Re: [Harp-L] bluegrass harmonica (referenced in Country Western Harmonica Pla...

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

On Jan 17, 2009, at 6:32 AM, Cara Cooke wrote:
>   In an ideal festival line-up, for me, would be a good draw or
> two, then I could fill the rest of the festival with our stellar  
> local Texas
> bands.

That's what Birmingham was. Charlie McCoy headlined and there were  
several OTHER stellar performers there. A number of which were  
headliners themselves. AND they had back-up.

>   In all of that, I would want to make certain that I had very good
> players on all of the instruments, including harmonica and dobro, and
> stellar harmonies.  And I would ask those players to host a workshop
> and spend time in the campground with the attendees and jam a  
> little.  For
> bluegrassers, that is the biggest draw of all -- to be assured that  
> there
> will be wonderful players to jam with and opportunities to ask  
> questions and
> learn, even one little tidbit, from a player they truely respect.

This has been a thorn with me. It used to be that there was a lot of  
open mike time and it was IN the open (usually an atrium) where  
passersby could stroll by and hesitate for a while and listen.  
Lately, open mike has been more or less in a hidden locale and  
sometimes even in a meeting room with the doors closed. There are a  
LOT of players whom are neophytes BUT would still like to get in some  
play time. And since THEY are the backbone of the whole enchilada,  
and are spending thousands of dollars, to be THERE instead of some  
nice little cruise, they should get their 15 minutes of fame. Even if  
a festival has to curtail some of the SHOW time to do it. I get upset  
when the 'little guy' gets ignored.
> Cara

We are in total agreement. One thing I should point out: Let's say I  
am going to play tonight and beforehand I make mention that I will be  
using the Hohner 270 (or Hering 5148) chromo and the spl-20  
exclusively. Why SHOULD I? I mean, why should people who don't get  
any benefit give free advertisement to a company that should do  
something themselves. It would be like BUYING a t-shirt, or hat from  
one of these companies and then giving them a free billboard. Stars  
make up only a small percentage of the harmonica world. It's the  
'peons' that the manufacturers should go after.

smo-joe


> On Sat, Jan 10, 2009 at 5:47 PM, <IcemanLE@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > Great post, Cara. I agree with SMOJO - well written.