Hey y'all! - I have had multiple discussions with various musicians in our group over the last month or two, and then had a chat with Jeff Cohen earlier today (1/18/26) after the DAM acoustic gathering in Arvada.

These discussions have centered around the existing format of our "plug-in" gatherings.  Several players I know from these jams have said they would much prefer a meeting format where it's more of an Open-Mic environment, rather than a free-for-all jam where we go around the room taking turns "leading" a song, but everyone else in the room is also playing along / singing along.   I mentioned this to Jeff earlier today when we were talking, and he said that when his predecessor, Tom, was running the DAM jams some years back, that was actually how they were run.  We agreed that an open-mic format would allow our members the chance to really showcase the songs they want to play without complications of having to explain to everyone what key the song is in, hand out music, etc.  So it would save time just from that standpoint. It would also yield a cleaner song, which probably would be more enjoyable to listen to, and also better "entertainment" value to the venues that we are trying to get into (many of you know we've had a challenging time finding venues where we can hold our jams.  

Several of us believe that some of the venues may be adverse to a raw "jam" because it's not as pleasing to the ear as an open-mic session would be.  They'd be amenable to an open-mic session that their other patrons would enjoy more.

As some of you will recall, a few years back when we were playing at the Lakewood Grille, Jeff usually suggested that when each person got up front to lead, that they play two or three songs in sequence to eliminate some of the time that gets burned up just changing between players. That approach seemed to yield more songs played overall throughout the afternoon/evening session compared with what we're getting these days when we do the jam with one song per player per round at the front.

I asked Jeff if he was open to considering switching the plug-in gatherings back to an open-mic format where people take turns up in front or on stage and each one playing several songs while they're up there, with everyone else just observing, listening, and encouraging.  He said he definitely would consider it and suggested that I post the idea here so we could get some discussion going and get input and thoughts from other people in the group.

Jeff mentioned that we could also phase in the open-mic aspect of the gatherings using a hybrid type of format.  With a hybrid format we'd still go around the room in sequence, but when each player came up in the rotation, they could say whether they wanted to (a) lead playing a song as a "jam" with everyone else playing along, or (b) wanted to get up and "perform" the song in an open-mic environment.  If the latter, they could of course invite individual players to accompany them on stage, as desired (eg for percussion, bass, backing,vocals, etc.), but have everyone else just be their audience.   

This way each player/performer could choose for themselves how they want to participate and enjoy playing in the group.   Those who are less confident on stage may prefer to just lead a song in a jam style, with everyone else playing & singing along; whereas those players with more experience might prefer to get on stage and perform 2-3 songs in sequence, in an open-mic format.  

Please post your thoughts, comments, etc here.   Jeff and others who are very active in the group will be watching & reading!  

Oh, and Jeff -- as always, thanks so much for all you do to host these DAM gatherings (both plug-in and acoustic)!  We love you! -- Jim