[Harp-L] Mister Satan's Apprentice

[billhines4@xxxxxxxxxxx]

I just finished reading Mister Satan's Apprentice by Adam Gussow. Gussow was kind of a lost intellectual shy college student type in NYC when he went against all warnings of "walking too far and going to that bad place, Harlem" which was nearby the campus. On one sojourn in to Harlem, he ran into a street (guitar blues, percussion) performer named Satan (Sterling Magee) and asked to sit in on harp. 

Thus began their saga through the 80's and into the 90's, through racism and all sorts of obstacles, they ended up in U2's Rattle and Hum video by chance, ended up playing some pretty big festivals and venues, have several well-selling CDs, etc. 

Gussow writes in a very Kerouac-influenced style (good with me, Kerouac fan) which makes it easy to read and understand where his head is at. he's very honest about his own shortcomings. Reading it, I often though "MAN does this guy have issues!". Give him credit for being honest and laying it all out there. He talks about being signed to tour with an off-broadway production of Big River, etc.

But in the end, it's a harp player's story and there's plenty of harp content, even about OVERBLOWS, wow. I recommend the book to any of you good harp-l folks. It was inspirational in a sense, sometimes pretty damn sad. It's only available in hardcover but i went to amazon and got it used (and in perfect shape) for $3 plus a few bucks for shipping.

Bill Hines