[Harp-L] Australian Baroque at SPAH

["tony" <tony@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've now recovered from the 24 hour return trip to Australia 
from SPAH, and am enjoying reading the various reports. I 
had a fabulous time, and will do my best to return in future 
years.
 
Before the convention, I posted a question regarding baroque 
music on chromatic. This question was answered 
comprehensively by Yasuo Watani, the Japanese Chromatic 
master. I was lucky enough to get some time with him after 
his seminar on classical techniques for the chromatic. We 
played through some baroque duets, by Loeillet (I played 
alto recorder). They worked extremely well.
 
A key feature of the convention, for me, was the 
contribution of Joe Filisko, who seemed to be making a lot 
of good stuff happen with minimal fuss. And he provided 
percussion until the wee hours for us at the blues jams, 
along with Madcat, another great contributor (and awesome 
player).
 
Jimmy Lee played stunningly good rack harmonica, and sang 
terrific songs. Buzz did a great job holding the jams 
together, a daunting task. I particularly liked how the less 
experienced players were encouraged to have a go, and the 
applause for their efforts. Pat Ramsey shone, amongst a 
galaxy of blues stars. Unfotunately I arrived too late for 
the Tuesday night blues blowout, and hence missed most of 
Jason Ricci's playing. I would have loved to have heard 
Dennis Gruenling's amplified blues.
 
A particular treat for me was meeting Cara Cooke, Jim 
Conway, Winslow and Donald Black, fellow tune players, and 
being introduced to Grant Dermody's playing. It would have 
been great to play a few more tunes with these guys, however 
they were all pretty busy with daily commitments. Cara made 
a point of organising a session for me, which I greatly 
appreciated. Also, Paul Davies plays the same sort of stuff 
that I do, and we had a number of impromptu sessions, 
including an extremely rapido version of "Over the 
Waterfall".
 
Tulsa Read was a great organiser (and player). P.T. Gazell 
was a model of good taste, and seems to have quietly figured 
out how to play valved diatonics better than anyone else. 
And so many others....
 
And... Howard Levy... I would fly 15000 km just to hear him.
 
And I got to talk with Charlie McCoy. Unfortunately, I left 
late Saturday afternoon, and missed his show.
 
The last thing I did at the convention was to grab a copy 
of "Up All Night", by Dennis Gruenling. What a great 
investment.
 
See you all next year (hopefully)
 
Tony Eyers
Australia
http://www.harmonicatunes.com
<http://mirapoint.uow.edu.au/cgi-bin/fetch.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.harmonic
atunes.com>