RE: [Harp-L] Who sez Harp Players can't ACT !!!

["John Balding" <John.Balding@xxxxxxxxx>]

I think that the intent of the original post was to celebrate a harmonica player who achieved a fairy high-profile role in a film. 

Many recording artists enter the motion picture world (Beyonce, Bette Midler, Dolly Parton, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Mark Wahlberg, etc.) after they have developed notoriety for themselves in the recording industry. It is their fame in the music business which often affords them the opportunity to enter into the world of the big screen.

In a medium which is as hard to break into as the film industry, it is uplifting to see a harmonica player get the nod. Maybe the producer is a big Musselwhite fan. Maybe the director met Musselwhite at a party once. Maybe somebody knew somebody who pulled some strings. Or maybe, just maybe, he was chosen because he is a high-profile, respected musician who they felt would ad some name-recognition to the picture. I don't know and I don't care. The point is that, through whatever means, a harmonica player is going to be in a major commercial film. 

We harp players get cast aside all the time and are rarely taken seriously for our craft/profession. I'm just happy to see a harp player hit the big screen in an acting role and not the cliché "bar band background player" or the bumbling comedy troupe image. PLEASE DON'T TAKE THAT THE WRONG WAY!!! I am not discounting any harp player's contribution to the film industry or belittling their contributions to the advancement of the harmonica. I'm just saying that this is a different path for a harp player this time around and I hope it elicits positive results for Charlie and may even create some interest in who he is and what he really does for a living.

John Balding
Tallahassee, FL