RE: [Harp-L] Jacksonville, Austin & Orlando--Hippest Towns????

["Bill Hines" <billhines4@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Merx just likes hanging out with that mouse and duck when he's in Orlando,
so that's fun for him. They dance funny when he plays his harp.

Just kidding, Merx is one of our local harp nerds in the Harrisburg, PA area
and a pretty good player. I think that for a small burg, we have a lot of
great talent, excellent blues bands, some real supportive clubs, and a great
blues society with probably the best weekly jam I've been to (and I've been
to them all over the country). Not sure what the guys get paid, maybe Mike
Easton will give some perspective since he's one of ours and in one of the
top blues bands.

So Sam B, come east young man, and Jimmy Day - come on west sucka! 

Bill Hines
Hershey, PA

-----Original Message-----
From: harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Tom Ellis
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 10:18 PM
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Harp-L] Jacksonville, Austin & Orlando--Hippest Towns????

I'd like to know where John Merx gets his experiences from when it comes to
Orlando and Jacksonville.  I'll let Larry "Iceman" E. speak for Orlando, but
I grew up in Jacksonville Beach and am back in the Jacksonville area 3-4
times each year.  If you're into reggae, play in a GenX band, or dig classic
rock, then this might be your place.  But of the 50+ live music venues in
Jacksonville, St. Augustine and the area's beach communities you can count
the blues clubs on two fingers and even they aren't consistent. I can't
imagine working as a harp player there full time unless someone played a lot
of country.

About Austin, I'll just quote Gary Primich when I last spoke to him about
the state of the blues there.  "It's so bad that I can't get a gig unless I
take the door."  Austin, which has long had a blues reputation that far
outpaced the reality of music there is about dead as a blues town.

Dallas, my hometown now, is different.  We seem to be having a bit of a
resurgence after three years of slow blues death.  It isn't the scene it was
in 1996, when there were 20 blues clubs between Dallas and Ft. Worth, but
it's coming back, due in large part to the dedication and presence of Brian
"Hash Brown" Calway, the undisputed blues major domo in this neck of the
woods.  And he blows some very mean harp, besides wielding a big guitar
sound, singing, and fronting or backing multiple ensembles that just about
everyone has played with at one time or another.  Other cities should be so
lucky to have someone like Hash in their mix......TOM ELLIS/Tom's Mics
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