[Harp-L] Re: band drinking, minimal harp content

[Ray Beltran <raybeltran@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

When I lived in California, I was able to attend an impromptu seminar  
at our local community college held by Dizzy Gillespie. He was  
performing in my home town during the weekend, and spent Friday with  
students and faculty. My mom was Head Librarian, and was able to get  
me in.

During the seminar, the question of playing while under the influence  
came up. He said that he thought he had always played better after  
having one here or there, nothing stupid as far as the amount of  
consumption. His impression of his performance was that he was really  
nailin' it. Until, that is, a friend of his gave him a tape of a  
recent performance. He remembered the night, and how much (or how  
little) he had to drink, and after hearing, in a much sober state of  
mind, how bad his playing really was, he vowed never to drink again  
before or during a performance.

I seem to recall "no drinks" was one of Howlin' Wolf's band rules.  
Very business-like sort of fellow when it came to the "business" of  
music.

To answer the question, no, I never tell my guys what to do; they're  
big boys. But if the rhythm section in particular isn't together,  
they're gonna hear about it. And if drinking is part of the reason the  
sound is loosey-goosey, then I'll address that specifically.

Stay thirsty, my friends...
Ray.
--
My Music – www.resgraphics.com/music
My YouTube – www.youtube.com/raybee127
MySpace – www.myspace.com/bluemax503





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> Message: 5
> Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 18:20:15 +0000 (UTC)
> From: pdxharpdog@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [Harp-L] band drinking, minimal harp content
> To: List harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
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> I have a question - does your band have any rules on alcohol  
> consumption before/during a show?  My band recently had a less than  
> optimum performance that was directly related to alcohol consumption  
> by the bass player and drummer who were both quite buzzed as we went  
> on stage. This caused the tempos to be all screwed up, and lead to  
> a new band rule - no drinking before a show starts.  During the  
> show we still have an occasional drink on stage if allowed by the  
> venue or as is often the case bought by fans and brought to the  
> stage.  Our subsequent shows have all been great since this rule.
>
>
>
> Harp Content:  It takes all of my faculties and focus to play  
> harp sober let alone buzzed.
>
>
>
> Ross Macdonald