[Harp-L] Jason Ricci in San Francisco

["Robert Gaustad" <robertgaustad@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, I just spent a fantastic evening in San Franciso listening to Jason
Ricci & New Blood and I can't say much more than FREAKIN' AWESOME!!  This
dude just pours his heart and soul into every note and I've never heard
anything like it.  I'm a veteran of the 60's and I spent years seeing the
best musicians and the best bands around.  I'm pretty jaded and while I
certainly enjoy a number of players these days, I'm rarely blown away as I
was tonight.

When I find myself shaking my head in wonder, I know I'm blown away.  Not
only is Jason fantastic, his whole band is tight and great to listen to.
His guitar player, Shawn Starsky, also blew me away tonight.  He's
incredible.  Both the drummer, Steve Johnson, and the new bass
player...well, I'm a bit deaf, and I'm more deaf after this show, so I
couldn't quite hear his name...and I can't find it on his site, but it
sounded like Jason was calling him Buck Wheat.  Hey, that's all I could
hear.  At any rate, they were both excellent.

Also,the most excellent Michael Peloquin sat in with the band for most of
the second set and was, as usual, fantastic.  He didn't play any harp but
stuck to the sax instead.  I just love the way he plays both the sax and the
harp.

I spent an enjoyable evening with another harp-ler, Bill Hines, who came in
from Pennsylvania.  He recorded the show so it should be available soon.

So, tonight, we had at least four members of harp-l together in one of the
most beautiful cities in the world, enjoying some fine music - Jason Ricci,
Michael Peloquin, Bill Hines, and Robert Gaustad.  Two of them played, one
of them recorded, and the last one sat on his fat butt enjoying the show.

I could be the most eloquent writer in the world (which I'm most certainly
not) and I still could never do Jason Ricci's show any justice at all.  The
guy has tons of talent, has obviously practiced for a million hours, but
most importantly he's got soul and he just pours it into his harp playing.
Go see him!

Robert Gaustad