Nighthawks review

[wlgrogan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Harpers,
	Caught the Nighthawks gig in Ocean City, MD yesterday, or rather the
1st 2 of 3 sets.  They played outside on the back deck of BJ's overlooking
beautiful Assawoman Bay from 4:30-7:30 pm, an event the bar owner's described
as a "deck party".  Marc Wenner their harpist/vocalist opened with some hard
driving riffs which pretty much set the tone for each of the 2 50 min. sets
that I saw.  Marc has a great voice, with just enough harshness so that you
know this guy really lives and plays the blues.  Most of their songs were
Chicago style with Marc playing on EVERY tune that I heard and performing 
about 90% of the vocals as well.  His playing is fast, very clean with
incredible tone to boot.  For those interested in electronics, he played though
a '60 Fender Champ driven (but not overdriven he told me) with a y-connector
through a Fender reissue Bassman and mic through their PA with a Shure 57 on
the Champ.  For a change of pace they did a killer version of a mid-'60's
James Brown song, the name of which escapes my present memory, and a couple of
Jimmy Reed tunes including a great rendition of Honest I Do with Marc playing
holes 7-10 through his Shure 58 vocal mic.  His harp mic was a 20+ year old
Shure Green Bullet with just a little green paint left.  He told me that he
has been playing harp for about 30 years and got hooked after listening to
Butterfield in the mid '60's (gee, where have I heard that before?).  I am
almost ashamed to admit that I had never seen this DC based group perform 
before, since I am from the DC-Balt. area.  They are returning in late July
to the same spot, and I plan on listening and watching again.  Thanks go
Danny Wilson (BassHarp) for posting events of various artists for group, lest
I might have missed them this time around.
Bill Grogan
Cub reporter for Harp-L (or at least the lower Del-Mar-Va peninsula)