Rude harp players

[hippo@xxxxxxxxxx (Hugh Messenger)]

This is kind of related to the various topics doing the rounds at the moment ...

I played a gig on Friday night where I met *the* most obnoxious harp player
who (for me) summed up the bad rap harp players get.

I swap off between harp and Hammond organ.  This guy sat at the bar for the
whole of the first set, playing his harps in the wrong key (we tend to play
tuned down a semitone to save on guitar strings).  First break he comes up
and asks if he can sit in.  I politely said no (and explained the tuning
problem ... "Have you got an A flat?") and thought no more of it.  The next
time I sat at the Hammond during the second set, this guy just jumps up,
grabs my harp mike and starts honking away, a semi-tone sharp (he heard us
say "E" and grabbed his A, I guess).  I asked him to step down and he
ignored me.  I asked him again and he told me to f*** off.  I ended up
having to literally push him off stage.

Anyway ... IMHO, open mics and jams are a *very* useful outlet for players
not yet in their own band.  Anything to keep players like Mr Jump Up And
Play off of the streets is fine by me!  As for the "taking bread from
professionals" argument ... I get paid $100 to host one of our local Sunday
night jams, so "I'm alright, Jack."

The bottom line is, bars have music in order to get bums on seats buying
drinks.  A successful jam night brings them as much business as a regular
band and costs them less.  Go figure.

   -- hugh