Re: [Harp-L] Peter Ruth at SPAH (WAS SPAH - who's going?)

[Cara Cooke <cyberharp@xxxxxxxxx>]

I am glad that you posted that story.  I came into SPAH in the 1990's at
Lonnie Glosson's request, so I had no idea when the transition began.

My first convention was 2003 (Dallas) and Paul Davies and others were
playing "Red Wing" in the hotel lobby as I walked in.  It was different, but
it wasn't the "harmonica hell" I had imagined it might be.  However, even
then, there was still a lot of animosity towards the diatonic players.
(Many of the chromatic players were not shy about their animosity regarding
how the blues players had come in and taken over.)  I hung with some of the
chromatic players at various points and they would tell me that I could not
participate because I didn't have a chromatic.  Then I played what they were
playing, and I played some harmonies, and they quit trying to exclude me,
but they continued to tease me about not having a chromatic, and all that
teasing became a game.  When they learned that I also played chromatic, they
stopped teasing me and started asking real questions about why I made the
choices I did to use the diatonics.  Since then, a few have told me that
they now see the diatonic from a different perspective.  Change comes one
step at a time as we learn more.

Regarding the many years I have been hit by flames and arrows as a bluegrass
harmonica player, I can imagine starting in that chromatic climate in 1980
was quite an ordeal.  Look how far we have come!

cara



On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 4:39 PM, Peter Madcat Ruth
<madcat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> My first appearance at SPAH was in 1980 at the 17th annual convention in
> Southfield, MI.
> Having a young (31 year old) diatonic player at SPAH was extremely
> controversial at that time.
> A sizable portion of the audience stood up and left the hall in protest
> just before I went on stage.
> But I definitely had some strong support: Danny Wilson, Pete Pedersen,
> Jerry Murad and Don Les all came down and sat in the front row to cheer me
> on.
>
> Peter Madcat Ruth
> Musician - Grammy Award Winner
> madcat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> www.madcatmusic.net
> www.youtube.com/user/petermadcatruth
>
>
> On Jul 22, 2011, at 1:33 PM, Richard Hunter wrote:
>
> > The Iceman wrote:
> > <In case you youngsters didn't know, Madcat was the first diatonic player
> brought into a SPAH convention, which <opened the door for diatonics at this
> event.
>