Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Music is not a competition?

[EGS1217@xxxxxxx]

Buckeye was my very first Festival, my first anything  harmonica-related, and 
my first jam.  So getting to sit off to the side and  watch and listen with 
new ears was a terrific experience by  itself.  I went to Buckeye to learn.  
The Joe Filisko teach-ins are  worth their weight in gold, and the late night 
jams the icing.
 
What a shame Steve had to miss Friday night's jam. I know about  Migraines.   
George of course is paying homage to the jams "seemingly"  running themselves 
but are actually being masterfully conducted by Buzz  Krantz.    I got to be 
a fly on the wall Thursday night when Buzz  handled an awkward situation (an 
overly eager player noodling along, playing  "accompaniment" over Steve's turn) 
without crushing the guy's ego all the  while making it invisible to the rest 
of the group (tough to do when sitting in  a circle).  For all the lame jokes 
:-)  Buzz  managed it with a  deftness I found remarkable, also knowing just 
when to give free rein  to the "dueling harps".
 
 I couldn't have gotten a better introduction than this.  Heck  with 
competitions, just let me listen in to these jams each year with  people of this 
caliber and I'll be a willing student and happy camper
 
Elizabeth
***************************************************
 
"Date: Wed, 4 May 2005 04:05:22 EDT
From: Moandabluz@xxxxxxx
Subject:  Re: [Harp-L] Music is not a competition?
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Message-ID:  <68.550d31de.2fa9dc42@xxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain;  charset="ISO-8859-1"


I have been to every Buckeye  Harmonica Festival for the past seven years. I 
had never missed a late night  blues jam.. UNTIL.. this past Buckeye.. when 
something I ate triggered a  migraine and I spent Friday night in my room. 
Don't   
you just  hate it when something like this happens?
Still, I got to play  Thursday night and Saturday night and I thought the 
little interplay  Thursday night between Ben Nathanson and Dennis Gruenling 
was 
way  cool.

Still a fool for the Harp
Steve 'Moandabluz' Webb


In  a message dated 5/3/05 9:53:37 PM, gbrooks1@xxxxxxxxx writes:

> I was  at the Buckeye jam that Buzz posted about.  Buzz is an absolute
>  master at running a jam and has led many circles of harmonica players
> of  varying abilities to some very impressive heights (his pairing of
> Ben  Nathanson and Frederic Yonnet at last year's Buckeye blues jam
> being an  example of his inspired leadership-it rocked!).  But this was
>  something else.  The jam seemed to run itself, a runaway train that
>  somehow stayed on the tracks and finally coasted safely into the
>  station.  What a ride!   A number of people who were there,  including
> Madcat, said it was the best harmonica jam they had ever been  to.  This
> was certainly true for me, and by at least an order of  magnitude.  I
> simply do not believe that the same magic would have  descended upon our
> musical collaboration there in the Ohio night if the  participants were
> adversaries during another part of the  festival.
> George"