RE: [Harp-L] SPAH A great thread

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

I have never had a bad time at SPAH, but I have always struggled with 
the cost of the entire event. that said, I don't know what could be done 
to reduce it, because most of the expense is travel and hotel and food. 
The actual SPAH cost is very reasonable, I think.
A couple of things that crossed my mind last year: The blues jam is 
getting too big, too many players. Maybe it could be broken into two 
groups? The country jam drew quite a few in Mpls, but I think some of 
that was fallout from the blues group.
And I have wondered if somehow SPAH and Jon Gindick could come up with 
something as a joint project. I like the idea of Jon's jam camps and it 
seems to me that something along that line might be able to be 
incorporated into SPAH. I may bite the bullet (pun intended) one day 
soon and go to one of his camps, because I think it would help me a lot.
But Paul is right about friends. I have made some good friendships at 
Buckeye and SPAH and connecting with those people is good enough reason 
to try and make it again.  I have an incredibly busy August upcoming, 
especially for a retired guy who is supposed to have some time on his 
hands.  I hope I can include SPAH in that schedule.
Steve Webb in Minnesota, where harp players are few and far between.


On Sat, Apr 23, 2011 at 10:10 PM, spahconvention06@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> I love the energy that this thread has generated.ÂÂThis year will be 
> my 19th convention and as always it's the die hard friends that I have 
> gotten to know during this timeÂthat brings me back.ÂÂThe last few 
> years, has brought outÂyoung monster players that prior conventions 
> never saw. The first diatonic player to win the hearts of the old 
> schoolÂSPAHÂwas Madcat and he was 32. Diatonic certainly has taken 
> over the entire industry but we continue to support the Trio world as 
> best we can. ÂThis year we're bringing in the Sgro Bros and 
> Harmonicamento (a quartet from Germany). ÂWe'reÂalways open to Ânew 
> ideas to grow the organization in any way possible. Our Kid program, 
> Sponsored by Hohner on Friday morning, attracts between 100 and 140 
> newbies with a lunch, book, concert and harmonica. The 
> twoÂSaturdayÂpublicÂsenior showsÂhas reached an attendance of up to 
> 400/ show. Wednesday night,Âour harmonica give away night, offers 
> 100 harmonicas to the publicÂand a free show. In Sacramento we had 
> overÂ600 in the audience.Â
>
>
> Attendance over the years, that I have beenÂon the Board 
> (2000-2011),ÂÂhas been between 450 and and 600 for attendees, with our 
> Sat night dinners between 375 and 450.ÂÂOur hotelÂroom nights 
> fallÂbetween 800 and 1100 each year. Dallas in 03 and 
> SacramentoÂ2009, we're our best attended events.Â
r