Re: [Harp-L] Re: Harper, an inspirational player

[James Merritt <jamesem_99@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Stephen,

I totally agree with you about Harper. 

 I have been going to Blues on Grand in Des Moines for over five years.  Matter of fact that is where I met my wife, we got married this past April...smile.  We are both regulars there.  Anyway, the first time I saw Harper there I was blown away by his music and his harmonica playing is wonderful.  I have been playing harmonica most all of my life and do very well but fast playing like Harper, Jason, etc. has never been one of my strong points.  The night you were referring to was during the Iowa State Fair if I recall correctly.  I was sitting at the bar when I saw several members of Journey come walking in.  They were in town for a performance at the state fair.  Too bad I missed Harper playing with Journey because that would have been one hell of a show.

I spoke with Harper a little bit and he has such a sense of humor and is very down to earth. he was joking about when he was deciding what instrument to play he decided on harmonica since his name is Harper, what a coincidence.  He was still living in Australia at that time but announced he was moving to America.  Our gain and their loss.  I look forward to having him come back soon.

Thank you and have a great day!!

James E. Merritt

----- Original Message ----
From: Stephen Simon <stephensimon17@xxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 4:44:56 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Re: Harper, an inspirational player


Hey Dave,

Welcome to Harp L. I totally agree with you. I caught Harper & his band
 mates for the first time at The Bradfordville Blues Club in
 Tallahassee., a couple of weeks ago  Harper & his band totally blue the roof of
 that 80 year old jook joint.  Harper is one of those cats who are out
 there touring 300 shows per year, here in the US plus he hits the UK,
 Europe, Canada & his homeland of Australia.  He certainly deserves alot
 more recognition because he really has a unique style.  Very fast, but
 not over done. He can rip up a Sonny Boy Williamson 11 tune then do some
 amazing tricks on one of his original tunes.  & to top it off he plays
 a didgeridoo. I spoke to him about circular breathing & he said that he
 uses that technique in his harp playing. He said it really helped him
 with his playing.  Harper has also done a lot of session work in his
 homeland including performances with several Australian orchestras for
 some pretty major US films & a performance for
 the Queen of England. Now thats pretty cool.!!!  & yes he is very
 humble indeed. & only has nice things to say about other hard working harp
 players in the scene.  You know he even played harp with super group
 "Journey". Harper said the band rocked up to one of his gigs in Desmoines
 Iowa & they asked him to play with them.  Now that's a compliment!
  Apparently he has an open invite to play at any of Journey's shows.  WOW.

Peace, Stephen S..




    
  ____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better friend, newshound, and 
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.
  http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ 
_______________________________________________
Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l





      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Never miss a thing.  Make Yahoo your home page. 
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs