John Sonnek

Rock singer who founded the Twin Cities All-Stars weekly jam, which reached its 100th jam with about 425 different jammers.

John Sonnek is a rock singer and the founder of the Twin Cities All-Stars, a weekly open jam with a house band. He came up with the idea in early 2023 and held the first jam at Ziggy's in July 2023. It started as Ziggy's All-Stars and was renamed because John felt it belonged to the whole music community. John joined his first band at 14 and sang in rock bands through high school and college. He later sang in the cover bands White Squirrel, from about 2004 to 2010, and Bootleg, for about 10 years.

On the Minnesota Music Note

The Minnesota Music Note - Ep 34 - 100 Jams Later: How John Sonnek Built Twin Cities All-Stars

5mo ago

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Fun facts from the interview

The first jam drew 16 jammers, and John sang almost half the songs himself.
By the 100th jam, about 425 different musicians had played, and about 90 different showcase bands had played 30-minute sets.
The jam runs on Wednesdays, and a Dog House Sunday jam drew 80 song requests and 75 musicians on its first night.
The jam has also run at the Ziggy's in Hudson, which became Max's Social House.
Many jammers who had never played on stage before went on to join bands.
John's first band was Sebastian Orange, and his first gig was at a roller rink in Maplewood.
His first records, bought with allowance money at Maplewood Mall, were Motley Crue's Shout at the Devil and Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast.
He broke his foot jumping off a speaker at the end of a Bootleg set at the State Fair.
He has filled in as a singer for Uncle Chunk.
The All-Stars website lets members sign in, sign up for songs faster and use message boards to find players for off-list songs.
He recommended his old band Bootleg as future guests.

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