{"id":859,"date":"2012-04-07T18:00:13","date_gmt":"2012-04-07T18:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/216.71.127.204\/wordpress\/?p=859"},"modified":"2015-10-13T17:51:36","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T17:51:36","slug":"lake-mija-annual-jam-fest-seabrook-tx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/2012\/04\/07\/lake-mija-annual-jam-fest-seabrook-tx\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake Mija Annual Jam Fest – Seabrook, TX"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
Written by Traci Rogers <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apr 07, 2012 at 06:00 PM<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"Image\"Thanks to Seabrook\u2019s Gene and Cindy Cole for exposing me to some of the area\u2019s finest musicians over the Easter weekend at their second annual Lake Mija Jam Fest!<\/p>\n

Having only known Gene Cole via FaceBook music circles wherein he and I discuss Gram Parsons\u2019 and Townes Van Zandt\u2019s biographies at great length, meeting him in person only heightened my respect and admiration for a fellow music lover once he introduced me to his and Cindy\u2019s eclectic and equally passionate network of audiophiles.<\/p>\n

Cole, a guitarist and singer himself, first moved to Seabrook with his wife Cindy in 2002.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really know anyone around here to play [music] with.\u00a0 I was missing that,\u201d Cole reminisced.\u00a0 As fate would have it, \u201cI ran into an old friend from high school, Ray Simpson, who I hadn\u2019t seen in 20 years or more.\u201d\u00a0 Simpson and Cole tracked down other musician friends via word of mouth and social media. \u201cThe idea of putting something on for the spring was born; it all started to come together.\u201d\u00a0 The first Lake Mija Jam Fest was such a success \u201cthat the overwhelming opinion was that it would not be the last jam,\u201d he told me.<\/p>\n

The lake\u2019s origin remains in question, but as Cole tells the legend, the community developers were clearing out vegetation before neighborhood construction began.\u00a0 What remained was a sandpit until a storm blew through Seabrook and tapped an underground spring.\u00a0 As a result, the community was built around the private lake that was named after the developer\u2019s wife.\u00a0 Community anglers often catch black bass, crappie, catfish and tilapia.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupposedly, it filled up so quickly that there is heavy equipment still located at the bottom of the lake.\u00a0 Someone\u2019s misfortune, our big gain, I guess,\u201d Cole explained.<\/p>\n

And a gain it was as we all enjoyed the warm breezes enveloping us in a setting comparable to a sunny vacation luxury resort!\u00a0 While some attendees sang along with Jim and Diana Hendrick\u2019s \u201cBrown-Eyed Girl\u201d performance from the swimming pool overlooking the lake, others enjoyed pot-luck dining in the cabana shading.<\/p>\n

I met Danny Kristensen, John McKay and Bobby Fossier, three fourths of Kemah\u2019s Swamp Shack resident band Almost Endless Summer.\u00a0 Their relaxed harmony on \u201cMr. Tambourine Man\u201d and \u201cTurn! Turn!\u00a0 Turn!\u201d soared like Byrds migrating toward the warmth of the south coast.\u00a0 Just as easily, the boys of the Gulf coast beaches kicked it up a notch with \u201cHelp Me Rhonda\u201d on the sun and fun-filled Holiday weekend.\u00a0 Endless Summer\u2019s underlying camaraderie only stimulates their natural abilities of predicting one another\u2019s vocal or instrumental bends.\u00a0 Needless to say, a common love of music binds the band\u2019s decades-long friendships both on and off of the stage.\u00a0 Check them out at: www.almostendlesssummer.com<\/span><\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

Given the Holiday occasion, the performers, and their choices of songs, I noticed one recurring theme:\u00a0 the spiritual.\u00a0 Whether the spirit-filled theme was intentional or of a Divine nature is beyond my comprehension.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"Sitting in with Almost Endless Summer was bassist Father Nick Novak, another long-time friend and high school classmate of Cole\u2019s.\u00a0 The retired Brown and Root employee began leading Baytown\u2019s Trinity Episcopal Church 11 years ago.\u00a0 Right after the AES set concluded with the Ecclesiastical \u201cTurn!\u201d and the meditative, Quiet Beatle\u2019s signature song \u201cWhile My Guitar Gently Weeps,\u201d we had a brief moment to chat about how the Divine influences music.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think blues is the most spiritual music; with its Gospel roots, there\u2019s so much feeling and emotion attached to it.\u00a0 My favorites are Stevie Ray Vaughn, B. B. King and Freddie King.\u201d\u00a0 With profound insight, Novak added, \u201cMusic is a bridge to spirituality, and I think that\u2019s why we\u2019re seeing more churches offer both traditional and contemporary [music] services [on Sunday mornings].\u201d<\/p>\n

Next, I met Joe Phillips and Tino Trevino, a duo from the Monumentals band. The two constants of the band met and began playing together two years ago in the Pasadena\/La Porte area.\u00a0 Trevino, 30, a more introspective songwriter type, collaborates with Phillips, a classically trained musician with three decades of experience on his resume. Their set included originals written by Trevino and co-arranged with Phillips, as well as covers done in original Monumental fashion.\u00a0 Like most duos and bands, they\u2019ve had their creative differences, but those differences only serve to make their music stronger.<\/p>\n

In keeping with the spiritual theme I had recognized earlier, Trevino\u2019s most prized song, \u201cSeasons Changing,\u201d is a sincere, autobiographical tune of decisions made at the crossroads of life. As the song accelerates toward its full circle \u201ccoming home\u201d line, Phillips pounds the drums and sings a dexterous harmony that mixes well with Trevino\u2019s whiskey-soaked vocals.\u00a0 Also, Trevino said that he \u201cwrote the song \u2018First Step\u2019 for my son who is the most beautiful thing in the world, but you know, we all have first steps whether it\u2019s a child\u2019s first steps or [one\u2019s substance abuse] recovery.\u201d\u00a0 After all, a challenging step is one of the many interconnecting aspects of the human condition.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"On a lighter note, the duo performed a handful of covers with a little help from fellow musicians at the party.\u00a0 Diane Hendricks added a hue of vocal harmony to John Cougar Mellencamp\u2019s \u201cCherry Bomb\u201d before the Monumentals set out on a version of \u201cFolsom Prison\u201d that I had never heard, yet it rocked the crowd!\u00a0 For Trevino\u2019s acoustic \u201cGoing to California\u201d cover, I noticed his voice change from raspy to a clear baritone.\u00a0 One of his loyal fans Buck Vanderburg, a patron at Pasadena\u2019s Sam\u2019s Place, told me that his \u201cfavorite \u2018Tino\u2019 thing is when it\u2019s just him, his guitar and a microphone.\u00a0 He really knows how to move me.\u00a0 Simple but profoundly spectacular!\u201d<\/p>\n

Make sure to look up and LIKE the Monumental Band on FaceBook.<\/p>\n

I regret that I didn\u2019t have the opportunity to hear all of the performers of the afternoon\/evening.\u00a0 I would have liked to have listened more closely to a fellow by the name of Tommy Turner who, with a lone guitar, played what sounded like the music of Townes Van Zandt, one of my all-time favorite songwriters.\u00a0 While focusing upon interviews, I wasn\u2019t certain of the lyrics Turner was singing, but I was certain that he had a fine finger-picking technique, much like the late Texas songwriting sage.<\/p>\n

Again, thanks to Gene and Cindy Cole for sharing their Easter weekend with me!\u00a0 They have turned me on to some of the best kept secrets south of downtown Houston!\u00a0 With the summertime quickly approaching, make it a point to enjoy the coastal breezes with Almost Endless Summer and The Monumentals!\u00a0 Their music makes the beer taste colder!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Traci Rogers Apr 07, 2012 at 06:00 PM Thanks to Seabrook\u2019s Gene and Cindy Cole for exposing me to some of the area\u2019s finest musicians over the Easter weekend at their second annual Lake Mija Jam Fest! Having only known Gene Cole via FaceBook music circles wherein he and I discuss Gram Parsons\u2019… <\/p>\n

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