Re: Live update[Harp-L] At Buckeye

[David Payne <dmatthew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

3:20 a.m. I was one of the last jammers, but lo, there is still jamming going on

Soon there will be videos up of stuff that has gone on here. There is no video of the jam, as there was no film or whatever by that time. For my vanity, it is a shame. I played the best chord harmonica and some of the best diatonic harmonica of my life in the blues jam... the atmosphere was that electric. 

Something that is really going to be nice to see are the HARPBeats videos when they get posted, you'll get to see George Miklas play chord again.
I knew he could play chord, but I tended to always think of George Miklas as a bass player. But then, he was as a teenager handpicked by Jerry Murad to replace Al Fiore as the harmonicats chord man. 
 George did, tonight, play a role in the awesomest, nay, awesome is too lukewarm a word for what I witnessed, show I've seen... the Sgro Brothers. The Sgros had George Miklas playing bass... no not bass harmonica... BASS GUITAR. George laid down an awesome bassline, even though the way the sound was, he couldn't hear himself. They also had a drummer. George did play bass harmonica on one piece. The bass guitar and drum changed everything. The sound entered a whole knew world of awesomeness. 

Al and Judy Smith playing most of the music from Star Wars, including the Mos Eisley Cantina song, that was awesome.

 I have been bombarded by legends today. I walked in at 9:30 a.m. and there was Dom Sgro and Phil C.... I sit there a while, look over my shoulder and there's George Miklas. Then Bob Herndon shows up. Madcat Ruth is walking around, being awesome, perpetually prepared for winning a George-Custer look alike contest, should one arise unannounced. 

At some point, I'm gonna write some more about the Sgros show. Did I mention I had them sign my Johnny Puleo albums? They actually played at least one song from one of those albums, Lover come back to me... it sounded just like it did when the Sgros, as part of Puleos Harmonica Gang, played it in 1950whatever. That's the thing I've been dancing around about the Sgros. It was like an out-of-body time-travel experience. They are in their mid to late 70s, but they had this 1950 young Sgros energy, like back when they were playing harmonicas together in the Marine Corps. It was like watching a something similar to a Puleo's Harmonica Gang performance, but live and in your face, not on some grainy Youtube vid or something.

I had this idea I would have Tony Sgro sign my 48 chord, so I sat with a pocket knife and scraped off the paint and lacquer, then sanded it down smooth... so I'd have bare wood for him to sign. Actually sat listening to Madcat Ruth telling me stories about Big Walter while I was shaving down the back of the chord.
At the end of the day, I had an impressive number of famous chord players signatures on my 48, Bob Herndon, Al Smith, Tony Sgro and George Miklas.

This was my best Buckeye ever. 

I just realized that I'm pretty sure I'm writing this update post because I don't want the day to end. Tomorrow, by definition, must be anti-climatic.