[Harp-L] Re: Phil Caltabellotta (Peter Madcat Ruth)

[Phil Caltabellotta <pcharps1@xxxxxxx>]

Thanks, Madcat for your congratulations and for sharing this list of past Bernie 
Bray Award winners! Winning the Bernie Bray Award has a very special 
significance for me, as I had met Bernie back in 1979 at The Garden State 
Harmonica Festival. 

There was a jam session going on in one of the hotel rooms, where I met Bernie 
Bray for the first time, together with Al Smith playing his triple decker 
chord harmonica and a nice looking lad playing the chromatic whose name 
happened to be Tom Stryker! At that time, I remember Bernie showing us a Little 
Lady that he customized into a chromatic with an actual slide button on it!!  
Then Bernie played  his fabulous rendition of Sweet Georgia Brown. When I 
mentioned to him that I was also toying around with this number, Bernie asked 
me to give it a shot. I realized that I must have stuck my foot in my mouth, but 
after I played he said to me "Very good young man!" I was happy to have survived this 
ordeal! 

Who would have ever have thought that around  thirty-three years later, I would 
actually receive the Bernie Bray Award, named after him.  To make it even more 
astounding, the same Tom Stryker, now past President of SPAH was up on stage with
new President Winslow Xerxa presenting the award to me with Al Smith sitting in the
audience! How cool is that!!! I guess you could say it made my year and then some.....

Phil Caltabellotta