[Harp-L] Garden State Harmonica Festival Sucked

["Joshua King" <joshuaking@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Warren,

Oh no it didn't!  You're a hoot.  Take some Vitamin C and get some rest.
You worked tirelessly throughout the festival and were a tremendous help.
You know Josh was wiping down very single harmonica with alchohol wipes. So
he said don't even think about blaming him even though he was still
recovering from the pneumonia he had earlier in November.  His lungs will be
back to normal soon.  I think at one point he counted every single Suzuki
and Seydel harmonica there as he wiped them all down and polished every
harmonica on the tables.  

Yeah, the festival messed him up and kept him up way past his bedtime and
you know it was already a long week for him.  But he would not have missed
it for the world.  Heck, his sister and I had to chase him down and corner
him just to catch him so we could go home.  He did not want to leave the
festival.  He absorbed so much more than I realized. He learned so much from
all the wonderful people and musicians there.  You were all so wonderful to
him. He and I spent a good part of this afternoon loading up the new CDs he
got on his ipod....Sgro Brothers, Howard Levy, Rob Paparozzi, Jia-yi-He,
Chris Bauer, etc.  He loved all the music from the blues diatonic to the
classical chromatic players.  It was so diverse and he was exposed to so
many different styles and uses for the harmonica and the music in an
intimate atmosphere.  He loved Al and Judy Smith doing Star Wars.  He
thought Stan Harper was phenomenal.  The hotel was great.  There was so much
going on that he could not do everything he wanted.  

He had been looking forward to this event ever since last April.  This was
his first event of this kind.  Wow! What an amazing first experience it was
for the kid!  Val and Phil have worked really hard and the entire event was
absolutely amazing.  He did not want to miss any minute of it. The festival
drew world class musicians from all over and everyone was so willing to
share their knowledge and passions.  For my kid, the GSHC Festival fueled
his passions for the instrument and the music.  Phil and Val and all his
other "aunts and uncles" at the GSHC are truly wonderful people. As for
their dedication, what can I say?  Charlie Toker played his chromatic with
his band and for the boys even though he had just broken his arm and was in
pain.  Unbelievable!

Josh was so inspired by all this that he spent part of the afternoon writing
down a new song and chart to help teach the kids to play harmonica at next
years beginners workshop.  He can't wait to show Val and Phil.  This is what
this festival was about...teaching, sharing, inspiring, and preserving.


Joy King (Joshua's mom)


Josh King

 
www.joshuaking.net
www.youtube.com/joshuaking1
www.myspace.com/joshuatking
www.facebook.com/joshuatking






-----Original Message-----
From: Warren Bee [mailto:gardenstateharmonica@xxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2009 6:41 PM
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Harp-L] Garden State Harmonica Festival Sucked

Worse gathering I ever attended. No fun at all.

Thank goodness Foxwoods was on my way home so I could win back the money I
wasted spending three days at that funky Holiday Inn. I know that I was the
one doing all the pre-hype about big time players showing up at this thing.
Nobody any good showed up. Even Santa Claus was a jerk.

Then I come back to find a bunch of harp-l digests in my inbox. Most of them
full of sarcastic BS. Have fun, don't have fun. Who cares?

I'm tired. I''m gonna fry up a few twinkies and then hit the sack. I'm also
feeling a little queasy. I think I may have cought something from all the
spit that was flying around the hotel.

Warren Bee