Re: [Harp-L] Tasty harp, circa 1979 (stage presence)

[BiscuitBoy714@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 2/8/2007 4:40:17 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
Aeskow@xxxxxxx writes:
 
         Way good point Johnny.  Working the room right and having the crowd 
with ya makes the hole gig a lot  more of a gas. Plus they are a lot more 
forgiving if ya make mistakes. I used to  sit on the edge of the stage while I 
played harp on Dock Of The Bay and it never  failed to bring people over to dance 
or whatever next to me with these great big  smiles on their faces. I always 
insist on a 50 foot mic chord so I can get  out in the crowd while playing the 
harp. I've done that cordless some but I like  using a chord for some reason. 
The crowd is always real polite about the  chord stretching into them and 
stay off of the chord too. I invite them to  sing with me on Roadhouse blues too. 
The sound man catches it and  makes sure that it's not a complete overkill by 
turning the mic down when they  sing with me. Everybody just loves to do the 
"I woke up this mornin' and I got  my self a beer" part. Show love to the 
crowd and they love you back. That's some  of what I do, I'd like to hear what 
others do too.
          Peace Love and crowd  response
                Randy

Johnny  Winter's rack-harp/bassist in this clip is Jonny Paris, who used to   
play bass in my old band in NYC some 30 years ago.  Recently, he's  been  
gigging in the downstairs lounge at B.B. King's club in New  York.  I took  
Mitch 
Weiss down there to jam a while back, and  Mitch played a killer version of  
"Black Magic Woman" on his  CX-12--nailing the riff without ever having 
played it  
before, I  might add...It's not a jam set-up per se, but Jon's a big fan of  
other  harp players and welcomes talented ones to sit in.  Never  a great  
technician by any means, Jonny epitomizes the kind of  harp-player who can  
transcend 
his lack of monster chops by knowing  how to work a room--a subject I  feel 
is 
too rarely touched on in  this forum.

Peace and Respect
Johnny T