[Harp-L] Meeting Mayall, Waters, Cotton, Wells, etc.



When I was a kid coming up in NYC I would come down from the Bronx to see, inhale, and listen to any of the icons I could get a ticket for. I revered (in capital letters with an exclamation point) Mayall in those days seeing him maybe 15 times. One night I snuck into the dressing room of the Bottom Line and met him. Shaking his hand he looked down at his hand like my enthusiasm caused injury. I guess reverence becomes monotonous when you receive all the musical attention he had gotten in his lifetime. Maybe just a "less than affable" night. Contrast that to Muddy: same place-dressing room of the Bottom Line- he was sitting with a woman-Victoria Spivey (a local legend who occasionally let me play with her) who was asking me to sit on her lap and give her some sugar. Muddy could see I didn't have any idea what this "sugar'' was and laughingly guided me towards kissing her cheek after which they both laughed and slapped my back. Wells: same place. He sensed my reverence and gave me a harp. Cotton- Max's Kansas City- he sensed my reverence and gave me a harp. I'm not trying to disparage Mayall's general social skills or elicit defensiveness from the group but I was hurt by his response as a kid and galvanized by Muddy, Cotton, and Well's generosity. On a musical note Mayall/s Jazz-Blues-Fusion concert at Carnegie Hall was brilliant. Freddy Robinson was mellifluous with Mayall and Red Hollaway was no slouch either. dennis
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