Re: [Harp-L] Sacking the Blind

["David Priestley ( for harp-L)" <dmharpman@xxxxxxxxx>]

 Hi Jaime
Glad it made you smile. As I get on in years the years I have give 
memories and some of these I can share hoping to raise a smile here and 
there. This next tale is told by Hugh Messenger who was the list owner 
way back when, when Harp-L started. This is taken from his road journal 
and if he still lives I hope someone reads this to him and the memories 
give him a grin.
Sorry about the space it takes but if nothing else it is a tribute to 
Hugh a fine man who loved the harp so much that he was instrumental in 
giving us Harp-L, a man so courageous he hired me to change his life. 
I'll keep my mails shorter after this ;-)

When touring it is good to keep a ‘Road Journal’, something to keep your 
kids amused if nothing else. What follows is a clip from the Road 
Journal of one of my students ‘Hugh’. Hugh was a networks Guru and 
wanted me to change his life so that he became a Bluesman. The deal was 
that I was with him 24/7 making his life a steep learning curve for a 
year. My expenses were paid and if successful I got his zooped up Mac 
and all its bits. I only had an Amstrad WP and its limitations were 
driving me crazy.
This true tale comes from Malaysia when we gigged KL the city of lights.
HOW TO GET A GIG IN KL BY HUGH MESENGER
These tales come from a tour of South East Asia I took with my student 
Hugh Messenger. We went with his 6 & 4 year old sons, why make a thing 
easy when you can let the boys make it random from the start.
We put these tales in between the music in a book I wrote of J S Bach’s 
2 & 3 Part Inventions, which I arranged for 2 four octave 16/64 
Chromatic harmonicas.
At first we had put playing notes as to how to approach the difficult 
bit’s, then in a moment of clarity I thought how pompous I was being, in 
assuming that the bits we found hard others would also find hard. So 
instead we put in these tales on our ad hock tour.
This one is written by Hugh Messenger , I hope you enjoy his writing as 
much as I do.

Maddest of all is that it’s true almost down to the last grain of rice
HOW TO GET A GIG IN KL
BY HUGH MESENGER
There is nothing like public performance to ensure that songs get 
arranged and rehearsed properly. So far we had spent our time in South 
East Asia writing and rehearsing new material, with precious little in 
the way of live performance.
It was time to play a gig. We were now settled in KL, and a bit of 
asking around told us that the Barn Thai Jazzaurent was THE venue in KL 
for Blues and Jazz. Right, we thought, time to get to work.
We decided to swing by the Barn Thai that afternoon, have lunch and see 
how the land lay. As we walked into the place, the forebodings began. 
White liveried waiters hovered everywhere, gold and jewelery dripped 
from every patron and the cheapest dish on the menu constituted an 
entire days food budget. Still, there was a nice looking stage with a 
professional P.A. and more importantly, an appreciative audience.
We took our seats and biting the bullet, ordered our meals. David opted 
for a seafood Tom Yam and I went for a Prawn Tom Yam. Our Tom Yams 
arrived, conveyed with as much pomp and ceremony as a Royal Wedding. Ten 
minutes later I was still looking for my prawns. . . Now call me old 
fashioned, but when I order a Prawn Tom Yam I expect the occasional 
prawn in it. Unable to help myself, I felt my sense of English 
indignation growing. Centuries of Empire building genetic ancestry 
working itself up, stiffening the upper lip, changing the tone of voice 
to that particular clipped arrogance hated the world over!
David watched this process with growing amusement, and once sure that I 
was full of enough righteous indignation to face a regiment of white 
liveried waiters he raised his hand and clicked his fingers.
Now, David’s fingers are those of a Composer, Arranger and a Band 
Leader. His finger clicks can be clearly heard over the noise of a Rock 
and Roll band in full swing. The effect within the restaurant was 
dramatic. Everything stopped. Forks poised half way between plates and 
mouths, wine-bottles paused in mid gurgle, waiters froze in place. 
Slowly all heads turned to focus on us.
It was in this dread silence that I heard my voice, unbidden. . . “Bring 
me the manager at once.”
We were ushered to the manager. The rest was easy. Within ten minutes 
David and myself were giving the Manager a quick rendition of “Rattle 
Tramp” one of David’s more flashy, impressive fast R & B duo’s played on 
a combo of the Steve Baker Specials in low C (SBS) and and Tombo’s 
Ultimo's in B.

Within twenty minutes minutes we had booked ourselves a set for the 
following evening, agreed the fee and had our meal and bar tab waived.
We stayed on for the afternoon to get a feel for the acoustics and to 
know the house band ‘Sax appeal’. We had a bunch of fun giving them a 
horn section- harp style. We got on like the proverbial house on fire.
As we started to pack up. an American with a pony tail and beard 
cornered us. “Wow, what was this radio gear we were using, he wanted to 
know. Sennheiser UHF, huh? All the way up there? “Hey, even we don’t get 
to play around with this stuff”. It transpired that this man was the 
sound-crew chief on the Diana Ross tour, also playing that week in KL. 
He then had words with Don the manager, asking that we not start our set 
the following evening until his crew had finished their work and so 
could come and catch our set. High praise indeed, and much kudos in Dons 
eyes. I decided it was time to raise our fee a little. on account of the 
late start of course!
P S In the course of the years 24/7 tuition the Doc wrote a work for 
Hugh to play in the All British Open Harmonica Championships, The 
Diatonic Melodic category. The Doc doesn’t believe in music 
competitions, as for him music is all about complimentation. That said, 
it is one of the best tests of one’s nerve you can get. The audience is 
made up of folk who know what’s what on the harmonica and they are all 
listening with a very critical ear. After playing that gig no other 
audience will give you a bad case of the nerves. The value is also in 
competing with oneself, keeping on top of it and delivering the goods.
If you are going to do something as doubtful as music competition, 
surely an oxymoron if ever there was one, you need to do well. So where 
did I place in the competition? I hear you ask . . . well First Place, 
of course. Where else could a student of the Doc come.

Hugh changed his life . He got a wife and a Blues band in Huntsville & I 
got my first Mac, A year old Mac II. A Million years from the Mac Pro I 
got now.

The current tuition fee for a year 24/7 to change your Life . . . What's 
the cost of dreams come true . . P.O.A ;-)

Yours David

On 01/06/2011 18:42, Jaime Viehweg wrote:
> On Tue, May 31, 2011 at 07:03:17PM +0100, David Priestley ( for harp-L) wrote:
> > " You want to watch your self with
> > this guy, he's a real hard ass. Once he even sacked a blind guy for
> > not reading the music".
> Thanks for the smile.  But, I bet no one messed with you much after
> that.


--
D Priestley AKA Dr Midnight.
England's first  harmonica Guru.

Do feel free get in touch.
Harmonica lessons POA,(10 = 20% discount,&  20 = 25% discount).

I teach from: 51 Barkston Gdns, the basement flat&  On-Line,
Email me or call me to book lessons or get more info.

E-mail= dmharpman@xxxxxxxxx
Website= http://www.cognitionarts.com/
Phone=(44) 0207 373 0295