Fwd: Fw: YELLOW PINE HARMONICA FESTIVAL/CONTEST 2003

"Dennis Cooper" <harmaniac@xxxxxxxxxxx> · Tue, 19 Aug 2003 16:15:55 -0600

<html><div style='background-color:'><P>I thought I'd forward this to the group... with one correction. The web address is <A href="http://www.harmonicacontest.com";>http://www.harmonicacontest.com</A></P>
<P>From: Ed Bettinger </P>
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<DIV></DIV>Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 1:02 PM 
<DIV></DIV>Subject: YELLOW PINE HARMONICA FESTIVAL/CONTEST 2003 
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<DIV></DIV>YELLOW PINE HARMONICA FESTIVAL REPORT 
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<DIV></DIV>The Yellow Pine Harmonica Festival and Contest was held this year on August 1, 2, and 3, in Yellow Pine, Idaho. Yellow Pine is in the central area of Idaho, nestled in amongst some beautiful mountains, the scenery is absolutely breath taking. Most people attending both spectators and players were camping out in the Payette National Forest which surrounds Yellow Pine. 
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<P>The town itself does have very limited lodging facilities, both at the Lodge and for RV hookups. Nice thing about camping in the National Forest is that it's free of charge, something rare these days. Players and spectators arrived from most all of the 48 states, the person coming the fartherset away was from Belgium, naturally due to it's location most attendees were from the Western states. </P>
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<DIV></DIV>The Judges for the contest were Phil Caltabellotta, Nanuet, New York; Frank Warner, Jacksonville, Florida; and Bud Boblink, Schererville, Indiana; all three of these gentleman are professional harmonica players, but more on that later when I talk about the Judges Concert. 
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<P>There were two primary events at the Festival, The Crowd Pleasers performance and Contest and the Main contest for Harmonica players in three divisions, Diatonic, Chromatic and Groups.</P>
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<DIV></DIV>Believe me your ears received a wonderful treat with all the players that entered the contest, each division had 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners, I'm not going to mention all the winners as they will be on the Yellow Pine WEB site later on.(www.harmonicacontest.com) 
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<P>Some noteworthy winners were a young man (10 years old) that took 1st Place in the Crowd Pleasers contest playing and singing the Blues with his Dad on guitar, and 3rd Place in the Diatonic Division, his name slips me right now but I bet he's back next year and watch out players , I bet he snags 1st place befor too long.=&nbsp;</P>
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<P>The Monroes, a family group were great, I'll start with the youngest member of the group a young girl Chantal, that played very good Diatonic harp, Her Dad Mark on Lead, her UncleRoger playing Bass and her Grandpa Marv playing Chord. </P>
<P>I get so excited when these young folks take to playing the Harmonica, and so many of them do a fabulous job, these are our up and coming Harmonica musicians that will carry the torch. </P>
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<DIV></DIV>Along with all the events to attend and the super delicious dinners and breakfast to go to the Judges played two concerts, one on Saturday night and one on Sunday afternoon. 
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<P>Now when I say that these performances were out of this World thats putting it mildly, you just AINT NEVER heard such playing like that befor: These guys have played with TOP harmonica Groups like the Harmonicats, the Harmonica Rascals (a forerunner of the CATS)and are currently playing professionally, Phil is with the Society Boys and Plays Lead Chromatic: Bud plays Chord harp with the Jammercats and Frankplays Bass and has many recordings to his credit along with TV and radio appearances. </P>
<P>During the Yellow Pine concert they played all of the notable Harmonicats numbers including Peg O' My Heart that the CATS had #1 on the charts for almost a year, if you couldn't see who was playing you'd swear it was the Harmonicats. </P>
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<P>During the concert they brought the house down, and I don't mean maybe, it's worth the trip to Yellow Pine just to hear this delightful group.</P>
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<P>If at all possible try to work the Yellow Pine Harmonica Festival and Contest in your plans for next Year, you wont be dissappointed. It take place the first weekend in August, I believe the dates for 2004 is August 6, 7, and 8.</P>
<P>Until next year may you have the Best life can offer. </P>
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<DIV></DIV>Ed "Harpin' A Mile High" Bettinger 
<DIV></DIV>COLORADO 
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