[Harp-L] A Successful SPAH! (long)

[Phillip Franklin <pbf@xxxxxxxxxx>]

This was my third SPAH (the others: 1999 and 2003),
and it was the best yet for me.

I listen to harp a lot more than I play it these days,
and the performers I watched were great.  But there
were several seminars that I enjoyed as well.  Then,
to top everything, it seems like every CD I bought
matched the music the performers played at the
convention -- this has been a great source of
disappointment for me in the past.  As a matter of
fact, with Madcat Ruth and Pat Ramsey I bought extra
CDs after hearing the ones I purchased first because I
was so excited about their sound.

Seminars:  I don't have the program in front of me, so
I'll probably forget some good ones, but here's what I
remember... 
* There was an hour session on using Band-in-the-Box
as a practice partner that covered entering and
transposing melody, and selecting a style for the
backing "combo".  It covered the basics well, and lots
of attendees said they couldn't wait to get home, now
that they knew how to use this software that had been
gathering dust.
* Donald Black, a fine Scottish tremolo player, told
us some of his story and demonstrated some of his
techniques, styles, and the types of harps he uses. 
He spoke frankly about the drawbacks of the harps he
uses, and his ideas for improving them.
* I got more out of Joe Filisko's teach-ins this time,
though I'm sure that's more due to my receptiveness
than to the pros who gave of their time.  Madcat
talked quite a bit about playing rhythm harmonica. 
Winslow concentrated on the XB-40 one day, and
demonstrated some harp repair techniques another day. 
The crowd was so thick around James Conway that I
stayed away, just because I felt it would be hard to
hear and see what he was doing.  I'll have to make a
point of getting to his table early at another SPAH.
* Paul Davies had a somewhat similar type of seminar
on tongue techniques.  For this seminar, he had four
instructors, and each gave a 15-minute presentation.
But to keep the audience small, each instructor gave
the presentation four times, while the audience
separated into fourths and rotated from instructor to
instructor.  Apparently, Paul organized a similar
seminar last year (on tone, I think), and he plans to
do one on another technique next year.
* Tulsa Read's seminar on country and bluegrass harp
had a great lineup, and they delivered!  Jelly Roll
Johnson, P.T. Gazell, Tony Ayers, Cara Cook, Tulsa,
and Charlie McCoy all spoke and played. Some in the
audience wanted more playing, but I wanted to hear
what they had to say, myself.

Performances:  Again, I'm particularly sleep-deprived
and operating from faulty memory, but here are some
short impressions of what I saw...
* Jason Ricci kicked it off with a pre-convention jam
party at a local bar.  Someone has already posted
about this show, and I had to bail out early to crash
after back-to-back 12-hour work days, but what I saw
certainly whetted my appetite for the shows to follow.
Thanks for arranging this, J.R.!
* Clay Kirkland hails from Denver, and I really liked
his set.  Predominately blues, driving at times, but
also a laid-back sensibility at others.  His CD is a
bit quirky on some songs, but includes some of the
great music that he played for us.   I've only heard
about half of it, so far, so I can't give a full
review.
* Madcat Ruth and Grant Dermody played a few songs
each for Filisko's Mob, and I promptly bought CDs from
each.  After hearing Madcat's "Live at the Ark" I went
back and bought "Harmonicology" too (haven't had a
chance to listen to it yet).  "Crossing That River" by
Grant Dermody is at least as good as everyone on
Harp-L had said it was.  I live here in Kansas City,
and I had to go to work at midnight Saturday morning,
so I plugged this CD into my car player and listened
on the way to work and back.  At 4:30 AM, in the
Hilton parking lot, after being up for at least 21
hours, I didn't want to turn the CD off because the
music was so good.  Wow!
* Pat Ramsey played a killer blues set to a
disappointingly small crowd --  but this seems to
happen at every SPAH.  I had never heard him before,
but knew that he was Jason Ricci's mentor, so I had
high expectations, and I was not disappointed.  Once I
listened to his first CD, "It's About Time", I went
back and bought his other two CDs as well.
* Mark Sallings suffered the same fate as Pat Ramsey
-- playing to a much smaller crowd than he deserves. 
Unlike most of the performers, I'm very familiar with
Mark's work.  He plays in Kansas City 4-6 times a
year, and I never miss him.  When he plays the
harmonica, what hits me first is his tone.  He's right
up there with the best of the blues harp players. 
What keeps me coming back, show after show, is his
musicianship, and that of his band.  Every song has
the right edge, whether its driving, tough, and dirty,
or moaning, velvety smooth, and soulful.  His latest
CD, "A Temporary Life", is his best yet.
* Howard Levy brought the house to its feet over and
over again with a more melodic and accessible set (for
us who aren't jazz fans) than I've heard from him
before when he's headlining.  Okay, I've only heard
him live two other times, so my sample size is tiny,
but I loved this show.
* Charlie McCoy brought his band, and he put on a show
that demonstrated why he is a great entertainer, not
just a great country harmonica player.  SPAH capped
his performance by presenting him with this year's
lifetime achievement award -- a memorable end to an
already memorable concert.

I've already gone on too long, but I couldn't close
without mentioning the great blues jams.  Jimi Lee,
who first knocked my socks off at the Dallas SPAH in
2003, led scheduled afternoon jams, playing his guitar
and rack-mounted harp.  But just to make sure there
wasn't a dull moment, on two or three days he
continued the jams in a space near the elevators until
dinner time.  Then he joined "our own" Buzz Krantz and
Joe G. (I can't pronounce his last name, much less
spell it) at the late night jams.  I understand they
carried on much later than I was able to manage. 
Incidentally, Buzz was awarded this year's Pete
Pederson award for his contributions to the harmonica
community.  Congratulations, Buzz!  And
congratulations to SPAH, for putting together a great
convention!

-Phil in KC