[Harp-L] jason ricci habitat benefit

[Garry Hodgson <garry@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

had a wonderful evening saturday night.  as i'd posted here,
jason ricci and new blood played a benefit concert to raise
funds for our youth group's annual habitat for humanity trip.
this was jason's second show for us, and we'll build our 15th
house this year.

the kids decorated the place with christmas lights and balloons,
very festive.  we had around 120 people show up, an attentive 
and enthusiastic audience. we had little kids and octogenarians,
all having a great time.  several harp-l folks were there, 
from long island, philly, even maryland.  we really appreciate
everyone's support.  if they had half as good a time as i did,
it was still a bargain.

my friend bob lanza, a top notch bluesman in his own right,
volunteered the use of his sound system, and worked as soundman
for the band, ensuring that everything sounded *great*.

the band was great, as usual.  they played several new (to me)
songs, and seemed very much at home with the place and the crowd.
their energy was amazing, especially since they'd barely slept in
several days due to an assortment of road mishaps.

jason called me up to play on "help me", which was both great fun 
and completely terrifying at the same time.  i managed to fend off
abject humiliation, and the crowd seemed to like it.  the smiles on
my kids' faces were priceless to me.  i also played on the closing
"scratch my back", along with zach gaviria, for some triple harp fun.

special thanks to jonathan metts, who helped us promote the show,
enlisting the help of delta groove's frank roszak to get us plugs
on satellite radio channels.  thanks, too, to several list members
who donated to the show despite being unable to attend.  

and of course our most heartfelt thanks to jason, who continues to
inspire not just as a musician, but as a human being as well.  
despite his obvious exhaustion, and losing an hour to daylight 
savings time, he came back sunday morning to visit the youth group 
and talk to the kids.  their two hour talk stretched into three 
before we had to break to let the anxious parents waiting downstairs 
finally take their kids home.

it was a truly wonderful evening, full of family and friends, great
music, noble causes, and a lot of people pulling together to make
something great happen.  not a bad way to spend a saturday night.

the recording is up on the archive, at:
http://www.archive.org/details/jrnb2007-03-10.flac16



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

do for others with no desire of return.
we should all plant some trees
we will never sit under.