A History of PLOJ:
The Pot Luck Open Jam was initially created
by Syl and Sara Smith and ilyAIMY's rob hinkal in 1999. They
had long been looking for an excuse (and a location) to host large
music gatherings, and with the Smith's purchase of a large home in
Edgewater, MD, PLOJ began to germinate.
The Edgewater house was more than 200 years old, the oldest still-standing structure on the Mayo Penninsula. It was used for all sorts of nefarious purposes - originally a barn, later a hotel, and eventually falling into disrepair under the previous owner. The sheer size of its main room made it perfect for Gatherings, and when rob hinkal moved into the house in fall 1998, the plans to throw a big New Year's celebration centred around music.
rob, with a penchant for unwieldy acronyms, dubbed the thing PLOJ and after the success of the first one, it quickly became tradition. Every other month, a new Pot Luck drew larger and larger numbers to the Smith house. PLOJ stayed in its birthplace of Edgewater for two years before going nomadic, drawing in new people and new places.
The PLOJ has varied in size from tiny events with just ten or so people, to massive fiestas with upwards of fifty performers and listeners. It has wandered from Northern Virginia to Eastern Maryland but generally stays centred around the Washington DC metropolitan area though friends and fans have been inspired to create their own PLOJes out and across the country. I know they've sprung up in Virginia, Colorado and Connecticut.
In its latest incarnation, rob hinkal and Heather Lloyd of ilyAIMY now head up the organization and act as hosts for the PLOJ. Our 6th Anniversary - PLOJ XXXI was held at College Perk on New Year's Day, 2005 - and introduced two PLOJ firsts - a massive 90's Gen X singalong and a theramin. Every PLOJ is different. Though the PLOJ has become a little more infrequent as touring has taken its toll on ilyAIMY's schedule, it has just found a new home with a friend in Takoma Park, MD.
