Re: [Harp-L] Fame, Grammys, etc.

[spschndr@xxxxxxx]

Profound thanks to the many friends & strangers who chimed in with congratulations?on & offlist about the Grammy.? I'll say it again, the right set of coat tails and Not Screwing Up Too Much can work wonders.

What I hear now is that we don't get a gramophone statuette, we get a certificate saying we played on a winning session . . . Henry Townsend, one of the headliners on the CD, recorded commercially every decade from the 1920s thru the Oughts of this century: how?awesome is that?? My impression is that he was the U.S. record holder.? He's not around for them to give him a Lifetime Achievement Award, he passed last year at the age of 102, I think it was.? Would that he'd still been on this plane.? Incidentally, the allegedly ornery?Robert Lockwood Jr. was exceedingly gracious, I guess he was over the LW thang by then :-).

Possibly we can all get our picture taken with?a picture of Pinetop Perkins & his statuette.? Photoshop can work wonders, just you watch.? And keep an eye out for the Blue Shoe Project's ongoing effort to get blues into schools--listmember David Berntson is doing that for Blue Shoe, if you didn't notice his updates already.

I was not trying to sound ultra-blase about the achievement, but I know from experience of other improbably wonderful musical adventures?that it will have minimal effect on my daily life.? The main thing you notice the morning after you win a Grammy is that people bought you entirely too many congratulory drinks the night before.? [Insert rehab joke here.]? It's a wonderful award because people know what to think about it, they can deal with it, apart from believing that you helped win one (that may be a stretch--about 95% of the people I told about the nomination shouted, "No way!"? Imagine their response to the win.? That's why I leaned on the producers to correct the spelling of my name last month).

It's not a stretch to say that Harp-L played a part in anything positive I contributed to the occasion.? My harmonica playing developed a lot between 1999 and 2001 and Harp-L had a great deal to do with that.? That night was the only time I've played an event at that level, but I was ready enough for it, apparently.? So thanks again to all who helped with that, especially to the hyper-gracious elite, who just go on being these approachable/personable harmonica stars, who do you think y'all are, being as nice as you are, and talented too?:-).

I was given a set of parameters that night, I dealt with them & didn't torpedo the set, and now I have this Grammy thang to get over.? I'm working on it.? Thanks again, all--

Stephen Schneider

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