[Harp-L] In a dangerous place with a broken harp

["michael rubin" <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>]

This weekend I played a Christmas party for a cow fattening company in
Freona Texas.  I do not know the term for it, but it is basically a
cow hotel where they house cows and fatten them, then truck them to
the slaughterhouses.  They fed us a steak dinner.  Anyway,  I am
pretty sure they had heard about jewish people, but I might have been
the first they had ever actually seen.  I chose to keep that bit of
information quiet.

We were to sleep at a house that was hosting an after party.  There
were many very drunk people who when you asked them what they did for
a living, they would answer , "I'm a cowboy".  Even the women,
verbatim.  Actually, I felt kind of a kinship, one guy said "as long
as I can can on that horse every day, I'll be okay."  I can relate to
that.

Anyway, I was saying goodnight when someone said, "You got that harp
in your pocket?"
"Yes sir."  "Play us a Christmas tune."  Well, even though I was
raised jewish I love Christmas tunes and play in a gospel band that
just played a Christmas show, so I was unafraid.  Until my harp
refused to play 3 draw.

The cowboys were reaching for their guns.  I had to transpose all my
Christmas songs up an octave very quickly or face the same fate as
those cows.  Quite a challenge, and fun was had by all.

Michael Rubin
Michaelrubinharmonica.com