[Harp-L] John Popper Criticism REBUKED....

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Noah Hoehn" wrote:
<So while we're talking about taste...  You made a really pathetic statement 
<in, "That is not playing.  It is "wacking off" with your instrument."
<It's 
<pathetic because in fact, John Popper is playing.  He's blowing and drawing 
<air through his instrument.  Or maybe, I'm not enlightened enough to know 
<what "playing" is.  So won't you please elaborate on that?  And wacking
<off  eh?  Boy... 

First thing: speaking as a longtime (since 1991) on-the-record admirer of Popper and his music, lighten up, man.  It's only rock and roll.  There are ways to convey one's admiration for Popper without describing his critics as "pathetic."  

"Wacking off" on your instrument generally refers to performances that are 1) verbose and 2) musically and emotionally irrelevant to the music.  One man's wacking off is another man's groundbreaking foray into the future; a number of critics referred to John Coltrane's early work as "just scales," for example.  But whatever.  If you don't hear the emotion in someone's playing, you're a lot more likely to think they're not emotionally engaged with the music, i.e. that they're "wacking off."  There's a lot of emotion in Popper's playing, but it's pretty far from the emotion that you hear in the blues, and I think a lot of blues-oriented harp players just don't get it.  Too bad, but it's not pathetic.  It's just too bad that they miss the emotional content in that music, which incidentally is mostly about joy.  As a number of recent recordings have demonstrated, Popper's playing is very influential among the latest generation of harp players--meaning that a lot of people do get it--and I'm hearing players now who are successfully incorporating Popper's discoveries into their own styles, in their own ways, which is how it's all supposed to work.  

I really don't see why Popper's obvious virtuosity should count against him--nobody attacks guitarists like Steve Vai and Yngwe Malmstein for having great chops, do they?  But like I said, whatever.  If you don't hear the emotional content, the rest of it doesn't make a lot of sense.

<... I'd like your opinion on my playing.  That's right--I'm willing to put myself out there on this
<one.  So as a Popper guy, I'd like you to listen to my stuff at 
<http://www.viciousaloysius.com/  and tell us what you think.

I thought this was a great cut with great harmonica.  

Why is the band--which apparently is deeply concerned with spiritual issues such as love, self-sacrifice, etc., and picks its words carefully--named "vicious"?  I don't think of viciousness as an attractive spiritual quality.   
  
Regards, Richard Hunter
hunterharp.com
www.broadjam.com/rhunter