[Harp-L] Chris Michalek

[Mick Zaklan <mzaklan@xxxxxxxxx>]

   Life is just too short to procrastinate.  I met Chris at the 91' SPAH
Convention.  I made a comment to him that he took as an insult.  Wasn't
intended that way, but as a clumsy and nervous attempt at humor.  I
backpedaled immediately, apologized and tried to smooth things over.  Chris
didn't seem to be buying it though; and it bothered me enough that every
convention after that, I made a point of seeking Chris out and asking him
how he was doing.  We had a string of pleasant and
sometimes revealing conversations over the years.  I'll never forget one
year he commiserated with me about how hurt and insulted he had been that
SPAH had pulled the plug on Minneapolis as a convention site.  He had been
deeply involved with the effort.  A year or two later he threw what probably
was the greatest harmonica fest ever held on American soil.  Partly, I
suspect, as payback.
   Back in 2011, my wife and I wound up seated with Chris at a SPAH
banquet.  I commented to the table that Chris and I went back to the 91'
convention.  "Yeah," Chris replied, "you're the guy that..." and
basically unloaded on me in front of my wife and six or seven other diners
for a comment made a decade before.  As you can imagine, it was an
uncomfortable dinner after that.  Chris bolted after his last forkful and
sat elsewhere.  And I was pretty angry, too.
    But in years following that dust-up, we managed to be cordial.  One year
we happened to share a cab to the airport and he offered me a chance to play
a Suzuki Mangi that he had just tweaked.  The harmonica played beautifully
and I was touched by his generosity.  To a guy that he probably had issues
with.
    Regarding the procrastination.  I told myself then that I should resolve
this thing.  Get around to ordering a harp from him, or buy his cd, or just
sit down at his teaching table and show him some respect.  Get to know him
better.  Because I certainly did respect him;  though I disagreed with some
of his posts, I watched this kid extend himself time and time again to the
harmonica community.  He was a lovely, emotional player.  Frankly, I envied
his ability to get so good in such a short period of time.  They say that,
inevitably, your personality will seep into your playing.  The thing about
Chris, I never got the feeling that he was playing something meticulously
calculated or rehearsed when soloing.  It seemed to me that he had a direct
line into his heart when he played.  If he was angry, sad, or joyous; you
could sure hear it in his notes.  That's the highest praise I can give a
musician.
   The outpouring of testimonials for Chris here on harp-l pretty much says
it all.  And shame on me for not getting around to completely patching up
things between us and telling this guy how much I genuinely dug his playing
and all the good things he did for our community.  Maybe I thought I had
another 20 years to do this.  I did not.  My condolences to his family.  God
bless you, Chris.

Mick Zaklan