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

[dennis moriarty <dmoriarty@xxxxxxxxxx>]

           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
http://www.myspace.com/blowintheblues