RE: [Harp-L] SPAH 2012....My highlights

[Tom Ball <havaball@xxxxxxx>]

Dear P.T. (and Harp-L,)

First up, thanks for the kind words, P.T.!  Much appreciated.

This year's SPAH was a Mutual Admiration 
Society... your playing simply blew me away. 
Having never heard partially-valved diatonics in 
person, I am most thankful to have been 
introduced to their full capabilities by a true 
master. You rock, dude!

Agree wholeheartedly with your other observations 
as well.  Especially about Eric Noden-- he was 
everywhere this year, backing up Celtic, blues, 
bluegrass, country, folk, youth groups and 
eveyone else.  MVP indeed. Thanks, Eric!

I might also add that Brendan Power was 
outrageous, as always. Killer player, with great 
taste and extraordinary musicianship. (And I 
agree about Andrew -- I believe his last name is 
Alli -- rockin' player with a great sense of 
groove.) My old pal Mitch Kashmar was terrific, 
as usual. Rob Roy Parnell not only kicked ass, 
but also organized a wonderful pre-SPAH event 
(and continues to be one of the nicest guys on 
the planet.) Ditto David Barrett -- an exemplary 
fellow (and underated, very strong player) with 
the True Teaching Mind.

Joe Filisko, Grant Dermody and Steve Baker were 
extraordinary, both as teachers AND as players. 
There were just too many great players to even 
begin to absorb: Richard Hunter, Michael Rubin, 
Mike Fugazzi, Filip Jers, Rupert Oysler, James 
Conway, the Sgro brothers, Jellyroll Johnson, 
Will Scarlett, Cheryl Arena, Brandon Bailey, Buzz 
Krantz, Ronnie Shellist, Hash Brown, Joe Powers, 
the Bauer/Caltabellota/Miklas Trio, the list goes 
on forever. And Charlie is of course a hero to us 
all.:-)

Truly a pleasure to finally meet you 
face-to-face, PT, and hopefully we'll cross paths 
again soon.

In all, huge thanks to Winslow Yerxa, Paul 
Davies, J.P Pagan, Jerl Welch and all the staff 
at SPAH and HOOT (and fine harpers in their own 
right!) I am still recuperating. The Vendors Area 
was amazing to me -- imagine being able to test 
all the latest products from Hohner, Suzuki, 
Seydel and so many others! While I remain a happy 
Hohner endorsee, it's always illuminating to see 
what others are doing -- the world of harp 
continues to expand exponentially. (And thank you 
so much to Adam Hamil & the Hohner repair guys 
for the recondition job on my C Crossover -- done 
cheerfully and free-of-charge... Thanks again, 
amigo! Derrick was also very cool...)

Because I had gigs back in California I was 
forced to leave on Friday afternoon, thus missing 
many more great players. And I know I'm missing 
thanking many others, so please don't take it 
personally -- blame it on total harp overload!

Cheerio to all, and sure hope to repeat in '13 if possible...

all the best, and smiling ear-to-ear.
Tom Ball
http://www.tomball.us




Message: 4
Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2012 14:26:59 -0500
From: PT Gazell <pt@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] SPAH 2012....My highlights
To: harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "harptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <harptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
	"bluegrassharp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <bluegrassharp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Message-ID: <CC56A833.10B90%pt@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="ISO-8859-1"

Just thought I would give a few bullet points on this years SPAH convention.

1. Tom Ball may be the best kept secret in the USA. Fantastic player with a
very unique style and a huge stage presence.
2. Filip Jers just lives and breaths harmonica and will certainly become a
household name in this country.
3. Mitch Kashmar looks so comfortable on stage and his playing and voice and
material bear that out.
4. Rupert Oysler has the balls to do a show solo and convincingly pull it
off.
5. James Conway just flat out kills me every time I hear him.
6. I hereby suggest we have an annual MVP award per convention. Eric Noden
wins this year hands down and should be awarded post convention.
7. It was painfully obvious that a lot of our elder chromatic players were
unable to attend due to health issues. (Huge loss IMHO)
8. It was also obvious that the next generation of players (all in their
20¼s or younger) are very interested in SPAH and I for one am excited by
this.

Jay Gaunt continues to grow and mature as an excellent player. Sam Friedman
who stunned all of us last year has vastly improved his intonation and is a
real monster on the diatonic. Brandon Bailey is playing and conducting
himself like a 40 something musician....thank God he is now in Nashville so
I can hear him more! Jake Friel at age 16 is well on his way to being a
regular at all these events with his tone and phrasing. Andrew (I did not
get his last name) is so in the pocket that its infectious. Julian Dawson¼s
(not sure on the spelling)  tone and ideas on the chromatic are wonderful.
Carlos (did not get the last name) has over the last two years gained
valuable stage experience and it shows. I am sure I am leaving one of these
young lions out and I apologize in advance.

These young people are the future of our instrument and convention.

I think HOOT Dallas and SPAH put on a great show this year.

I am sure I will think of 15 more things I meant to say.....

PT Gazell

pt@xxxxxxxxxxxx

http://www.ptgazell.com
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