Re: [Harp-L] now i understand...

[The Iceman <icemanle@xxxxxxx>]

Alien Gus Invasions, from the planet Honkus.





-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Coble <robertpcoble@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Harp-L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tue, May 24, 2011 3:39 am
Subject: Re:[Harp-L] now i understand...



Very similar "eye opener" regarding the distaste for harmonica players:

I was still trying to be fully accepted into a very traditional bluegrass jam.
I stayed in the background and kept strictly on time and played rhythm,
only switching to melody when given a nod to take a break.

At the start of the second set, a very inebriated gentleman whips out a
harp and climbs on stage with everybody else. He's the Big Bad Wolf,
and he's gonna "blow the house down." The temperature on stage went
down to zero Celsius, but that did faze our "hero." As soon as the band
whipped into a real fast number (without announcing the key), he proceeded 
to mangle the heck out of it: out of time, wrong key, and no discernible 
melody. I put my harp down immediately in my case, zipped it up and
decided that I wasn't going to participate and get tarnished by association.
He wrecked the first song, so the band switched without pause into a totally 
different song in a different key. Mr. Wanker continued obliviously with the
same harp in the same style, totally unaware that anything had changed.
After a couple of choruses, the band just stopped dead. Mr. Ingrate then
proceeded to berate the upright bass player for "messing him up." That
almost got him knocked off the stage, because my cousin is a great bass
player, and he does NOT "suffer fools gladly." He finally shut up,  got off
the stage and left, because he just "couldn't play with such lousy musicians."

I felt mortified as a harmonica player. Fortunately, the other musicians
made a point of letting me know that I was welcome to play with them 
anytime. Even more fortunately, that jackass has never shown up again.

And that's the truth - AMEN!
Crazy Bob