Tag: Spring Jam

SubscribeStar Saturday: Minecraft Camp 2025 Postmortem

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Ah, ’tis the season for postmortems.  I’ve gotten another Minecraft Camp in the books, and it was another good year.

For my British readers who might find the conflation of “Minecraft” and “Camp” confusing, allow me to clarify:  in America, “camp” can be a.) a woodsy outdoor adventure, consisting of “roughing it” in a cabin or tent and staying overnight in such accommodations or b.) any sort of hobby or activity in which children (or, in some cases, adults) spend part of a day (or a full day, or overnight) pursuing for fun or learning.

Minecraft Camp is the latter—it is a “day” camp, meaning children just attend for a few hours (9 AM to 12 PM) and then go home.  When the camp first began way back in 2014, we actually went from 9 AM to 3 PM for five days, but I found that was too much for students (and me).  When the school instituted summertime hours that closed campus on Fridays, I shifted to a Monday-through-Thursday morning camp.

Even with that reduced camp time, I find that students still start to get a little weary of playing Minecraft by the end of the third day, especially the younger ones.  It’s a bit like a little kid thinking that eating forty-seven scoops of ice cream would be amazing, but by the fourth scoop, he’s ready to stop; by the eighth, he’s ready to vomit.

So I always provide some alternative activities.  The big favorite is LEGOs.  I bring a huge box of them, and kids are free to tinker and build with them to their hearts’ content; some of the kids built some cool stuff this year.  My counselors also started playing Hangman with some of the kids, which was a big hit.  Additionally, we take a couple of “screen-free” breaks in the sunshine, and the kids will shoot hoops or kick a soccer ball around.  On the last day of camp, I brought King’s Hawaiian Rolls—a time-honored Minecraft Camp tradition—which the kids devoured with the pitiless fervor of the sea lion.

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Spring Jam 2025 Postmortem

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On Friday, 23 May 2025 I hosted the fifth annual Spring Jam Recital on my front porch.  It is one of two front porch recitals I host each year, the other being the Spooktacular in October.

This year’s Spring Jam featured a fairly intimate crowd, with seven students in total performing, as well as my buddy John playing some pre-recital tunes.  I think it was slightly larger than last year’s, especially as one little girl brought not only her parents and brother, but a number of extended family members as well.  One of the parents, a local restauranteur, brought delicious wings from one of her establishments.

As usual, my Mom made her famous Rotel dip, this time with sausage added.  My Dad and my younger brother grilled up some all-beef hot dogs, and Dr. Fiancée helped with selling t-shirts and getting the table set with my mother.  My niece and one of my nephews played, too; it’s always fun having a family get-together mixed in with the recital.

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Gig Day XI: Spring Jam V

The Portly Politico2 Comments

Tonight is the Spring Jam, one of the two recitals I host on my front porch every year (the other is the Spooktacular, which is in late October).  I’m looking forward to an evening of music, merriment, and hot dogs.

This year marks the fifth Spring Jam, which has become a popular event with my private music students.  These front porch concerts started out as a way for my buddy John and me to play gigs during The Age of The Virus, when nobody was open for live music.  I realized that if I wanted to play in front of a live audience, I’d have to circumvent the hysteria and become the venue and talent.

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Spring Jam 2024 Postmortem

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On Friday, 24 May 2024 I hosted the fourth annual Spring Jam Recital on my front porch.  It is one of two front porch recitals I host each year, the other being the Spooktacular in October.

This year’s Spring Jam was the smallest one yet.  I always host the event the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend, primarily because it is the night before graduation for my school’s seniors, so many families are still in town.  However, the combination of graduation season (which means graduation parties) and the holiday weekend mean it is a potentially dicey weekend in terms of schedules.

So far, I have been fortunate to have a large number of students who attend and play, but this year, Fate cut differently and we had a much smaller crowd than usual.  Even so, we had a blast.

Gear Loaded Up!
Drum Kit
Wider Shot of Kit
Added a Small Cymbal
Rotel Dip!
The Stage is Set!

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Gig Day IX: TJC Spring Jam IV

The Portly Politico6 Comments

It’s time for another front porch concert!  This event—the TJC Spring Jam and Recital—will be the eighth Front Porch concert I’ve hosted (I think), and I’ve learned quite a bit from the others, including the last Spooktacular.

This year marks the fourth Spring Jam, which has become a popular event with my private music students.  These front porch concerts started out as a way for my buddy John and me to play gigs during The Age of The Virus, when nobody was open for live music.  I realized that if I wanted to play in front of a live audience, I’d have to circumvent the hysteria and become the venue and talent.

Gradually, the concept morphed from a self-indulgent concert into a recital for my private music students.  The Lord Has Blessed me—far beyond what I deserve—with a large clientele of private music students (I’m a bit murky on the number at the moment, as I have several seniors graduating tomorrow, but it’s around fifteen lessons a week), so it made sense to offer a couple of recital opportunities a  year for them.

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Spring Jam 2023 Review

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Subscribers:  the annual TPP Summer Reading List will be posted soon (sometime this month—maybe next weekend!).  I’ll also be getting back to my series on Washington, D.C., this month as well.

Another Spring Jam is in the books, and I think it was the best one yet.  I should probably write that behind the paywall, but I’d like everyone to know.

Regular readers will know that in October 2020 I launched the TJC Halloween Spooktacular (I’d done a “Spooktacular” at a coffee shop in 2019, but that was a very different event), a Halloween concert on my front porch.  That first front porch Spooktacular featured two opening bands, followed by a couple of sets from my friend John and myself.  It was a rousing success, but in retrospect, it was too long (three hours!) and needed some streamlining.

Of course, in The Age of The Virus, everyone was starving for live entertainment and social interaction after being cooped up inside with Netflix and takeout for (by that point) seven months, so I could get way with a bloated bill.  It was a success, and most folks stuck around until we wrapped up sometime after 9 PM.

While I don’t think I’ve ever repeated the success of the first Spooktacular in terms of attendance and cashflow, I do think I’ve improved the formula somewhat.

The biggest change came when I made the Spooktacular and the spin-off Spring Jam into a recital for my private music students.  Following the doldrums of Summer 2020, when I had just one piano student every week, my private lessons empire ballooned to around twenty lessons or so each week (occasionally fewer, often more).  That has been a major financial and musical blessing, but it also means I have enough students to put on a pretty good recital, even if some students can’t attend.

With this latest Spring Jam, I think I have gotten it down to more of a science—but a fun science, like playing with magnets in the seventh grade.  There’s still the fun, relaxed, DYI-spirit of the event, but everything seems to be running more smoothly.

Like playing an instrument, practice makes perfect.

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Gig Day VII: TJC Spring Jam III

The Portly Politico6 Comments

It’s time for another front porch concert!  This event—the TJC Spring Jam and Recital—will be the sixth Front Porch concert I’ve hosted (I think), and I’ve learned quite a bit from the others, including the last Spooktacular.

This year marks the third Spring Jam, which has become a popular event with my private music students.  These front porch concerts started out as a way for my buddy John and me to play gigs during The Age of The Virus, when nobody was open for live music.  I realized that if I wanted to play in front of a live audience, I’d have to circumvent the hysteria and become the venue and talent.

Gradually, the concept morphed from a self-indulgent concert into a recital for my private music students.  The Lord has really blessed me—far beyond what I deserve—with a large clientele of private music students (around twenty-two at the time of writing, working out in practice to anywhere from twenty-to-twenty-four lessons a week), so it made sense to offer a couple of recital opportunities a  year for them.

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Gig Day VI: TJC Spring Jam II

The Portly Politico6 Comments

It’s time for another front porch concert!  This event—the TJC Spring Jam and Recital—will be the fourth Front Porch concert I’ve hosted (I think), and I’ve learned quite a bit from the others, especially the last Spooktacular.

This year, instead of inviting another band to open the concert, I decided to make the first portion into a recital for my private music students.  I’ve been teaching private lessons for years, but have never done a recital, so it was high-time to give my students and opportunity to share their considerable talents.

The recital element also brings with it a built-in audience:  the students naturally come with their parents—and, potentially, grandparents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, family friends, etc.  More people means more merch sales, and possibly more tips and donations.

For this one, though, I’m not playing up the moneymaking aspect too heavily.  Yes, I hope to recoup some of my expenses for food and such, but the point is more to celebrate the hard work and talents of my private students.  If I sell some t-shirts and paintings, well, all the better.

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SubscribeStar Saturday Post “The TJC Spring Jam” is Posted!

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Dear Readers,

I have been writing like the wind today.  I have finally caught up on all SubscribeStar content from the past couple of weekends.

You can now read “The TJC Spring Jam” if you’re a $1 a month or higher subscriber.

It’s a detailed rundown of the concert, including the major tunes played, the in-depth financials, and the organization of the concert.  Learn from my mistakes and successes!

Also, Sunday Doodles LXXXII is up, too!

Thanks again to subscribers and regular readers for your patience.  It’s been a wonderfully quiet day at home—literally, I’ve only gone outside to check the mail and to cut some oregano from my garden—so I’ve gotten a ton of writing done today.

It’s good to restore order to the blog!

Happy Reading!

—TPP