Re: Timbuk3 / Pat MacDonald, etc.

[bhollan@xxxxxxx]

Patrick Hester writes:

> At the risk of starting another "he's no real harp player" flame war,
> does anyone else like Timbuk3 and Pat MacDonald's harping?

Yeah, I dug his harp contributions on _Greetings from Timbuk 3_. Fans of
hot technique doubtless will disagree with me... but I thought his harmonica
was a good, nasty, *human* bit of spice to the slightly dry, ironic songwriting
& production.

> Anybody
> know what kind of axe he wields?

Got a _Guitar Player_ interview with Pat & Barbara here; nothing about his
chosen brand. But there's this interesting line regarding Pat: "As a teen, he
imitated the blues accompaniment styles of John Lee Hooker and Lightnin'
Hopkins in the attic of his parents' Green Bay, Wisconsin, home: `I've always
been more into that. I solo on the harmonica. That's more of a story-telling
instrument.'"

Regarding this "`he's no real harp player' flame war" thing, I would humbly
suggest that *any* introduction to the harmonica, whether it's from
Blues Traveler, Timbuk 3, Aerosmith or a chance encounter with Little Walter on
a blues-oldies radio show, can open the ears of the uninitiated to the
potential of the instrument. A kid who thinks Steven Tyler is a hot harp player
just might start branching out & listening to *other* harp players, developing
his/her ear & taste, & possibly moving in other directions. And that's gotta be
good.

And here, IMHO, is where the comparisons with Hendrix are most apt.
Thousands of kids got their first exposure to guitar via Hendrix, then went on
to study blues or classical or other so-called "serious" musics; if Popper,
MacDonald et al. can do the same for harmonica, more power to them. I grudge
them not a cent of their earnings & look forward to hearing their own musics
develop as time goes by.



Bill Hollan
bhollan@xxxxxxx