Subject: [Harp-L] what i did on my summer vacation

[EGS1217@xxxxxxx]

Hey Garry:
 
It's a thrill to read your follow-up to the Habitat for Humanity Concert in  
March.  As you know, we always get lost finding the venue, but even one  hour 
there is worth it, so wouldn't miss it for the World.  Jason is the  BEST 
...giving his time and the Band's for this terrifically good cause and  putting on 
one of his best shows ever, as well as the time he spends with the  kids 
after.  I'm happy to be even a small part of it...(believe it or not I  still 
haven't developed my photos from that night :) with your "debut"  onstage with 
Jason).  I just now remembered.  Didn't recognize you  from the photo without 
your ubiquitous baseball cap ;)  DID recognize Erin,  white painted leg and all.  
I'm just curious...did you take another photo  on Day 10, as well?  Or did 
another group of Habitat volunteers come in to  finish up? I've no idea how it 
all works.
 
What a great harmonica experience....not only are these kids building  houses 
for people who need a home...they're exposed to fabulous harmonica  playing 
by a master (I do mean Jason, ahem)...  ;)   but you're  not exactly too bad 
yourself!
 
The downloads you've provided for Jason's music (and videos) have been  
invaluable for those of us who love to listen in to the shows we've attended  (and 
those we haven't been able to get to). I hope both of you are able to  
continue this each year, because not only do I look forward to it after a long  cold 
Winter, but because it's a distinct pleasure for me to contribute in my  small 
way.  Before I blew out a disk in my back I did carpentry work, tiled  
floors, spackled, sanded drywall, painted...can wield a hammer as well as  anyone.  
It'd be so cool to get back up to par one of these days and  perhaps tag along 
as well. The kids are amazing...kudos to all of you.
 
Elizabeth
 
"Message: 8
Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:50:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: Garry  Hodgson <garry@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] what i did on my summer  vacation
To: Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Jason Ricci  <jason@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Message-ID:  <2007072615501185479440@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain;  charset="us-ascii"

just got back from our annual habitat trip.   great trip.  great weather, 
only hit 100 
once, mostly 95-ish,  but  very humid (as always).  left NJ friday morning 
7/13 for
Sumter, SC,  returned sunday night 7/23. crashed on monday, bigtime.  
still  recovering.

i mention it here because a number of you were active  supporters, especially
jason ricci,  who played an amazing benefit  concert for us that raised much 
of
the money we needed for the trip.   
http://www.archive.org/details/jrnb2007-03-10.flac16
others of you came  to this show, or bought tickets despite living too far 
away
to come.   many thanks to all of you.  your generosity and support means a 
lot to  me.

the site went from looking like  this:
http://snarkus.com/images/Habitat-2007/Before-1.jpg
to  this:
http://snarkus.com/images/Habitat-2007/Day5-1.jpg
in 5 long, hot  days (typically onsite from 6:30 am 'til 3-4 pm).  
the woman on the far  right is martha, whose house we were building.
her children are in there,  too.  i'm the tired looking guy sitting on the 
ground in the orange  shirt.  and the girl behind me in the dark green 
shirt with her leg  painted white (don't ask) is my daughter erin.  this was
erin's 3rd  house, my 6th, and the youth group's 15th.

i did get to play some harp  this time.  one of the kids at a church
we stayed at on the road was a  singer/songwriter, and we got to 
play a little together.  managed a  nice "wish you were here", among
others, despite a lack of shared musical  vocabulary.

i also found a peavey amp behind the curtains onstage at the  church
we stayed at in sumter.  a little scrounging produced a vocal  mic, and
i got to play amped.  great fun.

i brought copies of the  aforementioned benefit show to give out as gifts
along the way, and the kids  got a plug in for JRNB when they were invited
to speak on a morning radio  talk show.  not to mention that everyone who
traveled in my van got a  healthy dose of harp music.  doing our part on
the PR front.

i  love this trip.  it means so much to the kids, and the families, and the  
community.  by the time i get home, i am *exhausted*.  but it's  worth it.  
boy, is it worth it.

----
Garry Hodgson, Senior  Software Geek, AT&T CSO

nobody can do everything, but everybody can  do something.
do something."






************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at 
http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour