A great harp weekend, Prague style

["M. N." <mnessmith@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Just a quick note about a great harp weekend here in the Czech Republic. 
Saturday night I saw Johnny Winter as part of a blues festival on an island 
in the Vltava river. Boston harp legend James Montgomery is touring with 
him, blowing harp and doing some great singing. James was blowing an SM57 
mic through a Twin Reverb that the promoter provided. Sounded great. Johnny 
isn't doing too great these days (was led on stage walking with a cane and 
played sitting down) so James' contribution to the evening was really 
important to keep the energy and momentum high. Mission accomplished.
Sunday afternoon, the band I'm playing with played the same stage. We had a 
great set. It was the first chance I'd had to use my new Marble Max amp 
<www.marble-amps.com/max.html>. Despite the fact I was playing with a large 
band (two guitars, keys, horns, etc.), we miked the amp and I had no 
problems with stage volume at all. Pretty amazing for a little 1x8 amp.
Later on, Guy Davis played an acoustic set playing guitar and blowing harp 
on a rack. If you're into retro acoustic blues, check this guy out. Good 
stuff.
Sunday night's headliner was the Original Blues Brothers Band. I went mainly 
because I wanted to hear Steve Cropper play guitar. The bonus, though, was 
when after ripping through a bunch of great instrumentals ("Green Onions," 
"Soul Finger," "Peter Gun"), Cropper introduced none other than Harp-L's own 
Rob Paparozzi, singing and playing harp. I knew Rob occasionally played with 
the BBB, but I didn't realize he was on this tour, so it was a hell of a 
pleasant surprise. His singing is great and, while I wish he'd had more room 
to play, his harp playing was great to listen to as well. I had the pleasure 
to meet Rob backstage for a minute or two afterwards. Really just enough 
time to say hi. I think it's safe to say Rob didn't expect to meet a 
Harp-Ler backstage at a blues festival in Prague. No one's safe anymore, 
though, we're EVERYWHERE. ;-) Rob, you have to come back with the Hudson 
River Rats, my friend!
MN

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