Re: [Harp-L] re: critial mistakes

[Rick Dempster <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm ashamed to say I haven't got Ray's book, though I do have a vinyl copy of the reissued recordings his father-in-law Percy Spouse, made in the twenties & thirties. Ray issued that one back in 82, I think, before 'Band in a waistcoat pocket 'came out. I really must track down a copy and read it. Yes, the 'mouth organ' was huge in Oz back before WWII. When I worked in the Victorian Railways goods yards back in the 70s, there were a half a dozen players on the two 'roads' I worked, and that was just a corner of the whole yard. The youngest would have been fifty. Their watermark of whether you could play was 'Irish Washerwoman'. I could, so I was 'OK'! They marvelled at the note bending, which was entirely new to them. Larry Adler was God, though none of them played chromatic, as far as I knew. They all played with the tongue out the left side of the mouth, 'vamping' the chords. In addition to that, there were two players of the same generation in the street where I grew up; a school mates mother played, as did my (now deceased) mother-in-law.
The only other craze which came near it was for Hawaiian steel guitar, which, coincidentally, I play as well.
Don't know how big harp is here now, Dave, but it's interesting to read that you get so many orders from here. Wonder if it means anything?

>>> David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 7/06/2012 12:44 >>>
IT is incredible they've been around that long. Incredible. The Australian harmonica scene must be so awesome - I have always gotten more harmonica orders from Australia than any other country - besides the U.S. - even though there's only 20 million of y'all. I think really the harmonica explosion in Australia in the 1920s - 1930s was the biggest harmonica craze in the history of the Universe - I get that impression reading Ray Grieve's book "Harmonica in a Waistcoat Pocket" about the harmonica in Australia. I'll have to skim over the book again and see if there is a mention of them. 

David

David Payne
www.elkriverharmonicas.com 


Elk River Harmonicas Forum now available via Iphone app, www.elkriverharmonicas.com/forum 


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From: Rick Dempster <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; Harp L Harp L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Wednesday, June 6, 2012 9:37 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] re: critial mistakes


We have a harmonica club here in Melbourne, Australia. A different affair to club whose recording you've posted here Dave, but the social aspects of music performed in the community like this is so often overlooked.
All anyone cares about these days is their wretched careers. I wonder if there is still anything like this mob in the US, or the UK (more likely perhaps) Europe or wherever..??
Take a look at this, and the attached pictures: http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2008/12/19/2451033.htm  The members built the clubhouse with their own hands back in '33. The demographic 
of the area has changed a lot in the last twenty years; it was an old docklands industrial area, is across the river mouth from the Melbourne CBD and has a 'village' feel to it. A lot of musicians moved there in the 90s, but that doesn't necessarily mean good things for the club. I'd love to see a resurgence of interest in the club; the harmonica needs a boost like the ukulele has had in recent years. Here's hoping!
RD

>>> David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 7/06/2012 4:38 >>>
I think the critical harmonica mistake is to assume that the recording industry is any indication of the music that is going on in this country. When the harmonica first started to become popular, there was no recording industry. The health of our instrument depends on our boots on the ground. Letting people hear you. Here's on example from last night, the Huntington West Virginia harmonica club. The people who were at the Gino's pub to listen absolutely loved it. This is the kind of thing they did in the 1920s to make it popular and the kind of thing we can do now:
http://hhcwv.com/mp3/gp20120605.mp3 


David Payne
www.elkriverharmonicas.com 


Elk River Harmonicas Forum now available via Iphone app, www.elkriverharmonicas.com/forum 


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