Hard to win when you always lose

I went to a blues jam session tonight at a place called Harlem Jazz Club. I know I should be going to see flamenco or merengue and learning to tango, and I will. But even though I'm living in Barcelona now, I'm still me. And to me, really good live blues is just about the best thing in the world. Now these particular blues were not the best thing in the world, but they weren't bad. (I've always thought I would make a really good blues singer, if I could only sing.) The host, who also played guitar and sang the first few songs, looked a lot like Ben Stiller in the prom scene from There's Something About Mary and clearly did not have the blues. The second singer had huge long curly hair pulled back in a big ponytail and covered by a hat that was pulled down so low you could barely see his eyes, and was wearing what can only be described as red silk pajamas. He played the piano, and he was good. (What is it about eccentricity?) The drummer looked like country music with a big ol' cowboy hat and the snarly bassist looked like heavy metal, but it all kind of worked. Even the smoke didn't bother me as much as it usually does--blues bars are supposed to be smoky.

And I hate to pick on accents, but you just can't sing the blues well unless you can sound American--at least the American accent is good for something. Mick Jagger definitely had the right idea, going all twangy.