[Harp-L] Re: Subject: Re: Dumping on other harmonica players' Videos for no good reason...

[Mike Fugazzi <mikefugazzi@xxxxxxxxx>]

I love blues...and jazz...but I am personally a rocker at heart.  My
set at the SPAH blowoff is going to be a mix or originals and covers
and none of them are going to be straight blues.  But, related to the
previous posts, I was originally scared to do it that way.  NiteRail
has always been a modern blues band, but I am moving away from that
project and am fronting my own band again which is largely rock based
(sorta Blues Traveler meets Derek Trucks).

When I started getting songs together, I really felt that if I didn't
show that I could play blues, I would be doing my harmonica
"reputation" (not that there is much there to begin with) damage by
not doing some straight blues.  Eventually I realized my motivations
in picking songs were coming from the wrong place.  I applaud this
dude for doing what he's doing.  I don't need to like it, but I can
respect the effort he has put into this and accept it for what it is.
I am unsure of his motivations, but share the connection of wanting to
put the harmonica into not-so-ordinary contexts.

In my fantasy land of make believe, I've always been blowing harp in
place of Duane Allman, lol.  Not to say that I am in this position,
but I've always had a soft spot for people trying to be different on
harmonica.  Even when it sucks, I always enjoy the effort and intent.
It is hard to be different and good.  It is much easier to copy what
is already judged as "good".

I am even willing to admit I enjoy Lady Gaga and her schtick as I
think her attitude closely resembles the lyrics to the Blues Traveler
song "Hook".



On Jul 10, 5:07 pm, EGS1...@xxxxxxx wrote:
> I don't know why you'd bring SPAH into it Billy,  but your post does bring
> up something I've wanted to make clear  to anyone tuning in for the first
> time: the harmonica world isn't ONLY made up  of Blues, or Jazz, or Classical
> players, or harp-l for that matter.
>
> There actually ARE those of us who prefer to play other songs on our  
> harmonicas.  I do get that the majority of people posting here are Blues  players
> and believe that the world revolves around blues only, but that's far  from
> reality.
>
> While there are people in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America  who
> enjoy copying American Blues, they are certainly not in the majority. The  
> harmonica is predominantly used to play whatever music is played IN their own  
> countries, even to the Pop music of the day.
>
> For my part, I prefer to play R&B, Classic Rock, Old Standards or  Smooth
> Jazz (whichever interpretation you make of that) or any other  song which
> strikes my fancy no matter the 'genre'. While I wouldn't recognize a  Lady gaga
> song and have no interest whatsoever in that particular singer, there  
> still are some reasonably contemporary artists whose music I consider  perfectly
> acceptable to cover. I play Sade songs, Gloria Estefan, Cyndia Lauper,  The
> Eagles, Simply Red, to name just a few. To each his own.
>
> There's an interesting interview with Elvin Bishop in the current  BluesWax
> Ezine referring to his earlier descriptions of 'Blues Nazis'  who dumped on
> him for his playing which he reaffirms to the interviewer.  
>
> I personally don't feel anyone has earned the right to be a  'harmonica
> nazi', I don't care how good you are.
> Where is it written that the instrument MUST be used for one 'style' or  
> sound only? If that were the case shouldn't we all then still be playing
> German  Oompah music?
>
> Thank goodness for those willing to step outside the box...a la LD Miller  
> at last year's SPAH, so ably backed and encouraged by Brendan Power. It was  
> incredibly brilliant and to my mind at least shows one direction the
> 'future' of  the harmonica just might take...I was dying to hear more.
>
> _http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqvnIalGgBk_
> (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqvnIalGgBk)
>
> We should all be able to play and enjoy whatever music floats our  own
> particular boat without being looked down on or made fun of by  other harmonica
> players. EsPECIALLY other harmonica players!  
>
> Speaking of SPAH - the entire premise of SPAH in case some of you don't  
> know or have forgotten is: 'Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica'.
> It's  not: 'Preservation and Advancement of: blues, jazz, classical -
> harmonica to the  exclusion of all other types of music'.  
>
> What's particularly interesting is that the very best players who have  
> achieved the highest pinnacles of success and skill (and this is true with most
>  instruments as well) are the ones least likely to dump on other musicians.
>
> Martin made a comment earlier about wondering why would we think  it'd be a
> good thing to promote the playing of harmonica among children and  I see
> this as part of the same discussion:  Because - with new players of  any genre
> coming along - showing interest in harmonica, buying instruments as  they
> develop their interest, keeps harmonica companies in business which in turn  
> helps YOU (and all of us) still have access to the instruments we hope to
> keep  playing. If for no other reason than pure selfishness, it behooves us to
> welcome  new players.
>
> For some strange reason people here seem to believe they speak for the  
> harmonica community at large and have no real recognition that they are  only a
> tiny microcosm of the HUGE harmonica playing community around the  World.
> There are hundreds of thousands of players out there who have absolutely  NO
> idea that this and/or any other harmonica group exists and would care less  
> even if they did know. They don't care what conclusions you all come to,
> don't  care what 'tests' are run (and decisions made which are then supposedly
> binding  on the rest of them), and for the most part - a lot of these
> players don't  go online to discuss anything harmonica related.
>
> I've been conducting my own extremely casual survey of people at  different
> conventions for the last 5 years and even at Buckeye, SPAH and  GSHC one
> might be surprised by just how many players and even headliners  didn't ever
> go online or think of using a computer and had never heard of  any of the
> harmonica lists including this one. Although perhaps some are  becoming more
> computer savvy now.
>
>  What a huge majority of harmonica players do is play on their  back
> porches, or with their friends, or down at their local bars or other  musical
> gathering places - play by their own (very democratic) rules  as Angus so nicely
> explained it, and don't give a hoot whether or not another  player meets
> certain lofty standards expressed here. They're there to play MUSIC  and for
> the pure absolute joy of it, not to savage and belittle other players to  
> perhaps make themselves look or feel better about their own skills (or lack  
> thereof?)
>
> When did it all turn into such meanness is what I want to know?   As a kid
> I played harmonica and never heard any of this back-biting or  viciousness
> directed towards me, thankfully, since I doubt I would ever  have come back
> to playing harmonica if I'd known this attitude was THE most  prevalent one
> among the people I've come to know.  And like Angus, there is  no way in hell
> I'd ever post a video of my own amateurish playing despite being  asked
> dozens of times - even if the playing of a particular song  gave me the
> greatest pleasure, since a lot of people here seem to think of it as  purely a
> means to tear another person apart.
>
> I find this very uncomfortable, and it should be beneath you all  as
> self-described musicians.
>
> Yes, I've watched some videos where I found the playing not great (in my  
> own opinion) missing crucial notes and even far off the tune being played.
> But  who or what gave ME the right to dump on or savage the person playing? No
> one.  So I don't. IF asked, I might gently steer them to listening to the
> actual song  to hear where they went 'off', but other than that, it's neither
> my place nor my  right to judge.
>
> And now I'm quite sure the same people will round on me and attack because  
> (like last time) I'll be told that because the person put his/her video on  
> youtube he/she 'deserves' to be savaged/dissected here on harp-l.
>
>  Despite many of you rationalizing it thusly, I still beg to  differ.  In
> many cases the person putting up their video closes the  dialogue comments
> box after the first few vicious comments in order to NOT  have to tolerate the
> awful 'slings and arrows'. They just might be posting  videos on request
> for family and friends living distances away.  Or, could  be doing it as way
> of watching their own progress to get the feel of performing  in front of
> others. Who knows? General audiences are far kinder for the most  part than are
> harmonica 'aficionados' who come across as so much  more cruel...at least
> by my experiences over the past few years. IF they don't  post their videos
> here to be critiqued, I don't believe anyone else has the  right to bring
> them here for criticism without their knowledge or  permission.
>
> The old saw  'if you don't have anything nice to say, then say nothing  at
> all', sure seems to apply here...
>
> Elizabeth
>
> "Message: 7
> Date: Sat, 10 Jul 2010 11:49:39 +1000
> From: "Billy James"  <billyja...@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Harp-L] YouTube -Pew harmonica  player plays pop tunes
> To: <har...@xxxxxxxxxx>,  <ra...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Ha ha ...the clip of this guys 'version' of  the Lady Ga Ga hit..was...
> indeed 'different'...[for about 30secs].I particulary  enjoyed your Randy
> Singers comment [you are a gentleman indeed Randy]...this  this is a whole new
> level of passion. Challenge No.361: now I've gotta go out  and get a green
> screen and learn a bunch of asinine tunes from Sepeltura to the  The Pussycat
> Dolls... SPAH is going to really be something 'unusual'  this  year if this
> idea catches on? Does anyone know 'Sexy Bitch' by David Guetta  ?
> By the way, I wonder if he learnt this stuff from:  http://www.volcano.net/~jackmearl/
> The  Clips:http://www.youtube.com/motorgrass#p/u/1/AE2XY8rxjf4
>
> ------------------------------