Virginia Blues Fest

["Steven D. Levine" <drsoul@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I went to the Virginia Blues Festival in Charlottesville this weekend and 
heard several good harp players. John Hammond was one of the headliners 
the first evening (along with Jimmy Thackery) and he played a great set. 
He's one of the few players I've heard who can successfully play guitar 
and harp at the same time. Without hands on the harp he lacks some of the 
tone you can get from holding it but he makes up for it with his 
technique - he plays a lot of chords alternated with single notes and  he 
gets a really nice tone that way. He also sat in with Jimmy Thackery 
(with a Gibson Flying V!) and he sounded fine going through a vocal mic. 

I sat in with Corey Harris, a very fine delta blues guitarist/singer, that 
night. That was a lot of fun because I love those old acoustic tunes, but 
I had to share a mic with his guitar since there were only two. I almost 
brought my Astatic and Pignose with me but I didn't. I wish I had. 

The next day I wandered around the Charlottesville downtown mall area 
before the free workshop with John Cephas and Phil Wiggins. There were 
several street performers there and I sat in with a woman who played an 
old National and sang. Her name as Lisa (I forget her last name) and she 
was a lot of fun to play with. She's from New Orleans and is a friend of 
Corey Harris. I also sat in with an old country/blues guitarist who 
really loved my playing and wanted to form a band with me. He and his 
biker buddies were pretty drunk and having a good time. He was nice but 
didn't seem to reliable. I don't remember his name (I think it wa Bill). 
One of his friends later that day wanted me to get on stage with Rod 
Piazza because he thought I was a better player. (go figure!)

The Cephas and Wiggins workshop was basically John and Phil playing and 
demonstrating what they do. Just to be a smart ass :)  I asked Phil if he 
uses any overblows. He said "No, and that's all I'm gonna say about 
that." Then he laughed and said "Everything I just told you was a lie." 
(he explained cross harp and bending before that). And he talked briefly 
about what overblowing is and said that he doesn't do that. I talked to 
him later and he was very nice. He signed my harp case.

The Rod Piazza show (a free one!) was the highlight of the fest. Rod is 
one of my idols and it was the first time I saw him live. Great show. He 
also signed my harp case and he was very friendly (so was the rest of the 
band). He played some really nice chromatic (it looked like a Hohner 
specially made gold plated 64) on what I thought was "Night's End" but it 
turned out to be "Black Night." Lots of folks say that Rod is a lousy 
singer but he sang great that night. He even did one tune with no hapr - 
"Too Tired." (it was the encore). Doug Jay and Phil Wiggins were in the 
audience and I talked to Doug a little. He's back in the DC area and he's 
gigging (he'll be at Fleetwood's this month). He said that it was hard to 
get good paying gigs in California. 

Doug played at a blues jam that night which I honestly don't remember 
much of. :) The only song I remember was a Jimmy Rogers, I think it was 
"Money, Marbles and Chalk." Some of Rod Piazza's band and Koko Taylor's 
band (she was the headline that night but I didn't listen to her much - 
the acoustics sucked and there was no harp. I spent most of the Koko show 
outside drinking beer and trading licks, stories, amp, player and 
microphone talk with one of my new friends who plays harp and was working 
the door at the Koko show.) played that night.

Cephas and Wiggins did a show called "Bluestory" with story teller Jackie 
Torrence on the festival's final day. This show features traditional 
blues with stories and folk tales intertwined. The Stagger Lee story was 
great and Phil's playing was very tasty (it always is!). 

The final festival jam featured Linwood Taylor and his trio. He had a few 
local musicians sit in (mostly guitarists) and Phil Wiggins was the only 
well known harp player sitting in. He played straight through the pa and 
sounded really nice. 

Overall it was a great weekend and very inspiring - I went back to my 
hotel room most nights I was there and practiced and practiced! I missed 
Mississippi Tom and the Mudcats, which features a player who won the 
Hohner contest two years in a row (I can't remember his name), but I'm 
sure I'll get another chance to see them.