RE: Harp on Saturday Night Live

[Jack Ely <IMS_ELY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Subject: Harp  on Saturday Night Live

Jack writes...

>>Note: (reminder) William Galison appears on Saturday Night Live with 
>>Sting February 20, 1993.
>>Well, If anyone saw the show - (some of us folks here even had parties
>>and invited friends) - they couldn't have treated William any worse if they
. . . . .
 
Bob Williams replies...

>I remember the time Charlie Musselwhite was on Saturday Night Live and played
>for about three to four seconds as they went into a commercial.  His name
>never came up in promos or credits.  Later when I asked him about it he told
>me they had flown him in for the weekend for the show and  payed his standard
>fee.  He had no hard feelings, he acted like that's all part of the business.
>Bob Williams

Hi Bob,

Yeh, when you stop to think about it - it goes with the territory. Kinda like 
when you play for a reunion, you're there to play for them and like to be 
listend to. Our club gigs used to bother me if people talked, or even if one 
person was bored or asleep. But I don't let that bother me anymore. (I used to 
focus on that person) but it's best to seek out a smiling, foot tapping face 
for your audience contact. Now, I tell the group - If you can't find a face 
that's enjoying the show - then play to a lamp shade or exit light. [One time - 
back when these things bothered me - I locked in on a man who did not move, did 
not smile, did not applaud. I wanted to go over and ask him why he botherd to 
come. At the end of the gig he walked up to the stage and raved about how 
wonderful the show was, etc. - go figure - body language sometimes lies].

I know this is not the same thing you're talking about, Bob, but it is 
analogous of audience - performer attitudes. The performer needs to chill, do 
what he was paid for, and go on to the next gig - IMHO.

When we hear a William, or a Charlie, etc., are going to be on a show - we 
harmonica players expect to hear harmonica - but that dosen't always fit with 
the plan of the powers-that-be. I asked Charlie McCoy one time why he didn't 
play more harmonica on Hee Haw. He said, "I'm only the music director not the 
producer."
				Thanks, Bob

				   Jack