Re: [Harp-L] "Race, Gender, & the Blues"

[Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On May 22, 2012, at 10:31 AM, Mick Zaklan wrote:

>   Interesting article on the annual blues conference held at Dominican
> University over the weekend just outside of Chicago.  This year's topic was
> a hot-button one for sure: "Race, Gender & the Blues".  Normally I wouldn't
> post it except that most of the people quoted in the piece are harmonica
> players of some renown: Sugar Blue, Billy Branch, and Matthew Skoller.  And
> the harmonica in the picture looks interesting; I can't identify it or
> figure out what use it would have in a blues band.

It looks like a super 64 with extended wooden covers. I would imagine to give a larger echo chamber. 

>  Anyway, worth a peek
> unless you are easily agitated by discussions of politics or race in
> music.  Then, simply skip it.  I'm not interested in elevating anyone's
> blood pressure.

Well, the way I see it constantly brooding about something that happened several generations before someone was born is counter productive and a negative waves scenario.
All it does is sour one's personality and I feel it's better to follow the Louis Armstrong deportment of never complaining, and being thankful to be alive. I could brood over the fact that my family came here in the 1880s and we have lost family members in every single war. The draft is a form of slavery. A fatal form. Living and dying in the mills and mines of Pennsylvania is a sort of financial slavery. So, was slavery despicable, horrendous, vomituous ? Of course. But it's time to move on.   

As for being overlooked, what if the other blues bands or artists were considered better than those whom were overlooked. OR what if the overlooked artists wanted a higher fee. 
Now as for awards...doesn't 'someone' vote on this stuff? These awards don't fall from the sky. Soooo find the someone whom is doing the choosing and blame THEM.

And another thing. Over the last almost 70 years I have known a lot of musicians of a diverse array of ethnicities whom were great. But some of them wouldn't (or couldn't) tour and that stifled their careers. Pianist Johnny Costa, guitarist Joe Negri, come to mind. And there are hundreds and hundreds more. 
So there are a lot of variables interacting here. Back in the old days, there were youngsters leaving home at 17, 16, even 15 and pursuing their musical dreams. Witness the great harmonica floods of the 20s and 30s. This isn't happening any more. Show business is dying. There aren't any opportunities to practice ones craft any more. No stage shows, no vaudeville. Not even the clubs. It's all passe. 

Also, the audience has changed over the years. It's no different than back in the 30s when college degree carrying white upper middle class Americans took to 'Hot' music (as Benny Goodman used to call it). And remember the jazz artists from the U.S. who, in their waning years, went to Europe and were treated like Gods. While here they were has beens. It's all cyclic.     

> http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-ent-0521-blues-conference-20120521-7,0,4082594.column
> .
> 
> Mick Zaklan