[Harp-L] SPAH Review (long)

["Bill Hines" <billhines4@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey, I made it to SPAH! What a great time. At first I was thinking "what
the hell am I doing here", playing semi-hookie from work by flying down
in the middle of my work trip to Boston, and when I have so much going
on at home. By myself, which can be a bummer. Well, sometimes. I'm
pretty good at entertaining myself and getting into trouble by myself. 

The night before leaving I finally got to bed around 1am and had to get
up for at 4am for my flight to Boston. I had packed everything carefully
but as I lay there it struck me - oh damn I forgot to put my microtrack
recorder in my bag! I was just too tired to get back up. Mental note:
get recorder in the morning. Get recorder in the morning. Of course, I
got up, showed, ran out the door and no recorder. Sorry Garry!! I wanted
to record the blowoff but as it was I got there late anyway and would
not have been able to set up. I would have liked to have had it to
record some of the seminars and other performances. Oh well. It's now
stuck in my badly damaged memory cells. Maybe someone else has this
stuff.

Charley Musselwhite's session with some playing and Q&A is something
I'll never forget. Warren Bee EXCELLENT job on that my man! 
PS If anyone recorded Charlie Musselwhite's "Help Me" I'd love to have
that, heard some things in there I'd like to try! Contact me offlist. It
was great meeting Charlie and talking to him. He had no problem hanging
out like a regular guy and didn't just perform and split. He was there
yesterday too, even though his gig was done on Thurs. 

There was one performer there that I thought was just real cool. Dave
Moore from Iowa City. Kind of a folksy cross between Johnny Cash and
Bruce Springsteen (but be advised he can play some nasty electric blues
harp!) He played racked harp and acoustic guitar and sometimes button
accordion. I was struck by the deep and profound sadness in his demeanor
and music, such beautiful music and a deep rich voice and GREAT rack
harp playing. I was later told by Paul Davies that he had a tragedy so
that says a lot I guess. He was very funny too though, and due to a
schedule mixup had to leave right after performing Thurs night and drive
to a gig in the Catskills of ny, yikes. I bought two of his CDs and
enjoyed them all the way home. He's got a new song that wasn't on them
unfortunately, that I thought had hit potential. "What's a Drinker to
Do" or something like that. Anyone who knows where I can buy that song
let me know. http://davemoore.info/

Of course the travel sucked, delays and all this. Got to the blowoff as
Winslow was finishing up. Damn. I sure would have liked to have heard
all of that! What can you say about the blowoff. Amazing stuff.
Sometimes chaotic, always amazing. Saw Jason in the rest room, he said
they were behind and he wouldn't be able to play. Yeah right. He played.
Chris did a great job too, despite some early technical problems. I
guess there was the normal amount of that for everyone, using gear not
their own. LD Miller, Madcat, Peloquin, JASON, everyone up there of
course was amazing. It was tres cool sitting with Greg Heumnann and
picking his brain on some mic issues, and meeting Rusty, Michael Hines
(me brudda!) and the local St Louis contingent (except my old friend
Howard Young who was too far up front to reach!). I got pretty hammered
and had a great time, offered to help break down at the end, hung
outside with some cool people, got a ride back in the new blood-mobile
with Jason, Chris and some others with Jason following Brody, despite
what his GPS was telling him. It was a hilarious and sometimes
frightening ride!

The next day, walking in the place, you are immediately blown away by
the *huge* number of harmonica players of every type just jamming away
everywhere you can see. In the hotel lobby, in the bar, in the
bathrooms, at the pool, outside at the restaurants, EVERYWHERE. Crazy
bass, chord, chromatic, everywhere. And just kicking it. Never thought
I'd enjoy some of those styles as much as I did. It was all beautiful,
seeing some of those "seasoned citizens" play with so much gusto.

Rj Mischo and Jimi Lee were ever-present playing in performances, out in
the hallways, etc. Can't say enough about the abilities of those guys,
can't ever get enough of hearing them play. Brendan Power was always
around too, although I didn't get to hear him play much.

There was a gaggle of teens/twenties players there like LD Miller,
Kaleena Hutchins (sp?), Julian, Jay who were ridiculously good for their
age. That was very inspiring to see. They had their own "young at harp"
little club/group and performed admirably Thurs night and were ever
present, soaking up knowledge. Look out for that gang of brats!!

The seminars were great. Some were over my head and challenged me and
drilled home again the importance of learning the musical vocabulary and
how to read. I'm still working at that. Harder now though. Some were
just completely end to end great. Michael Rubin is a *great* teacher and
knows the perfect mix of beginning, intermediate, and advanced stuff to
throw at an audience. I highly recommend him. I went to his first
position and minor seminars. Well organized handouts, clear and engaging
discussion and demonstration.

I wasn't staying at the hotel for the conference due to using Hilton
points to stay at the Hampton inn up the road for free. Only a mile
away, I walked it in the dead of st louis night, and pestered the
shuttle drivers at the Hampton who were none too gracious in hauling my
butt back and forth. I had to miss some stuff due to the demands of my
work, unfortunately. I ran back at 10:30pm for the 11-1am blues jam
session the first night. It was a *huge* circle with the scary/funny
BUZZ holding court (I don't want to SEE anyone drinking alcohol...).
Filisko played brushes, they had a bass and guitar player (a few I
think), mandolins, etc. As the circle went around I heard some
outrageous stuff being played. Everyone got pretty much 12 bars
(sometimes 24 if you were kicking ass) and then around it went again.
Me, I didn't participate because when I'm at those things I get restless
and start thinking "I should be back in my room practicing and working
on some of the stuff I learned today". Plus I still just don't feel good
enough. I probably never will, despite how good I get. 

The Filisko teach-in was great as always, I went to one of those at
Buckeye a few years ago. Joe pouring water, table to table, and the most
amazing things happening. I sat in with Peloquin and some folks and
worked on Chicken Shack with some great variations and tips from
Michael. Moved over to Jimmy Gordon's table where he took turns doing
amazing harp repair instructions and chastising his students when they
needed it. I thought "now this is one dude that I really like", he just
has that great acerbic wit that I always enjoy. What a cool dude. I
loved it when some of the folks stepped out of line and he pointedly put
them back in place. And he's kicking the nicotine habit, what a brave
and hard thing to do. I'm proud of you Jimmy! Outside we were sharing a
pizza (thanks!) and he was showing off his patch and chomping nicorette
gum, when he could get it out of the package. When you're eating pizza
with jimmy Gordon, you attract attention. Before I knew it our patio
table was filled with harp and harp-l luminaries - David Barrett, Rubin,
krantz, bee, michalek, smo-joe, madcat, so many more. I was in awe and
pinned at the back of the table. I was terrified someone was going to
pull out harps and say "let's all play!" it was very cool listening to
them all break each others chops and interact. 

Anyway this got way too long, but I just want to wrap up and say the
BEST thing about SPAH was meeting so many of my heros (and sometimes
foes?) from harp-l. Particularly SMOKEY JOE, who I didn't get near
enough time with. He's a busy and in demand fellow. What an amazing
person. He's seen it all, done it all, I could talk to him all day. He's
got a few years on me but I'm sure he could kick my ass, haha. You rock
smo-joe! Anyway, yeah, all the others too. Rupert was so cool (got me a
Seydel Big Six!), Greg Heumann, Jeff Spoor with his amazing cases, 

My big regret is that I couldn't go out with my good buddies Mike
Easton, Dane Paul Russell, John Merx and Rick Smith (the US one). All
had commitments, but maybe next year. As some of you know, Chris had
challenged me to a shoot out and that's pretty much why I went. We
finally agreed to meet at midnight in the abandoned coca-cola factory
nearby, bringing nothing but a b-flat harp, no special tunings, no guns,
knives, retainers or handlers. Let's just say that it was a battle do
the death pretty much, but in the end, I left him wasted there, like so
many others who have tried their hand against me. I'm glad we decided to
do this mano-a-mano without audiences, because I would have felt bad. He
was truly brave in his attempt. I left him an advance copy of my new
instruction book, pinned to his chest so that he could check it out when
he came to. Ok, j/k of course. It was great meeting you buddah, and as
others have said, your "non computer" personna is much nicer :-) 

I had to leave Friday, which was really sad for me. Work and home
commitments, someday I'm gonna retire before I die. I was truly crushed
to have to walk out and miss so much, but at least a I got a few days
worth. What a wonderful event put on by so many hard working people.
Roget Bales and his wonderful wife doing registration, Paul Davies,
great job! Next year it's on the "left coast" in Sacramento so that's
going to be a challenge. I might have to settle for Buckeye or Garden
State but I'm sure going to try to get to SPAH!

Bill Hines
Left My Heart in Ole St Louey