Northeast Michigan Oral History and Historic Photograph Archive
Jim Weeks Interview

Description
Interview Part 1
Interview Part 1
Transcription
Today is February 10th, 2016, this is Cindy Kus, I am in the Alpena History room at the Alpena County Library, and we're talking today with Jim Weeks.  Jim plays in a band by the name of House Call, uh, he . . . we're going to start out talking about his musical roots.   I know that Jim comes from Kalamazoo, and we'll see where it goes from there.
JW.  I started, uh, playing music when I was in grade school.  My, uh, dad was, uh he worked at the Upjohn Company and ah, he was interested in music, played piano, and made all the kids take piano lessons - it wasn't something we necessarily volunteered for, but that was just part of what we did, and my older sister did it, and I played, uh, piano, and my younger sister also, and they provided the music lessons for us, and, uh, we - the eventual goal was to get to where we could take lessons from Dr. Rowland, who was a professor at K College.  So, you had to work your way up, you couldn't play for Dr. Rowland until you knew what you were doing.  So, we took lessons from teaching fellows at the, uh, from K College, mainly, and uh, you know, every Saturday I had my music lesson with the teaching fellow and then, uh, you know I was forced, forced into, uh practicing at home.  And it was, you know it was a lot of music theory and playing songs and then, you know, every year we'd have to have a recital, you know, with all the students, and then over the years I finally got to where I could play with Dr. Rowland and, uh, it was a, you know he was a very, uh, older gentleman, you know, by the time, but, uh, it was, looking back it was a real privilege to be able to take lessons from him because he was an incredible musician and, and, uh, he really, uh, challenged, challenged me and, uh, everybody, I mean my sister had taken from him, too, and, and uh, you know, we would do, you know, all kinds of scales and be playing along, and then he would, you know, call out different keys and you just had to switch keys, you know, uh, you know in mid-stride and whatnot, and, yeah, as a kid that was pretty boring stuff, but it was a, you know, good foundation, uh . . .
CK.  What - what age did you start?
JW.  In, ah, grades school. 
CK.  Ok.
JW.  And, uh, and then, uh, you know, I had friends playing guitar, and you know, of course that was more interesting to me, and I had saved up paper route money and, uh, bought myself my first guitar, uh, in junior high, and it was a, a miserable, horrible guitar because I bought it because of the price and not because of anything else and I didn't know any better and it was so hard to play that, uh-
CK.  It was acoustic?
JW.  It was very frustrating.  Yeah, an acoustic guitar - and, because I couldn't afford to buy, you know, amplifiers and all that kind of thing, so I got the acoustic guitar, I struggled and struggled with it, learning some chords and things, um, had such a hard time because it was so hard to get calluses on my fingers, and my fingers would blister and bleed before I'd get calluses 'cause the action on the guitar was so high, and, uh, I really didn't know any better than that until I actually went to college, and then some of my friends had guitars and, uh, and I got to play their guitars and it was just like a whole world of difference, I thought, "my gosh, I can't believe this."  So I saved up money, and I was working in a nursing home uh, and saved up some money and then bought myself a - another guitar which was a little bit better than the first one that I had and uh, uuuuh, and continued to play, but not a whole lot, I, I played a little bit.  I was involved in a religious organization at University of Michigan, uh, called "Word of God" and it was a Pentecostal uh, uh . . . group-
CK.  Mm hm.
JW.  -mainly students, and uh, it was most incredible, that was the most - one of the most incredible musical experiences because, uh, at the meetings, you know, people would get together and it was just people that got together because they wanted to worship God, and, you know, there wasn't any, you know, forcing anybody, it was all, everybody wanted to be there-
CK: Right, right.
JW. - and it was a whole gymnasium full of people and ah, we would oftentimes sing, and they had a music ministry and the people would play guitars, and there was no music for much of it, it was just spontaneous, uh, you know, uh, utterances, and, and it all blended into this incredible crescendo of harmony and, and beauty and it was-
CK.  It was all voice-
JW.  Amazing, voice, and, and, and the guitar, people would play music, they'd play their guitars, too, and it was just, somehow it all came together, you know, and, in the spirit, 
CK.  Mm hm.  Mm hm.
JW.  . . . you know, so, so that was - that was an incredible, uh, experience to see that, and to, uh, to experience that, and then I got to play some, uh, in our - we would have, uh, you know, prayer sessions, and people would get together and some people would bring instruments and we'd play, and they had music, too, we had songs that we played and, uh, and that was, that was sort of, uh, moving me along a little bit, uh, in music, you know and playing, now that I had a guitar that I could actually play, so that made a difference, and played a little bit.  But, I was mainly working, you know, uh, as my job was to, uh, study, and, and uh, you know, as my Dad was paying for my education, and I took it very seriously, so 
CK.  Right.
JW.  I, uh, wanted to - and the only way I could pay him back was to excel in what I did, you know, so, you know I'm not the brightest bulb in the, on the string but I, you know, worked harder than anybody else, you know and-
CK.  Uh huh, you're determined.  Yes.
JW.  -I spent a lot of time in the library and, uh, didn't have as much time for - for my music.  So, I just kinda played a little bit here and there, and uh, I never played, uh - rarely played songs all the way through, I played beginnings, I played ends, I played little parts that I was trying to work on, I'd work on different chords and things like that but, hadn't really done much, uh - I always said the only person I played for was my cats, I would close the door, and cats would be in there and they could listen to me, but uh, not too much else, so-
CK.  Well, I'm getting a little picture that you had a very full life with school and everything, did you use music at the end of the day to-
JW.  Yeah, to relax and, you know, that was my, you know, recreation time, was to - to play, and I always had guitars with me and the cats would stay in the room
CK.  And the cats stayed in the room with you, they didn't leave . . . (laughs)
JW.  No, they didn't, uh, you know, I played folk music and quiet things so, you know, they didn't mind too much.  
CK.  Uh huh.
JW.  And then it wasn't until 1997, actually that, uh, uh, that I got involved, uh, uh, after my divorce, when I was seeing a girl that worked in the Emergency room, and who's now my wife, and uh, she said, uh, "you know, you should get together with Dave Larkin, you know, he's a, he works in the ER, ER docs, he plays music and there's a, uh, uh, they've got this group they're getting together for this Guitar Summit", and I thought that meant that there were people were going to get together, play together and learn from each other and, you know, kind of an informal thing, so I said, well,  sure, that sounds like fun, and my partner, Steve Zweig, was, uh, also, he had played in a band as a youngster, you know, so he had played, so we decided that we would, you know, get involved in this, uh, guitar summit, then it turned out - went to the meeting and they said, well, it's at the high school, and, you know, you're playing out, you know, in front of people, and that just absolutely terrified me because I'd never done that before.  So, as I said, I never even played songs all the way through.  So, you know, we started getting together, three of us, and - for the first Guitar Summit that we played in, and I think it was Steve's first Guitar Summit.
CK.  Steve Slag?  
JW.  Zweig - Z-W-E-I-G.  So, uh-
CK.  He played guitar also?
JW.  Mm hm.
CK.  Ok.
JW.  So we, uh, uh, you know, came up with some songs that we were gonna play and, uh, worked to, you know, to uh, to participate in this performance - and like I said, it was getting out onstage in front of - and there were literally hundreds of people there, it was amazing how many people were there at the, at the guitar summit there at the high school.  And, uh, you know, we, you know, managed to get through it and then, Dave and I have continued playing together, Steve hasn't, he decided he didn't want to do it anymore, so he hasn't played with us since that first summit, which I believe was in, I think that was in 1998 . . . yeah, pretty sure it was 1998.
CK.  So you're going close to 20 years now-
JW.  Yeah.
CK.  -of playing together.
JW.  Right.  And so then, Dave and I have continued playing together and, you know, we get together, and uh, and play uh, you know, we've played I think for six guitar summits.  Uh, you know, we played the first six of them all the time, and they would have us play uh, to warm up the crowd if you will, you know-
CK.  Mm hm.
JW.  And a kind of an add-on group because, uh, they liked, you know, we were able to get people into things and lot of people like the kind of music that we play - Simon and Garfunkel, Jim Croce, Beatles, you know, that kind of thing, so it's . . .
CK.  Easy listening. 
JW.  Easy listening type of stuff, and we played, you know we played at, uh, K of C uh, uh, uh, Christmas party and this one person asked us if we, you know, did any Everly Brothers and I said gee, we've never done Everly Brothers, so we looked it up, and found a song that we could play together, so we started - we did that.
CK.  Which one was it?
JW.  It's um . . . 
CK.  Didn't mean to put you on the spot…
JW.  Yeah, now I can't think of what it is . . . hm.  Anyway, it goes "I bless the day I found you", you know . . . 
CK.  (quiet hum)  
JW.  So that's one we like to play and,
CK.  Yes, right.  
JW.  And then, lately we've been, every summer, uh, Dave and I get together and have a . . . a gathering at the north end of, of Grand Lake, uh
CK.  The Shawnakee.
JW.  The Seanachie, right. 
CK.  Shawna-he?  
JW. Seanachie - schi, I guess, I'm not sure.  So we uh, we do that, and that's - we just have so much fun with that, you know-
CK.  Can you tell me a little bit about that?  I was intrigued when I saw that.
JW.  Yeah, we uh, uh, we started it, uh, you know, we had gotten together and then Dave, you know, he was kind of inspired by - I go to a place in over on the other side of the state called "Stone Circle", uh, and it's a, it's a, uh, gathering of people that come together on Saturday nights and the guy that runs it is a poet who - teaches at, uh
CK. Wooten?  
JW.  Terry Wooten, exactly.  
CK.  He went to school here, I believe.
JW.  No kidding!  No kidding.  Yeah, so, Terry does the Stone Circle and they have - he does a lot of his poetry and recitation recitations, and people tell stories and they have people that play music, and, uh, you know, it's a really any big campfire and it's up on the hill overlooking the Grand Traverse Bay, and it's in a beautiful place, and I told Dave about that in fact . . . I don't know if I ever - I think I dragged him there one time.  But, you know it was such a cool concept and Dave said I'd like to do that over here, and so then he came up with Seanachie because he's Irish, and, you know, that was a story teller, you know, in uh, Gaelic.  
CK.  Mm hm.
JW.  So he uh, uh, decided to start that and we started doing it, and he lives up in, uh Presque Isle Harbor Association, so they have the, uh, two areas, uh, one is on Lake Huron where there's a hou- you know, a beach house, and then, you know, we would get out on the beach and play, uh, then we found that oftentimes the waves were too loud, and we couldn't hear ourselves, because we're not amplified, so we moved it to the north end of, uh, Grand Lake where they have the club house or the beach house or club house - I don't know what it's called.  At any rate, it's part of the Presque Isle Harbor Association so, 
CK.  Mm hm.
JW.  -we have a little campfire there, and then people come and you know, they're invited to - to play, and sometimes people do, they bring instruments and play and.
CK.  Is that place that has a small swimming pool inside?  
JW.  Uh, that's the third place, this is on the Grand Lake itself, that's the- 
CK.  Ok.
JW.  Yeah, that's the beach house, and the clubhouse, and the other, I can't remember what it's called.  But, uh, so we're at the, uh . . . clubhouse, I think.  
CK.  Club house.   Ok. 
JW.  But it's . . . yeah.
 CK.  Is it open to the public?  
JW.  Yeah.
CK.  Anybody can come?
JW.  Right, we do it, you know, from um . . . Memorial Day through Labor Day.
CK.  Mm hm.
JW.  Every Thursday night from 7:30 and we play until the bugs get too bad or it gets too dark and we can't see anymore.  Uh, and uh, a lot of times Dave and I play, and a lot - as I said other people come, we've had people, some really good people that've come and brought their guitars and played, you know, along with us, and uh we've had uh, people play keyboard, we have - Dave's son plays keyboard, so we have a battery-operated uh, keyboard that he plays and his sons play, of course, Connor is in Bobbing for Piranhas, and uh, excellent musician, just fabulous, he comes and plays a lot n' a lot of his own music, and uh, his uh, younger son, uh . . . um there's Connor and Rory and . . hmm, I always forget the third one, that's how it is with three kids.  Uh, but, so he plays keyboard and sings, and you know, it's really - really kind of a neat thing.  And, uh, sometimes there's seven or eight, ten people there, and sometimes it's just Dave and I, and one time I went, and Dave was working, and uh, I was the only one there!  And, uh, you know, I stayed there and I - I played for two and a half hours, and uh, and just had a blast all by myself.  I played for the guy that was cleaning the toilets, and then uh, he left, and then I stayed until it got dark. I came home, my wife says, "Well, why didn't you come home?"  
I said, "If I came home, I wouldn't have played at all!"
CK.  Yeah.  
JW.  You know, I mean it was the most freeing experience, 'cause there was no, absolutely no stress, I had my guitar strapped to my . . . uh, to myself, and I just walked around sometimes, and I played, and I played without music because, you know, I didn't need it, you know, I could, I could play everything I knew from memory.  So, uuuh, so that's a lot of fun.  We have done that, and then . . .
CK.  Now, is it on the beach, outside?
JW.  Mm hm, yeah.  
CK.  Ok.  Campfire and . . .
CK.  Ok.  
JW.  Yeah, yeah, Dave's got a little portable, uh, uh, thing that we build a little fire on, and people sit around it and
CK.  That sounds great!
JW.  Oh, it's fabulous.  It's just the most fun.  I - I love it, and I look forward to it, and it's nice that I have more time to do be able to it, you know, now than I've had in the past, and a lot of times it's hard, Dave and I, you know, both physicians, somebody's on call, it seems like, or somebody's working and, you know, but uh, you know I usually try to get out there as much as possible.  It's a lot of fun, even though, as I say, there's not very many people that come, but you know we probably don't advertise it very well, either, you know, so we've tried to get - get more people involved and it seems like there's - there's more people and the people that come, we've had people come from as far away as Alaska, you know I mean they were here visiting somebody . . .  
CK.  It's a word of mouth-
JW.  Yeah.  
CK.  At this point, right?
JW.  Right.  Right.  Uh, so it's not nearly as, as well known as Stone Circle, but uh, but it's, uh, it's our version.  And of course, we do it on Thursday, because you know I want to have the weekends to be able to, I go over to the other side of the state, I have a place on Torch Lake and, uh, you know I, I uh, spend a lot of time sitting out on my deck or sitting out by the lake playing outside, and I just absolutely love it.  Now I've played a couple of weddings, uh, I played at two weddings, I've got another wedding I'm playing at for people I work with, that wanted me to play.  I always tell them, you know, I'm not a professional musician, you know, you have to take me warts and all.  (Laughs) But, you know, it's worked out - worked out really well, it's uh, a little more stressful 'cause  it's just me uh, uh . . . playing in a, you know, kind of little bit more uh-
CK.  Focus on you, right?
JW.  Focus, yeah, right, even though I'm just kind of there to provide music for people to, uh, uh, when they're coming in, and when they're leaving, you know as they're getting seated - and then, you know, they always seem to want Pachelbel, you know, for - for the uh, when they're coming down the aisle, and that's - that's hard for me to play, you know?  (Laughs)  I do my best - I have a simplified version that I play, but uh . . .  
CK.  So, if Guitar Summit was your first, um . . . performance in front of an audience - was, did it take long for you to reach a point where you were comfortable with that?
JW.  Just, you know, when we got out there, I mean everybody was so supportive, you know, Greg Altman, you know, he was involved in that and, did most of the work with that, and Greg Adamus, and you know, they were just, you know, they knew I was a newbie, and you know, they were very supportive about, you know, what - what we were doing, and uh, uh we had to play or . . . that wasn't the first one, that was one of the other ones, but they wanted us to, uh play for uh, WBKB had a little news thing, and, and they interviewed Dave and I and then we played one of our - one of our tunes, you know, that they then played on, you know, on the uh, on the television news you know, as advertisement for the summit, and that - that was probably even more stressful because, of course we couldn't have our music, you know, so we were doing it from memory, and as soon as you don't have your music, you kind of forget everything, you know.  I uh, always find when I'm - I can play things, I can play for hours, you know, in my room, un- you know, flawlessly, but as soon as I get in front of somebody I - I forget, you know, I get nervous still, so, um but uh . . .  
CK.  So tell me about you, your,
JW.  (electronic blip of phone) Sorry.
CK.  That's ok.
JW.  Turn this off.
CK.  Your arrangements with um, Dr. Larkin, your - how you two work together - were your, were your styles similar to begin with?
JW.  We had similar interests, yeah, and uh, you know the music that, that I liked and had grown up with, you know, he liked and he likes and is good at doing harmonies, so Simon and Garfunkel works well for us, and then-
CK.  Mm hm.
JW.  Uh, we do a lot of that, and it's mainly, you know, like we always tell people we're - we're playing all the tunes and songs that we love and you know, so that's - you know, that's - that's what you get, you know, is what we know and what we love and - and you know we're always coming up with - with uh, new songs, you know, we'll hear things, and uh, you know just the other day I was watching the Today Show, and they had Jeff Daniels on-
CK.  Mm hm.
JW.  -who's an actor in plays, and in fact I think he's played here at, uh, in Alpena one time - or I saw him in Traverse City, I can't remember where, but at any rate, he - he plays guitar and writes songs, and he had a song that he, uh, had written for his son . . . uh, when he was very little, he said he was watching him in the crib, he said the song just kinda came to me, and uh, they played a little bit of it on the news and then he had played with Ben - uh, on a tour, they were touring, his son is a musician, so they played this song together and uh, and you know, at the end, you know, he uh, he hugged him and said you know, this - this was the best ever, you know, and that was just very powerful to me, being as I have sons, and Dave has sons.  And uh, actually we played with our sons on the Guitar Summit - one of the Summits, and my son came up from Detroit and we played a song, and uh, Dave and his son played, and then we all played together.  But, you know, I heard that song and I just really liked it, it really spoke to me.  
CK.  Mm hm.
JW.  You know it, uh, you know, one of the uh, lyrics - I mean, lyrics are just incredible sometimes, you wonder how they come up with things, but his son is - is talking to the father, hey Dad, hey Dad, you know, am I taller than I was yesterday? And he replies, Son, you're not - you ain't no bigger, but you're a little bit older, a little closer to being farther away.
CK.  Oh, wow . . . Mm.
JW.  So I really - you know, it obviously gets to me.  
CK.  Mm hm.  Mm hm.
JW.   Uh, but uh, you know I heard that, and I said, Dave and I - we have to do this song.  So, you know, it's only available on YouTube, you know - it's not, he isn't hasn't published it, so I got the YouTube video and listened to it, and wrote down all the lyrics, and then I was able to download the song into a program I have on my iPad which deciphers the song and then gives you the chords.
CK.  Oh!
JW.  You know, so and you can get things from YouTube on that, which is nice, 'cause it gives me a starting place, you know.  A lot of times you can just listen to it and try and figure it out - and you know, I can watch the YouTube video and see that he's playing a D chord - ok I know it's in the key of D, so, you know, it's just a very time-consuming process, so, aah, you know, we come up with songs that way and I wrote it out and got all the - the things and gave it to Dave, and he, uh, looked at the video, said yeah, we gotta do this song.  So, you know, some of those songs are the way we get them and uh, and frequently I - I listen to the radio and I'll hear a song, and I've got a pad and paper next to me.
CK.  Uh huh.
JW.  In, in my cars, and - 'cause I can't remember - and I'll quickly write down who it is and try and get the - and now, with the, you know, on the satellite radio, it actually gives you the 
CK.  It's all laid out for you, yes.
JW.  It's all written out there, so you can write it down.  Then I come home, I go to iTunes, I look up the song, I download the song, and then I put it on my iPad, then I've got two programs, one that'll slow down the music so that you can stop it and just play little snippets of the song and go over and over again to try and figure it out and then I've got the other program that kinda gives me the chords so I can, you know, get the chords and, and uh, you know, have the - have the song - and then you can go online and get the lyrics a lot of times, so you can just download the lyrics and then, you know, add the chords, and it's just amazing-
CK.  It is amazing.
JW.  - the technology, you know, I have several iterations of, of devices to do that - you know, I started, uh, with a variable speed tape recorder, because on a tape, as it goes into the tape, the pitch changes because the speed of the tape changes a little bit. 
CK.  Mm hm.
JW.  You know, as you're beginning or the end, so you have to have a variable speed to try and, you know, match the sound to what it is.  And, uh, you know I think the first song I ever did was, you know, "City of New Orleans" and that's one that Dave and I do all the time - we always start with that 'cause it's our favorite, and we just get comfortable, you know, doing that.  But, you know, I had spent, you know, hours - you know, I heard that was, was done by a, a Dr. Goodheart - you ever heard - heard of him?  He's a chiropractor but he uh, uh, uh does music and he's over on the other side of the state and does - plays a lot of festivals and I had seen him and they, they played that song and it just - I really liked it.  And that was one of the first songs that I kind of picked up and wrote down and figured out and uh, and played.  But, you know, from that, then I've gotten, you know, digital recorders, and I've got, you know, other things that I can kind of play - play my stuff into so I can, you know, kinda figure out, 'cause now I'm trying to figure out - a lot of times the chords are one thing, but it's what goes in between the chords which is where the interesting stuff and the most difficult to do, you know, and uh, so it, uh, you know, now that technology is so much better, it's just a lot of fun, and you know I try home recording, and you know, I've got, you know, amplifiers and all that kind of stuff. 
CK.  You can get kind of innovative, 
JW.  Oh, yeah.  
CK.  I mean, there's so much - so much
JW.  There is, and it's
CK.  That, yes - it's wonderful.
JW.  You know, the problem has always been time.  You know, and I'll have, fifteen minutes, or twenty minutes or half an hour, you know, so I tend to play what I know, because I can do that, you know, and, and, and have a sense of accomplishment - sometimes these other things take hours and hours, to, you know, to do, to to get it, to get it down.  I've got this song that I'm working on, and that song, and this song, and I've got one and - no!  I heard one today you know, and I want to do that!  And uh, so it's, uh, it's been a lot of fun.  You know, I heard Garth Brooks play a song, uh, it's called "Mom", uh and I heard him on Today Show again, you know.  And he was there, and he said, "You know, I have a hard time playing this song, I rarely get through it without breakin' up", and he said "now I didn't write this song, but I should have done this song years ago" - because he lost his Mom, uh, I think to breast cancer, but, uh, uum . . . it was just an incredibly powerful song, you know, and I just - I just loved it.  And uh, you know again, did the same thing and then uh, you know, played it at my Mom's memorial, and, you know, it was - I had the same problem that he did.  I said, you know, Garth Brooks can hardly get through this song without breaking up, so I don't feel so bad.  
CK.  Yeah.  Mm hm.
JW.  But, uh, it's a really cool song, and it's uh, just uh - you know, like I say, I just - I run into these things, you know I never know where I'm gonna hear the next song that I really like and uh, and uh, wanna make my own.  
CK.  It is interesting, sometimes the timeliness of those things and when they show up in your life is sort of, uh . . . fascinating.  
JW.  It is.  
CK.  Yup.
JW.  It really is. 
CK.  When you least expect it, something that comes along and it just fits.  Fits what you need right then.  
JW.  Right.  
CK.  Yeah.  Yeah.  Do you and Dave get together and practice?
JW.  Not as much as we'd like to, we uh, of course he's busy - he's got three kids that are younger than, than mine - mine are all gone.  But uh, he uh, uh, when we've got something that we're gonna, uh, play for, like this May, we're playing for the "Docs That Rock" thing, we do that all the time at the, it's a fundraiser for uh, for uh, the uh Friends Together, uh at the Fresh Palate.  They've done that uh, two years now, and they always want us to play.  Which is nice, we enjoy playing there, but then we'll get together and uh, and uh, and work on our stuff, but, you know, we haven't had as much time to uh, to work on new things - you know, we keep having these songs that we'd like to, we'd like to do, and then we don't have time to work on 'em, we kind of fall back on the stuff we always do, but people still seem to like it, so (laughs) - you know, it's the tried and true stuff.
CK.  That's what matters.  Yup, yup.  Do you ever play outside of Alpena - or is it mostly local?
JW.  Mostly local, yeah.
CK.  Uh huh.  I saw that you play, um, at least this past year, you did - for the Thunder Bay Folk Society?  
JW.  Right.
CK.  The Folk Festival?
JW.  Right, I played there the first time last year - they've asked us to play again this year.  That was a lot of fun.  Uh, I think again we played again our tried and true stuff, but uh, everybody seemed like they, they enjoyed it and 
CK.  How do you decide what you're going to play?  I mean, do you actually do a list?
JW.  Oh, yeah, 
CK.  Or is it kind of impromptu?
JW.  No, we do a list, and uh, and then we, like I say, we have uh, certain ones that we've played all -all the time and then uh, we have some new ones that, we've, you know, like the Everly Brothers song that we play, and we've played, uh, uuh, one Frank Sinatra song and uh, uuh, so it, uh, you know, every now and then we come up with things, and he'll give me the music, and I send him music, and then we, uh, work on it and try to - try to get it . . . You know, it's hard for us because, you know like I say,  we don't have much time-
CK.  Time, yeah.
JW.  -but, uh to uh really work on it, but uh, usually we'll get together you know, before we have a gig that we're gonna be playing, we, uh, get together frantically several times in the, in the week before, and we're gonna do it even though we've known about it for months, you know but we somehow we never get around to getting it done.  Dave's been really busy, the ER's been terrible, I know they're short-staffed, and we've been - I've been short-staffed my whole career here in, uh, in radiology, and uh, so it's time has been an issue, so it's, uh, when we get together for-
CK.  When you can do it-
JW.  Music, we - we take the opportunity and - and just really, really enjoy.  That's why we like the seanachie, 'cause it, and we're playing once a week - you know, every week we get together and,
CK.  Mm hm.
JW.  You know, he plays new things he's been workin' on, I play new things that I'm workin' on, and we do stuff together, uh . . . and get to listen to other people, too, so that's - that's a lot of fun.
CK.  That sounds great.  I hope I'm around to, uh, come to one of those.
JW.  Oh, definitely!  Gosh, we'd love to have ya.  You know where, it's right up on the very north end of Grand Lake, you know, if you take 23 North to I think it's 638, and it goes to the Presque Isle Lighthouse. 
CK.  Right, right. 
JW.  And then, just before you get - get to, it forks off to the Presque Isle Lighthouse, and then there's uh . . . I think it's . . . Pine, I think it is, the road that comes in, and then it's just down, and there's a sign that says "The Clubhouse" and it's McCreary Road I think that it's on, and uh, uh parking there, and like I say, we're one of us is there or both of us, and yeah, it's a lot of fun.  And like I said, people can participate n' - or not participate, depending, they just have to bring their own chair, if you want a beverage, you bring that, but uh . . .
Creators
Cindy Kus, Interviewer
Jim Weeks
, Interviewee
Media Type
Audio
Image
Text
Item Type
Interviews
Description
Jim Weeks, guitarist and radiologist, makes music with fellow doctor, Dave Larkin, in a band called House Call. They've performed locally at the Guitar Summit, the Thunder Bay Folk Festival and in the summer, you can find them on the shore of Grand Lake keeping the seanachie tradition alive.
In this interview, Jim shares his journey through music in life, starting with piano lessons at an early age to playing guitar for his father in a nursing home.
Place of Publication
Alpena County George N. Fletcher Library
Date of Original
Winter 2016
Playing Time
103.26
Subject(s)
Folk music
Guitars
pop music
seanachie
Personal Name(s)
Larkin,Dave ; Rowland,Dr. ; Zweig,Steve ; Wooten,Terry ; Larkin,Connor ; Daniels, Jeff ; Daniels,Ben ; Goodheart, Dr.
Corporate Name(s)
House Call ; Kalamazoo College ; University of Michigan ; Guitar Summit ; Stone Circle ; Presque Isle Harbor Association ; Bobbing for Piranhas ; Doc That Rock ; Thunder Bay Folk Society ; Elderly Instruments
Collection
Musicians of Northeast Michigan
Language of Item
English
Geographic Coverage
Kalamazoo

Michigan, United States

Latitude: 42.29171 Longitude: -85.58723
Copyright Statement
Protected by copyright: Uses other than research or private study require the permission of the rightsholder(s). Responsibility for obtaining permissions and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Copyright Date