Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Neal.
Hi Jennifer, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Around twenty years ago while I lived in Florida I covered local music scenes for local newspapers and magazines. Music has always been a passion of mine and I would still write about music from time to time on my personal blog. Three years ago I moved back home to Michigan and specifically Traverse City and was amazed to see such an incredible live music scene here. I decided to start The Jam Files blog because I saw no one was really covering the scene much. I wanted to show my support for the musicians, to let people know about them (their stories, their starts, what was behind their music), and also to archive the scene. I thought it would be cool. I’m disabled and my health isn’t great. I have epilepsy and polycystic kidney disease which often prevents me from doing all I want to do, but listening to music, supporting local musicians, and showing up to as many perforomances as I can is something I am able to do when my health permits it. I’m having fun doing it, and I’m making so many friends as well.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My entire life has not been a smooth road at all. I have been ill most of my life and I was misdiagnosed for years after having fainting spells all through childhood. I didn’t receive my epillepsy diagnosis until I was 25 and it felt great to finally have an answer, but at the cost of having daily seizures at that time. There was a period for five years when I couldn’t write a thing after a particularly rough time struggling to manage my seizures. I used to have 20-30 seizures a day but thankfully things have gotten better. I still have seizures frequently. Sometimes it’s difficult to cover certain shows depending on how the lighting situation is. My seizures are triggered by not only flashing lights and certain sounds, but also weather and barometric changes. As you can imagine this sometimes puts a damper on going to a show or being able to film the musicians, etc. The Traverse City music community is great though. I have people who look out for me at shows and if lights are able to be adjusted for me, many of the local musicians make that accomadation for me and I’m so thankful for that.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a writer. I’ve always been a writer. I mostly write poetry but have also had short stories published and I’ve been blogging for years. I began the music journalism work in my early twenties and really loved that. I guess I’m known mostly around town for The Jam Files, but in certain circles, I’m known as an award winning poet as I’ve won a few local contests since I’ve been here. I’m most proud of how far I’ve come as a writer and as a person. I used to be very shy and always afraid my epilepsy would be a nuisance to everyone so I isolated a lot. It took many years but I decided to get back out there again and now I’m reading poetry in front of crowds of people am no longer afraid to walk up to a musican and tell them how much I enjoy their music and also to ask them if they’d like to be interviewed for the blog sometime. I hope what sets me apart is how much I’m interested in telling these musicians’ stories. Their success is great of course, but I want people to know them as people. To connect with their music and who they are. I also want readers of the blog to be encouraged to share what music means to them, and tell their stories about bands they’ve seen, songs they love, etc. Music is such a connecting element. I like people coming together even if they have different musical preferences or tastes. There’s something for everyone out there music-wise. I like to hear people talk about how passionate they are about things, and musicians are definitely passionate about what they’re doing, especially the ones here in the Northern MI area. As far as what I do with The Jam Files, I just show up to where I know people are playing, enjoy the show, and talk to them afterwards. I try to get pictures and video when I can and I’m not very good at this, but I make an effort. I do my best to promote shows through the blog and through the Instagram page. I’ll share reels of the bands playing and try to keep up with where all the live music in town is by sharing them to the Instagram stories. It’s not easy. There’s so much going on and all the time and I miss days or posts to share, but I’m glad to share what I can. If one person checks out a band/artist/or show because they saw it on the Instagram stories, then good. I consider that alone to be worth it.
How do you think about luck?
Well, I definitely make the most out of any situation, be it bad or good. I kinda don’t really believe in anything being particularly bad or good. It all just is what it is. I’ve been in places I never imagined I’d be. I’ve hung out with all kinds of people. Maybe it was luck that brought me to Traverse City. Maybe it was luck to win those poetry contests. I don’t really know. One time it might have been luck to randomly be approached at Cherry Fest while The Accidentals were playing and being handed backstage meet and greet passes for no particular reason. Maybe it was luck at that one Timebombs show where Chad, the lead singer, threw an egg shaker from the stage and it landed in my ginger ale and my friend was close enough to save my tote bag from getting soaked while I was filming the band’s reaction to that moment from a different perspective and to see how that one moment was viewed from various perspectives and it’s a memory I happened to capture. It’s those moments when you’re seeing a band play that really stand out. When there’s some kind of surprise or super cool moment that happens and I happen to be there to witness it and write about it or get it on film to share with everyone and to give the musicians something to look back on. So yeah, I guess I feel pretty lucky. I’m alive. That’s lucky enough considering my health situation.
Pricing:
- No. The blog is free to read and I don’t make any money off of it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thejamfiles.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejamfiles/
