[Harp-L] Re: Garden St. Harp Fest


HI Mark,
No that wasn't me. It was Bill Price running the  repair seminar.
I was giving a private class to one of my regular customers who made
arrangements with me in advance.

I was looking for you since I knew you were going to be there but it seemed rude to
look close at everyone's name badge. Maybe next year.

Ok onto Garden St.

Not sure where to start first so I'll start with the first thought.

For those of us that live in the Mid-Atlantic and New England states this IS our festival.

While all harmonica festivals depend and encourage support outside their home region it's always nice to know
a majority of those they attract are within their own area supporting the home team.

Garden St. is a morning drive most of us in parts of PA. MD,DE,NJ, NY, CT. RI, NH and MA. It was a 3 1/2 hour drive for me.
It's in our backyard for us to enjoy, and participate, and still young enough for us to create it's character.
We should take advantage of the open minded decision making of the current board and it's small budget. Val does ask and
seek input. Val and Phil are great people to know. Move over Santa Buzz, I have some new best friends.lol. They respect the old school and nurture the new school
of harmonica players. Right from the start the idea of having a positive and all inclusive club was their goal in bringing to life a club that died
possibly from it's own policies in the past.

There was plenty for diatonic players to experience. Just ask Jay Gaunt. The blues jams were light but the attendance of blues guitarists was
light as well. If you look at the other festivals there are probably only 2 or 3 guitarists available for the entire fest. HOOT may be an exception being a guitar town. You can't expect those guys to be at every festival so we need to find our backing musicians. Given this is only year 2 for GSHF I'm not worried.
I may be able to get one of my guitarist to come for free next year to help out so we don't have to wait until midnight to jam. He is very good with acoustic and old school blues as well as some near blues standards without leaving you in the dust with his techniques. He is also a great singer. Brush up on playing in major and minor keys though.:)

Someone commented to me at the festival about the limited number of offerings for blues players but I commented back that a festival is only what you are willing to take from it. It gives first.
Being at a festival is like being at a dinner feast. If you keep passing the courses and don't put anything on your plate it's your fault that you go home starving, not your host. The blues chord progression is at the root of all American music so someone shouldn't have much trouble playing outside the country blues genre in order to get some play time in. Btw, by the end of the festival I saw the guy smiling because he made some new friends who welcomed him into their circle of players. His took my advice to take the offerings.

For jazz players it was heaven. Moving the banquet from the long narrow room to the big banquet room really paid off in listening enjoyment. The peaks of Saturday nights performances for me was when
Ron Kalina and Rob both sang on their sets giving us a little break in what tends to be an almost instrumental show. It was nice to hear the harmonica as the fill instrument. The other peak for me was when
Hendrik Meurkens invited, Ron, Enrico and Rob to the stage to perform with him.

Ok, I'll save some space for others to tell their stories.

Oh, I almost forgot. When we checked out I found out both front desk clerks bought harmonicas. He bought one for himself plus Winslow's book and she bought 4 for her kids.
I told him he may get a chance to meet Winslow at one of the fests some day.

Play on,
Mike
www.harmonicarepair.com

On Nov 22, 2010, at 7:11 AM, harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Message: 2
Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2010 17:19:14 -0500 (EST)
From: Cahebay@xxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Garden St.
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
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Michael;
Were you running the Harmonica Repair seminar?
i missed it as could not find it on Saturday, Did see
you at Banquet but forgot to ask about it.
Regards
Mark







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