Re: [Harp-L] Media Editorial - Denver news and video coverage

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

On Aug 22, 2006, at 9:02 AM, icemanle@xxxxxxx wrote:

> While I'm of the philosophy that "any exposure is good exposure",  
> it is disappointing to once again see the media focusing on old men  
> wearing silly hats, novelty tunes, a quick shot of long hair dude  
> chugging away, and kids playing harmonicas that sounds like noise.

So, again, I and the frozen Larry agree. A big peeve of mine. The  
media seems to go out of their way to cover all things harmonica in a  
jokey joke way. When was the last time we saw a player in a tux  
fronting with a symphony? Or a country western group with a harmonica  
front, playing a serious piece? Or a view of a blues club such as we  
saw Tuesday, where, by the way, we witnessed history and something  
like that will never come around again.

In all honesty, we also see this with accordion gatherings, where  
there will be a scene of 28 people strangling a cat to 'Lady of  
Spain'. But, harmonica takes a beating in this respect. It seems like  
it started with the Harmonica Rascals. What I like to call the 'Spike  
Jones' effect.

jo-jo
> This is exactly what we should be steering the media away from and  
> towards Robert B. doing beautiful classical work and some of the  
> more melodic and sophisticated harmonica approaches to try and  
> change the public's awareness and perception of the harmonica.
>
> In the Orlando area, I've been approached by the media (newspaper,  
> TV and most recently, talk radio FM) for stories. I've been able to  
> frankly speak about the bad image focused on in the past with these  
> media types and convinced them to run more responsible stories. The  
> result - 2 beautiful and different articles regarding inspiration  
> and the harmonica and teaching a young harmonica student (RJ) with  
> his own profile/article, and a TV spot that focused on what the  
> harmonica can sound like if you get beyond vaudeville. Most  
> exciting to me is the recent talk radio in yo' face personalities,  
> who began by putting down the harmonica (it's not a real instrument  
> - it's like playing a washboard), and now one of them is taking  
> weekly lessons and talking about positive aspects on the radio.
>
> This is the way to preserve and advance the harmonica, as far as  
> media coverage is concerned, IMO.
>
> The Iceman