Re: [Harp-L] origins of the term "gussing"

[fjm <bad_hat@xxxxxxxx>]

broken url, I should have clicked it first. Sorry about that

Here's the text of the original post from March of 1996  Barry Bean is 
the poster.  He follows up with the proposal for a coinage of the term 
in May of the same year.


From: "Barry B. Bean"
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 96 09:16:19 EST
Subject: Gig notes

I broke a cardinal rule this weekend. I let a harp player I'd never
heard walk up in mid-set and gave him a mic.

Now you'd assume that someone walking up and asking to sit in wants to
play the same sort of music the band is already playing, right? You'd
assume that you could just launch into the next song on the set list
and simply hand the solos over to the guy sitting in, right?

Whoah, nellie!

My man Gus (a mountain of a man, complete with with crewcut and
gravelly voice) walks onto the stage, whips out some sort of a chord
harp and says "Oh Suzanna, boys!" After 3 or 4 verses of oh Suzanna,
we thank him profusely and start to vamp on the next song (Further on
up the road). Before we can get into it, Gus announces that his next
number will be You are My Sunshine. Again, we thank him and try to
start our next song, but Gus isn't leaving. He says "one more boys!"
and launches into Blue Eyes Cryin' In the Rain. Finally he leaves the
stage and we gat back on with the show.

So its back to the old "audition during break" rule for us.  Sheesh.

BBB
-
B.B. Bean - Have horn. Will travel.



Here's the actual coinage form May of 1996

From: "Barry B. Bean"
Date: Thu, 16 May 96 18:29:32 -0500


I think maybe we should coin an expression here. Gus, like Bogart
could serve as both a noun and a verb:

Gus: (gus) N. 1) An amateur harmonica player who forces professional
musicians to accompany him in inappropriate situations. 2) A visiting
musician (see: sit-in) who does not leave the bandstand at the
appropriate time. 3) A musician whose skills are substantially below
those of the other musicians onstage with him. Ex.: Don't look now,
but there's a Gus at 3 o'clock.
 	V. 1) To force one's way into a musical performance against the
wishes of the scehduled performers. 2) To remain onstage for longer
than appropriate when asked to accompany previously scheduled
musicians. Ex.: Primich was great last night but some old codger
Gussed his way onstage and played Oh Suzannah.
 -
B.B. Bean - Have horn. Will travel.