[Harp-L] 46th SPAH -- best ever

[Philharpn@xxxxxxx]

Got home to suburban Detroit at 6:30 a.m. Monday after a routine 4-hour 
flight from California.

Leaving the long-term Detroit Metro Airport parking in my car in wee hours 
today, I passed the Crown Plaza - the hotel where SPAH met for so many years 
and only an hour's drive from my home.

There was a lot of talk during the week in Sacramento about this being the 
largest and best SPAH ever and I have to agree. Some 450 people attended, 
more than any other convention. 

But probably the most remarkable aspect of the convention is that it was 
sponsored by the Harmonicoots of Sun City, a harmonica club that didn't even 
exist until about four years ago.

Granted, having a strong, active local harmonica club is not the only 
determining factor in locating a SPAH convention, but it certainly helps. The 
Coots stage show, with SINGING, string bass, guitar showed how lively a large 
harmonica ensemble can be.

Some of the highlights for me included the new 3 p.m. daily performances -- 
which double the number of shows and stage performances during the week.

Splitting the Thursday night performances into a blues stage and main 
stage. This means you could watch an evening of blues without having to wait for 
the harmonica bands and night club acts to get over. The bad part is that I 
missed seeing Sissi Jones (Hohner technician par excellence and classical 
performer) on stage.

One of more interesting workshops was conducted by sax-harpman Michael 
Peloquin on playing horn lines like a horn section on the diatonic harmonica. 
I'm still working over the handout he gave us. The third day, he had some 
friends demonstrate the piece. 

This seems like an item that would make a good demonstration piece for one 
of the afternoon shows. The value extends beyond the single harp player; 
knowing how to play like a horn player could ease the traffic jam when several 
harp players show up by providing strong roles for three or four at a time.

Harp Depot arrived to open on Saturday, having suffered four breakdowns 
enroute from Marion, Ohio. Usually, there are as many people hanging out in the 
Harp Depot store as attend any given seminar.

Of course for Hohner fans, Hohner was passing out T-shirts (I played my 
Hohner at SPAH) to anyone who showed Hohner reps their Hohner harmonica.   And 
if you were curious about the new Hohner Crossover Marine Band (list price 
$99), Hohner had a half dozen or so available for personal -- and on Saturday 
(the last day) offered new Crossovers for sale at a discount.   Hohner was 
also selling low Eb and low F# Big River harps for $5 each. 

Another highlight was seeing Christelle Berthon in person performance. I 
knew she was good from watching her videos on youtube, but hearing her live 
was the icing on the cake.

Of course, James Conway, Paul Davies Charlie Musselwhite, Steve Baker, 
Brendon Power, Mark Hummel and Jimi Lee and Bruce Kurnow playing diatonic 
harmonica in a rack attached to his orchestra string harp. And noted Hollywood 
soundtrack chromatic/diatonic Tommy Morgan was great. 

I don't know for sure, but I would suspect that many people only attend the 
SPAH conventions soak up Joe Filisko's Teach-In instructors.

And the people involved in the PR were fantastic. I saw two segments on TV 
-- and there were more. Plus, the free show was a sellout.

There was lots more. Others can fill in the blanks about other workshops - 
seminars and how the jams went. The daytime schedule was jam packed, 
frequently several items were offered at the same time, so choices had to be made.

See you all next year in Minnesota because I want to check out Lake 
Wobegon.

cheers,

Phil