Thanks to Tom for getting a complete set of the 2013 Fan Jam DVDs to me.  I finished viewing them last night and want to commend Tom for putting together a great collection of videos of the event.  It all comes to a total of 7 full hours of Ventures music!

The email Tom sent out announcing that he had mailed the DVDs to those who ordered copies has a good description of the contents of the discs.  But for those who haven't ordered copies or haven't received them as yet, here's what you'll get:

DVD 1 - Opening remarks, The Pickniks

DVD 2 - The Pickniks continued, Tom Speaks & John Stapleton

DVD 3 - Miscellaneous jam performances, Ken Arnold & Bob Leo

DVD 4 - Kanad Ghose & Chris Monk

DVD 5 - Ken Arnold & Bob Leo continued, Bob Spalding acoustic set

DVD 6 - Byron Teitjen, The Pickniks w/ John Magee

DVD 7 - Steve Chestnut, Bob Spalding's auction, Wipe Out grand finale

Although the sound isn't as crisp as professionally done video, because of the acoustics of the hall and the distance from the bands to the camcorder, it's still quite clear and the music sounds good.  The video is nice and crisp, with good lighting and a steady tripod-mounted camera.  I did notice that there were occasional shutters in the video, but most likely that's something caused by the process of converting the video to DVD.  After a while, my mind just ignored it.  It was nice to see some faces that I recognized from the 2008 and 2009 visit to Epcot to see The Ventures.  Those included Tom, John Magee, Byron Tietjen, and maybe a couple others.  Of course, Bob Spalding's presence and active participation in the musical presentations makes it an even more memorable event.

Overall, I highly recommend this set of DVDs, especially if you were part of this year's Fan Jam or any of the previous ones.  I hope that someday soon I'll be able to attend one, but the distance from the islands and the high cost of airfare has made that impractical so far.

Arnold