Red Light Jams

This chapter considers the transformative power of leisure music making as leisure by examining the lasting impact a series of adolescent jam sessions had on the lives of two participants. Those experiences, which the participants have affectionately dubbed “the Red Light Jams,” offered a formative, potent mix of refuge, catharsis, and transformation of their individual identities, of their friendship, and of their burgeoning musicianship. The chapter draws on autoethnography, structured reminiscence, and narrative reporting to describe those experiences of making rock music. Although the participants lead separate adult lives, they often share memories of those sessions. The author analyzes their recollections through a variety of lenses, including the concept of intentionality, Foucault’s notion of crisis heterotopias, and Lukács’s understanding of artistic activity as catharsis.