Warren:
I truly don't get it. I'm running on empty after getting home from GSHC
with practically no sleep for 4 days (I got there Wed. night), even though,
like you it's the only Festival reasonably close to my home.. missing many
Harp-l digests since my mailbox was overflowing, but honestly...this post
of yours left even ME dumbfounded and I certainly do usually 'get' your
sense of humour!
I wait to read the older posts before catching up with the newer, since I
prefer them in order...but couldn't wait to see what people had to say
about this absolutely INCREDIBLE Festival Val Redler and Phil Caltabellotta
managed to turn GSHC into this year (with the help of a few elves - one of
whom was you).
The reviews you gave of the performances were (for the most part) right on
- except you missed out on some GREAT beat-box playing by LD and Zach
Gaviria - but that's ok~ I videotaped them in the Lobby. InCREDIBLE stuff...We
were only missing Brendan (from their SPAH performance of it), but Zach and
LD traded off the parts which was especially fun and intriguing to my ears
:)
But....somehow, IF this previous post was supposed to be written
'tongue-in-cheek', I'm afraid it fell far short of its aim. Just to be sure I wasn't
being too critical, I had the other member of my household give it a read
- with no preparation. 'Just read
Warren's reviews of the Fest' - and he's been a friend of yours for a long
time now.
He was as horrified by that particular post as were (so far) the half
dozen people who've been emailing me asking what it was about: 'did the fest
really suck?' 'what's up with Warren?', etc.
Frankly, Mr. Bee - I'm hard-pressed to explain it. You never make typos,
you always sign your posts with your title of Entertainment director - this
post varied quite a bit. So I'm asking now. What gives?
Understanding that a good 60% of the attendees were folks who don't have an
appreciation for sarcasm or 'NY humour', I believe you need to explain
just what you meant, and for Pete's sake remove that title before you scare
away people who think it wasn't the absolutely brilliant Festival it turned
out to be!
For MY part, although I'm not yet ready to write an in-depth review of the
amazing performances and great people in attendance: some I already knew
and reconnected with, some new friends I've made at this Fest, I can state
unequivocally that this 2009 GARDEN STATE HARMONICA FESTIVAL has so far been
one of THE top two Festivals I've attended since I began going to Buckeye
and then SPAH in 2005. This is my 10th Harmonica Convention and it's a tie
in first place with only one SPAH I've been to. That's how good it became.
C'mon....Saturday night - Will Galison jamming on stage, then with Hendrick
Meurkens and Enrico Granafei? Whoooo!...there were other such amazing
moments....I'll talk about those later (unless they're already covered).
One thing people should know: SPAH is huge - I don't dislike that aspect of
it but some do.
By contrast, GSHC is very personal, very warm. The biggest stars with no egos sitting side by side with the likes of me. There is no 'policing' of videos and photos, ergo no wasting of people's energies towards what is actually an ineffective pursuit.
Actually, SPAH could learn from the indefatigable Val Redler. She was
going non-stop dawn to dusk -and far beyond. Besides the work involved leading
up TO the Festival, but now during....Not only supporting Phil in his
performances, but working with the manager of the venue to ensure as best she
could the smooth behind-the-scenes running of the various performances;
....the myriad horrible little details one can't foresee inevitably going
wrong. She handled it all with equanimity. I'm proud to call her my friend,
and to have been involved in even a tiny way with GSHC.
Bottom line, Warren...you need to explain that post.
Elizabeth
"Message: 4 Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:41:19 -0500 From: Warren Bee <gardenstateharmonica@xxxxxxxxx> Subject: [Harp-L] Garden State Harmonica Festival Sucked To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx Message-ID: <ecfbf3c90911221541x27cb80a1m8f1432f09276bb7b@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
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"
------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l