Re: [Harp-L] Re: Good Old Days of SPAH & Good New Days of SPAH

[IcemanLE@xxxxxxx]

Pretty good overall description. However, 1998 was one of the most well  
attended SPAHs of all time. The blues concert was packed - we sold tickets to  the 
public and they came in droves. Looking at the video from that night will  
show a broad range of old/new (white hair, bald, long hair) and attendance right 
 up until the end. It had a real packed house vibe, which is one reason the  
concert was so good.
 
Curtis Salgado and I went out on Wed night to a Rod Piazza concert in town  - 
we went around putting flyers on the windshields of the cars and had a ball  
handing out flyers to people standing in line for the concert. The most fun 
was  when I handed a flyer to a group, Curtis standing behind me  - one guy said 
 "Ooh, Curtis Salgado. I've always wanted to see him". I said "Oh really?. 
Here."  and pulled Curtis out from behind me. That guy just about fell over 
right then  and there. It was a great vibe. It also didn't hurt that Curtis ran 
into Rod  behind the venue, so we went in and hung out backstage with Rod 
calling Curtis  out during the show.
 
Believe me when I said that a LOT of people came to the Blues Concert from  
the outside community. SPAH made a lot of income from those extra ticket sales. 
 So much so, in fact, that it more than paid for the expense of having the 
show  video taped. Of course, sales of the concert tapes were like a bonus of 
income  for SPAH. As a matter of fact, SPAH was doing so well with income that 
our  accountant told us we'd have to spend more money or lose our non-profit  
status.
 
What was so special was that the vibe reached out even before the  convention 
- so much so that Jerry Portnoy and Steve Geiger came on their own  nickel to 
enjoy the "hang". This was the experience we were building on at that  time - 
modeled after the International Association of Jazz Education conventions  - 
attendees about 5000.
 
Unfortunately, the Tate era saw an end to this direction.
 
The Iceman
 
 
In a message dated 8/6/2008 11:54:11 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
groovygypsy@xxxxxxxxx writes:

1998  Larry Eisenberg brought in Kim Wilson, Curtis Salgado and others
that I  can't remember. It was the first time the "big" blues guys were
at a  convention. It wasn't well attended but that's not a knock on
Larry. 




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