[Harp-L] Jacksonville, Austin & Orlando--Hippest Towns????

["Tom Ellis" <tomsmics@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'd like to know where John Merx gets his experiences from when it comes to Orlando and Jacksonville.  I'll let Larry "Iceman" E. speak for Orlando, but I grew up in Jacksonville Beach and am back in the Jacksonville area 3-4 times each year.  If you're into reggae, play in a GenX band, or dig classic rock, then this might be your place.  But of the 50+ live music venues in Jacksonville, St. Augustine and the area's beach communities you can count the blues clubs on two fingers and even they aren't consistent. I can't imagine working as a harp player there full time unless someone played a lot of country.

About Austin, I'll just quote Gary Primich when I last spoke to him about the state of the blues there.  "It's so bad that I can't get a gig unless I take the door."  Austin, which has long had a blues reputation that far outpaced the reality of music there is about dead as a blues town.

Dallas, my hometown now, is different.  We seem to be having a bit of a resurgence after three years of slow blues death.  It isn't the scene it was in 1996, when there were 20 blues clubs between Dallas and Ft. Worth, but it's coming back, due in large part to the dedication and presence of Brian "Hash Brown" Calway, the undisputed blues major domo in this neck of the woods.  And he blows some very mean harp, besides wielding a big guitar sound, singing, and fronting or backing multiple ensembles that just about everyone has played with at one time or another.  Other cities should be so lucky to have someone like Hash in their mix......TOM ELLIS/Tom's Mics