[Harp-L] PFOS Skokie

[Mick Zaklan <mzaklan@xxxxxxxxx>]

   I caught the Skokie show.  Joe Filisko hosted the event, despite having
a gig later that night.  I'm not sure he managed to see much of the film
after introducing it.  Other than Ron Sorin and myself, I suspect the rest
of the audience was from Joe's Old Town School of Folk Music classes.
Every time Joe showed up onscreen, there was cheering.  And Joe was
onscreen quite a bit.
   Considering the task of encapsulating roughly 150 years of harmonica
history into 82 minutes along with a slew of famous players, paying respect
to various genres, and trying not to leave anyone
feeling slighted........this was a heroic effort and a gift to our
community (much like Kim Field's book, "Harmonicas, Harps, and Heavy
Breathers" from 20 years ago).  I could nitpick stuff, but I thought the
editing here was brilliant.  A lot of ground was covered.
   There was so much going on so quickly that I think that repeated
viewings would probably yield something new each time.  For me, it was
emotional to see folks from past SPAH conventions who have since departed
captured in this film for posterity.  People like Gary Primich, Michael
Polesky, Chris Michalek and Charlie Leighton.  Loved the beginning; a
deadpan Jerry Portnoy describing the experience of being asked what he does
for a living.  I'm not necessarily a John Popper fan, but it was nice to
see a guy who at times has seemed detached or alienated from our community
happily contributing here.  Listening to Magic Dick discussing tone, I
immediately felt a sadness that this guy somehow has never been to SPAH.
Ditto with Rod Piazza, who started out as a Little Walter clone and has
clearly moved on to something uniquely his own.  Seemed like everybody who
spoke got in a 10 or 20 second snippet of playing and I probably dug Rod's
the most.  Ron Sorin told me afterwards that he particularly loved the Rice
Miller footage and wanted to find the rest of it.
   First time through, I didn't see any major errors.  Just minor
quibbles.  P.T. Gazelle was identified as a blues player and I think jazz
player would be more accurate.  I think Mark Hummel was identified as a
harmonica historian and promoter.  While he does those things, I
primarily think of him as a superb blues musician.  Although I might have
blinked and missed it, I don't remember Irish music being represented.  And
a bunch of worthy European players were missing.
   But to me, this is a snapshot of the harmonica in this particular time
period.  I'm grateful for it and found it uplifting, much like its
predecessor from the 70's, "Playing the Thing," and I hope we don't have to
wait 30 years for another film.  I plan to buy to buy the DVD when it
comes out.  Congratulations to the filmmakers on a job really done well.

Mick Zaklan