Brad Spurgeon's Blog

Last night’s post from India warned: I thought I was headed for salvation in my hunt for open mics and jam sessions, and especially in one aspect of my challenge therein this year. Thanks to the Turquoise Cottage in Gurgaon, a city 30 kilometers south of New Delhi, and what feels like a suburb of the capital city, it was the whole deal. Whereas one week ago I played at the Turquoise Cottage in Delhi in a funky cool old neighborhood, this time it was in the other Turquoise Cottage located in a modern building on an ultra-modern strip of this city, full of shopping malls, McDonald’s, sports stores, etc.

But once inside Turquoise Cottage, it was the same vibe as the other. It is a recipe that has been going for 15 years now, and obviously worked so well that it expanded from the one in Delhi to the one in Gurgaon. This time there was no 16-piece folk ensemble, and there was, in fact, no Indian traditional music whatsoever. But there was a freewheeling jam and open mic, and I took advantage of both aspects.

I enjoyed immensely some of the other bands, singers and the Jimi clone guitarist. In fact, I liked the latter so much that I asked that he and his band stay up on stage when I played. We scraped through the first song – Mad World -, but got moving on the second – Wicked Game. Then I sang a few songs solo, just me and my guitar. Then I had a different drummer come up and we did a couple more, and then another drummer came up and we did a couple more again.

It was a great way to digest the dish of pasta and chicken…and that is not the right description for that oriental dish of whatever it was – but it was great.

The Turquoise Cottage is really worth going to if you are in Delhi – even taking the metro out to the one in Gurgaon, which is what I did. The feel is a little bit “Hard Rock Cafe,” with the walls covered with music memorabilia, etc. But the spirit is what the Hard Rock Cafe should be but is not, not even near.

So I got to do my jamming with local musicians – because there were no western musicians there last night, as there had been at the previous week’s jam session. So it’s Tuesday’s that the so-called “Rabbit Sessions” take place in Gurgaon, and Wednesdays in Delhi….