim Jackson, owner of Grand Valley Campground. Now the event of the year was unquestionably our caravan to Big River to attend the Northern Lights bluegrass festival. Only a handful of us went on it and all the time we were gone, I kept hoping there had been more with us. From our send off at Grand Valley Park to our return there were numerous memorable activities. The organizers at Big River certainly made us feel welcome and we met some wonderful people. We also had fun jamming after and during the show. This was our first attempt at getting MOBS and Westman Jams together for an event. Everyone wants to attempt to do this again in the coming year. So, if you missed it last year, I would advise to organize some vacation time and join us in 2009. We attended the Sprucewoods Rodeo and all I have to say is…WOW!!!… We sounded like a band and I’m still hearing good things from the local folks who said they really enjoyed us. We even got an offer to play at another rodeo in another town north of Winnipeg. Well as you can see it was quite a year and one that makes me proud to belong to Westman Jams. Now for the financial side of the house. We actually didn’t do badly at all. This was mainly due to our various fund raising schemes put in place to keep us a float. We ended up a bit in the red, however, we replaced our aging microphones and purchased quite a bit of gear, so our budget was quite easy to manage. Sometime in the near future I will be providing a detailed account for everyone’s perusal. Here are some objectives I would like to see in our coming year. First of all, we have to get our executive in place and register our club as an official one. We need to set up various operating committees to handle all the different sections of an operational club. We are going to have to hire an accountant to validate our books for tax purposes. We probably are going to require some common formal computer software, as required by the accountant as presently we are using the Excel program to track our finances. We are probably going to have set some funds aside for a new PA amplifier system as it has seen a lot of use and we are quickly outgrowing it. Some problems were noticed a few weeks ago and sent a reminder to me that we should be planning for it’s replacement. We should make a concentrated effort to do some "remote" jams to other areas of Westman to get the word out there of our existence and meet even more musicians to introduce them to our style. One of our ongoing problems which are going to be even more prominent is the necessity to enlist some volunteers in the operational side so our change in executive can be a smooth transition when necessary and not just be a club of the same bodies rotating to different positions every term. We need individuals to come forth and take part in this as it can be just as much fun as the music end of things. These are the only objectives I can set at this time. When we elect our executive they will probably want set the goals themselves. So keep on having fun with music and I look forward to our next year with anticipation.

Still….Just a pickin’ and a grinnin’

Reg Jones

YEAR END REPORT 2006/2007

Who would have believed it? We have survived yet another year! Must be something in the water….. or maybe it’s just the music and the friendship. We had another terrific year with still more musicians coming out of the woodwork here in the Westman areas of Manitoba. I wonder if we will ever reach a time when we have met everyone. I sure hope not. This past year, more volunteers have come forth with their varying talents. One disappointment however, is that we still do not have a signed, sealed and delivered constitution. I would have hoped that we would have had more time to actively pursue this. We did have a very busy year though and we can’t devote all our time to Westman Jams. I can’t think of another goal we didn’t achieve so we all should feel proud we reached most of our goals. Financially, we spent the entire year in the black for the first time since our founding. We managed to raise almost 2,000 dollars for the newly formed Westman Jam/International Music Camp Scholarship Program. This allowed us to assist 8 students from all over the Westman area schools attend the IMC program at the International Peace Gardens for the summer of 2007. Anyone who took part in our 3^rd Annual Christmas Show should proudly stick out their chest and let it swell with pride. It’s a real good feeling when you help a new generation of musicians discover how wonderful music can be. I look forward to an even better Christmas show for 2007. We revisited Carberry again on Oct. 22^nd  for a remote jam. Wayne Morrissey did a fantastic job organizing this.  Some of our members travelled to Elkhorn on Jan. 28^th to attend Ed Clayton’s jam. Besides having a great musical time, we left with over-stuffed stomachs from the fantastic meal that was part of the festivities. It is a good thing to witness all the jams that have popped up throughout our area. By all of us working together, then just maybe, our musical heritage will keep on keeping on. Remember the Lieutenant Governor’s Winter Festival? My fingers still ache when I hear those words. It was a marathon jam lasting for three days. We really needed more participation from our members. Although this was a tiring jam I believe it was a great chance for Westman Jam to have its presence known in our community.  I believe we are going to be asked again in 2008 so I hope that if we decide to do it, we get more musicians to attend at least one of the days(nights). Another jam sprang up in Sydney, thanks to the hard work of Michelle. Man, what can we say about Ken Harmon and all the hard work the organizers in Birtle did to host a weekend jam in May. The whole community got behind Ken on this one, including a pancake breakfast, town-wide yard sale etc etc. The weather wasn’t that great, however, our spirits were riding high. Some last minute changes and co-operation from the village turned a cold weekend into a warm hearted experience. We all look forward to next year’s event. Our own Grand Valley camp out was a lot of fun this year for everyone. There was less stress on the organizers due to our more simplistic approach with less fund raising schemes than previous years. Perhaps we should keep it that way. We had fun with our mini raffle for a mandolin and perhaps instilled a new interest in the process. We then organized a jam in Souris and despite the warm day we had a great time. Diana McCallum organized this to a “T” and even provided lunch for a bunch of starved musicians. Some day we will surely have to revisit this scenic village for more of the same. Our next camping adventure took us to Killarney to make some music around the Blarney Stone. There sure is a need to have more of these camping trips next summer. All in all it was a great year and quite a few musicians improved their skills and a few folks discovered they could make beautiful music together. Thanks to our extra fund raising schemes, like the sale of memorabilia, we managed to keep our head above water, financially. As we become more successful at the fine art of jamming, our expenses have risen while our collections have become less, so we need these extra fund-raising schemes to be able to continue. Our first goal for the coming year should be the constitution of course. We need to formalize committees for all the various targets we would like to accomplish. We also need to set up regular monthly meetings and an annual membership meeting. (usually our meetings end with jamming afterwards) Get involved with the organization and have fun in the process. We need your ideas and talents to keep this Westman Jams musical ride going. The personal rewards are so fantastic. We are planning another Christmas show and another camp out or two, next summer. We also need to do a few more remote jams to communities we haven’t visited, so we can spread the word and meet new musicians. Thanks to all the musicians who attend jam after jam. Without you, this would run aground very quickly. We are going into our fifth year now and we really should plan some kind of celebration for next September. Let us know how you would like to celebrate this event. See you at our next jam! 

Reg

Still a pickin’ and a grinnin’ 

As I sit here in my cluttered computer room, I am almost at my wits end trying to find a good place to start reminiscing over our “third year” of operation. 

 Man, what a year this has been!!!…

We surpassed most of the goals we set for ourselves for 2005/2006.  These folks who keep attending month after month are really a special lot, each and every one of them.

They have made Westman Jams enjoyable and successful and I am so proud to be

affiliated with them.  From time to time, I have had musicians from areas outside of the Westman area congratulate me forWestman Jams. I sure would like to take the credit for keeping this thing going, however, that would not be a very honest description of the situation. It truly is all the people that keep coming back and all the hard work put forth by the steering committee. The jam held at Sprucewoods Hall the end of July reminded me how much we have all learned to work together.

 When I showed up, near the end of the jam, I scanned all the musicians in the “circle” and noticed there was every level of musicians working together. I recalled the first time some of these folks appeared at the microphone. How natural they all look

doing their “thing” now. When the jam was over, everyone pitched in coiling up wires, packing things away in their proper cases, laughing and joking around as they worked. We truly have become a tightly woven bunch of pals.

        We are always trying to make things a little more exciting and challenging. This year we tried some “tribute” jams. Our Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and Kitty Wells jams were well attended and exciting as we witnessed all the work everyone did to come up with the material they performed.

        Our Christmas fund raiser for Westman Dreams for Kids surpassed last year’s goal by a considerable amount of money.

        We set out to do three remote jams, however, we only managed to get two in. These were successful however, and we thank the folks in Virden and Wellwood for the invitation. It was sure great meeting the local talent!  Virden Legion was very hospitable and we thank them for all the nice things they wrote about us in the local newspaper. Wellwood Community folks were very pleased with the jam we had there and it was great to meet all the musicians from in and around their community.

        Although we are not a “money-driven” organization, we do need enough to keep operating so we came up with a few schemes to meet our expenses. Thank you to all the people who purchased our coffee mugs around Christmas time. The Westman

        Jam clothing drive so far has sold over 110 pieces and apart from raising some funding for us it’s nice to see everyone show up in

       Westman Jam clothing. Thank You!!!!…

        We just had our annual camp out Jam, July 21^st, 22^nd, and 23^rd.  What a great time we had in spite of the “hot” weather. We managed to raise about $600.00 for equipment. We promptly invested this in three monitors which were badly needed. This just about completes our equipment requirements that we had targeted for 2005/2006.

        Two of our members (Stacey Terry and Debbie Beaudry) were invited to join in on a singer/songwriter evening with the Brandon Folk Society and it sure was great listening to them perform their “own” songs. We then were invited to do an hour demonstration at the annual Brandon Folk Festival in Brandon. It is hoped we can do more joint ventures in the coming year. 

        Our website has become second to none thanks to the hard work of Brenda Hubbard. It’s very difficult keeping these things current and informative.

        Brenda also volunteered to do a monthly newsletter in the form of “Jammin’ Times” and what a great job she is doing with that. The name was decided through a “name our circular” contest and was voted on at one of our jams last winter. If you

         have an e-mail address and would like to automatically get the latest copy of “Jammin’ Times” every month just let us know and we will put you on the mailing list. There is no cost to you for this service. We also provide a few copies at our jams in

        Sprucewoods and the Army Navy and Air Force Club in Brandon. More “Jammers” have volunteered and become very active in our monthly operation.

        Thanks to Elger Heath for providing some instructional information on our web page in the form of guitar chords and a "How-to" page.

     As in previous years, this year was no exception for us losing some very valuable pals, Sarah Remple, Jocelyn Hill, Roy MacKenzie, Gladys Whittingham, Denise Lecocq and Hollis Forbes. We certainly will miss them. To learn more about them please visit  the “Silent Chords” page of our website.

    In the coming year, it is hoped that we can get a registered and official not-for-profit

    club formed.                       

    This should be free of membership fees and continue in the same format. We are going to require a lot of expertise to pull this off.

    If you have knowledge about this process we need your input and skills.

   Westman Jams should also work towards remote jams in new areas to introduce the concept of keeping our local music alive and living in Manitoba. Recently pressures have been

    introduced from outside of our “circle” to charge admission to our regular jams. THIS

    WILL NOT HAPPEN. We must continue to meet our operational costs through

    voluntary contributions and special drives.  The promotion of fairness for all must be

    adhered to if we are going to be successful.

    This is our only goal.

    An equipment trailer has been donated for us to use. Thanks to Jim Jackson. We will have to fix this up and make it road worthy and weather proof. It will have be painted, insulated,

    re-wired and repaired before we can get insurance and plates.

   We need some volunteers to donate their time and mechanical/woodworking and

    metal talents

     Our equipment needs will not be as urgent this year. Some cables will have to be

    added and possibly a schedule to start replacing our microphones with better ones. The addition of three or four cheaper, lightweight amplifiers would also be an added bonus for our

    some of our jammers with physical limitations.

         The jam should also work with other music venues to promote not only the old-tyme country and bluegrass music, but face the challenge of working together. We should be laying

         aside our differences to promote all of our provinces musical lore and abilities.

         One way we might be able to do this, is through a combined effort to create a variety

         camp out jam for next summer. Keep watching our “Jammin’ Times” for updates

         on this process

         This task will not be an easy one, but it will be a very satisfying and a worthwhile 

        challenge. After all, we are all in the same boat in our social and cultural development.

         We need fresh ideas and challenges to keep our jams interesting so our musical friends will keep returning, month after month. Feel free to offer your suggestions.              

     See you at our next jam. The schedule will remain the same….The last Sunday of

     each month at Sprucewoods (near Shilo)and the 2^nd Sunday of each month at the

     Army Navy Air Force Club, in Brandon on 14^th Street beginning Sept. 10^th  from

     2:00 to 5:00pm

     Keep monitoring our web site and “Jammin’ Times” for our regular and special jams.

      Until then………. Keep on Pickin’ and a Grinnin’

       Reg

Welcome Everyone to the Home of Westman Jams

 2nd Anniversary Report

September 2005

Westman Jams is about to complete year two of pickin’ and a grinnin’.. I can’t hardly wait to see what may be in store for us in the coming months.. During our past year we have achieved most of the goals I personally had set for our group of closet pickers. We have purchased a decent PAsystem, complete with all the trimmings one could possibly want. We are now able to provide a big enough sound to perform stage shows. Our fold has now increased to well over 100 musicians. Many of these folks had never met before and it still thrills me when I see friendships being formed. You make a friend via music and usually it’s a life-long bond!  During the cooler months (Sept to June) we have added one more jam every month at “The Army Navy and Air Force Veterans Club” in Brandon. We owe a big thank you to those folks for providing us with the space at no charge. Our Christmas show at CFB Shilo was a roaring success with the proceeds forwarded to Westman Dreams for Kids. All the musicians that supported this with their talents should feel so proud! It was a wonderful accomplishment! Leanne Doty from our local radio station, (CKLQ) got involved and helped us exceed our fund raising goal. We owe a big thank you to her for their support and getting the message out to our local area. From this show, our jams have grown to the point when we needed a second monthly jam. (Check out the pictures scattered through our web site). Recently, we just completed our first weeked camp-out jam at Grand Valley Park where we managed to raise over a thousand dollars for Brandon’s “Helping Hands” program. We packed up on Sunday and headed home with sore fingers and raspy voices from all the jamming we did. This to me is a pretty good indication of the fun we had. Once more, we owe a big thanks to CKLQ and Bill Thompson for all the publicity we received from on-site broadcasting. Hey, we even got Bill singin’ a couple of songs!! A special thanks to Maple Leaf for the sausages and to the Keystone Centre for the pancakes and chefs for the pancake breakfast on Saturday. Jim Jackson donated Grand Valley Park to us for the weekend.  Talk about folks getting on the “Band Wagon”!!!! Thanks a million!!!!. Thank you to the many musicians who gave of themselves for all of our events. No-one could ever give a greater gift than that!!!… How many carpenters, plumbers, electricians, etc. do you know who would meet and perform their talents when asked, without charging you for their talents??? I’m quite sure that many of us never give that a second thought. Performing our songs and tunes mean so much more when we receive applause, so we also want to thank our many listeners(groupies) who follow us around. We need your support as well!! Our number one goal has always been to make sure that everyone who attends Westman Jams feels absolutely welcome and a part of the circle that holds us together. Every club or group of folks like ourselves needs “do-ers” to get things organized. How could we survive with out ours!!… Debbie, Brenda and Bill, Cathy and Terry, and Gail among others, work tirelessly, month after month, making our jam sessions and events successful. 

Now, for a few goals for our third year!!… During this winter we want to spread our “wings” a bit to other areas of Westman to bring our music to new pickers and listeners. Some of our pickers travel from these locations and it’s about time we travelled to theirs. As an experiment, I would like to try this about 3 times during the winter. We still need a few more items for our PA system and it is hoped we can fulfill these needs. More volunteers will be needed to help out and join our committee so that we may have more folks trained on the various tasks. I also believe it is probably time to think about forming an official club. Up to now, I think we haved served our duties well, but, in order to consider new ideas and to make things more democratic, we need more input from everyone. We are now in the black with our finances and when we reach the costs required to fund a t-shirt design, we should do so, as a fund raising exercise. We need to continue going out of our way to ensure nothing breaks up our circle of friends. Everyone must feel a part of it all!!! Of course, we want to do our Christmas fund raiser and plan a camp out for next year. We also need to be completely profit-free!!  Many charities in our area could benefit from our fun. I know we all feel so proud when we make a difference for others less fortunate than ourselves. I must stress again that this is your jam session not mine!!… YOU MAKE IT WORK.. Jealousy has always been a musician’s enemy. Don’t let it get to you!!! I spell it JELLY LESS and JAM MORE….If we help one another we can make a difference to the quality of music within our circle.

While writing this, I can’t help but remember the sad passing away of Stan Marcin. We had become good friends and hardly a session goes by without thinking and remembering the relationship we had. I’m confident that in his new world he is a pickin’ and a grinnin’ along with the rest of us.

Come out and join us… Come set and pick a while… You won’t be sorry….

I also urge you to take a few moments to sign our guest book. It’s nice knowing you dropped by and paid us a visit. Brenda works tirelessly keeping things up-to-date on this site.

Just a pickin’ and a grinnin’