RE: [Harp-L] Bob Dylan Signature Harmonica Series for Hohner

["Bradford Trainham" <bradford.trainham@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

So if you just can't abide Dylan, this might be a hard sell...
This might also fly in the face of the direction of the discussions about
"sense before feeling", (heavy paraphrasing), but for those of us who try to
write songs, Bob Dylan, with his "voice" and his "harmonica technique" was
(and for me still is) an invaluable teacher.
I'd even use the word brilliant, but I'd place his supposed brilliance
completely outside the realm of technique. 
And... Once safely outside that realm, couldn't we posit the possibility of
using the harmonica almost as an atmospheric prompt, the said atmosphere
being largely within the psyche of the listener? 
 As in... Visions of Johannah, Desolation Row, almost anything off John
Wesley Harding, the Blood On The Tracks version of Simple Twist of Fate and
others.
Of course, a resounding !!NO!! Might have to be the answer, but music isn't
all about technique.
Was Dylan !!ever!! Representing himself as a "real harmonica player", or did
the media inadvertently foster his being accepted by some as such? 
In fact, did he ever suggest his being a "real guitarist" or a real
"singer"?  (Singers and guitarists hate him too sometimes!)
The only group I've ever seen him compare himself to overtly would be poets,
and maybe such a comparison would spark dismay/dissent on the poets-l list.
Is the real problem here Dylan (who probably couldn't give "a rolling stone"
about harmonica technique) or the lack of recognition of what makes a
harmonica player technically excellent outside the community of people who
play harps? 
And even though you're probably absolutely right about signature toys, what
if someone, on the strength of thinking Dylan was a groovy guy... Bought one
of those toys... And had an aptitude that ended up taking him beyond what
Dylan ever accomplished on the harp?
(Okay, this one was about Dylan, so it !!had!! To be long and wordy, right?)
Brad ("I heard the song of a "poet" who endorsed a harmonica.") Trainham

-----Original Message-----
From: harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Robert Koch free
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2008 5:47 PM
To: IcemanLE@xxxxxxx; harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Bob Dylan Signature Harmonica Series for Hohner

> BLOW ME, IT'S BOB DYLAN'S HARMONICA
>
>
> Billboard reports Bob Dylan is for the first time endorsing a line of 
> harmonicas made by Hohner. The harmonicas will be called the Bob Dylan 
> Signature Series and feature Dylan's embossed signature. In addition 
> to the Signature Series, Hohner will be selling 25 sets of seven 
> harmonicas and 100 individual harmonicas. Each is hand signed by Dylan 
> and both are set to go on sale in October.
>
   And I bet they will all sound like a piece of shite! So, what is the
point Hohner USA is trying to make here? What we need is an good instrument,
and not a toy signed by somebody who never  knew how to play anyway. This
marketing ploy by a company that gave us the Marine Band, the Deluxe and the
Golden Meldoy is, in my opinion, pathetic and, yes, insulting when Seydel,
Suzuki and others are trying to match, one has to reckon with some success,
these fine harmonicas.
   Sunnyside 

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