[Harp-L] SPAH

["steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <swebb@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Everyone who attends a convention like SPAH will come away with their own perspective. I was interested in reading Mike Fugazzi's, which of course is way different from mine.
Mike is in that upper echelon of players, and therefore gained easy access to all the other upper echelon guys.
Me? I'm several levels below that and anything those guys said would pass right over my head.
But the neat thing about SPAH is that you don't have to be a close personal friend of Buzz Krantz, or hang with the guys who are on stage playing much of the time, to still have a ball.
 Me? I had a big time  hanging with Hal and Paul and Fred and Dave and... well you get the idea. 
I had fun in the bluegrass jam. And going to the Tues. nite blues blowoff in Hal's car, even if I did have to ride in the rumble seat. 
I got to play a little in Jimi Lee's afternoon jam, I won a t-shirt and a Big River, thanks to Hal and Paul... I spent a little money on harp stuff I probably don't need..    
My daughter joined me for lunch one day and we were lucky enough to run into Joe Leone, who made my daughter's day with his story of playing with Ernest Tubb.
Buckweed let me play his upright bass on Saturday night at the Bluegrass Jam.  Kaleena Hutchings showed me how to play Orange Blossom Special. My buddy, Warren B. took time to show me (again) some fifth position things that really helped. Wish I could have had some more time with him.
Rob Papparozzi again proved that he is still my favorite harp player and one of my favorite people. I learned much from just one session at the teach-in with Steve Baker. And learned how to improve my tone at a seminar.
I struggled on Friday because of migraine issues, but rebounded pretty well on Sat. and had a good day. Of course, i was up 'til 3 a.m. most nights and back at it by 8 a.m. the following morning. You have to do that, it's a rule.
The overall quality of the players at SPAH is overwhelming to a clank like me. 
Here's my favorite SPAH moment, since I'm numb from lack of sleep and need to go to bed:
Sitting in the blues jam circle, waiting for things to get started. There's this 10-year-old kid named Carlo sitting to my right and he's noodling. I'm half-listening while talking to Mike Fugazzi.  A sound catches my ear:
"Did you just play an overblow?" I said to Carlo.
"Yeah," he said. "Why? Don't you like overblows?"
I explained that I liked them fine, but I wasn't used to hearing them from 10-year-olds.
"I'm almost 11," he explained.
Signing out for now.
Steve Webb in Minnesota..... still winding down from harp overload.