Re: Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Inappropriate harmonica [long]

[Grant Walters <grant@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

two more cents;
I have to agree with all the stories regarding gussing…
and have my own regarding one such aggressive gent
who after blowing first position high notes all night…
regardless of key, from the back of the room and getting 
fully lubricated …he stormed the rather high stage…
grabbing the mike stand as he barely made the wall (stage)

Still playing on my bullet I stepped forward and pressed  my foot
in his chest and and  he sank backwards…
This being a local bar ( one reserved for folks already with DUI's)
The crowd grabbed him and moved him toward the door…
in their own friendly way…
but up until he stormed the stage they had been encouraging him.

My bandmates were oblivious to it all…and wondered why 
I was so shaken by it…
Truth is….I heard every single note he played from 40 feet away…
with a loud band playing.
It threw me off and I hated it…

But alas ..my point…
Every guy who ever broke my equipment…( happened last month …music stand got crushed )
or shattered a hand made harmonica case ( Koa wood)…got tangled in the cords…
wanted to make an announcement right in the middle of a song…etc ..etc…
Was someone who was enthusiastic about the music …caught up in the moment so to speak.

So I always try to remember …
If you get to mad about this…you are just looking bad to your fans…( sometimes..fan)
Cut them a little slack and they will keep buying booze and keeping the doors open.

One such gusser…surprised me the other day…
He showed up and I cringed …( memory from 10 years ago)
and produced and nice harmonica case with all the keys and politely 
told me he had gotten the Jerry Portnoy  instructional CD I had suggested and studied it…
I asked him if he would like to sit in and he declined…( was not drinking either)
we sat outside on the break and he showed me a thing or two….
Gus had gotten game…
who would have guessed.

Grant Walters ( the other Grant)
On Nov 7, 2012, at 8:31 AM, EGS1217@xxxxxxx wrote:

> What's more to be said after this story? Can anyone truly say they're not  
> highly discomfited? (One wants to have been there to have nicked the guy's  
> harp and unobtrusively tossed it out the door!)
> 
> 
> I understand Glenn Weiser's being aware that he's a top-notch player at the 
> bar, but it doesn't matter. Taking out a harp and playing along is still  
> gussing--and draws the attention to the Gus, instead of the band/player 
> onstage  where it belongs. It still comes off as an ego move.
> 
> 
> The portability of our instrument most assuredly is part of the  problem: 
> would any of the pro-gussing people think it cool if I were  to haul my 
> keyboard into a venue, or a saxophone--and give it a whirl in the  middle of (or 
> all during) a performance? It's just as absurd for those  surrounding the 
> harp gusser in the audience to be subjected to his playing. They  came to 
> listen to the performer, not you. That's the bottom line and  it's even worse 
> when there's a great vocalist involved and the harpist is  playing 
> accompaniment a la Grant's story. By Gussing, you're stating that you  know better or 
> are better than the harp player onstage. Nope. If you were, you'd  be the one 
> onstage and not Gussing anonymously from the audience.**
> 
> **Michelle's story being an exception since she was invited.
> 
> 
> I'd put money on the best players never behaving this way. Those like  
> Charlie Musselwhite, Jason, Chris Michalek, Dennis Gruenling, Steve Baker,  Joe 
> Filisko, etc. (just a few people I've met or known). I imagine they'd be  
> horrified at the prospect. IF they're recognized in the audience as being a  
> great harp player and invited up that's another scenario entirely, but 
> playing  along and/or asking to is poor form.
> 
> 
> My .02 cents (although I'm likely to live out my life happily never being  
> in such a position.) ;)
> 
> 
> Elizabeth
> PS: showing the harmonica player at a 4th of July Mopar Show my chromatic  
> and mentioning that I'd been playing along with him IN MY CAR after he'd  
> finished doesn't fit since no one could hear me. We then played a couple of  
> songs together IN the parking lot and he invited me to play along with him  
> later at the microphone during the next break. That's an entirely different  
> scenario. It was for America the Beautiful (he focuses mostly on  patriotic 
> songs) and since he doesn't really enjoy being a solo act was  glad of the 
> support. I harmonized to his lead. We've become friends and I'm  working to 
> recruit him and his other harmonica playing friends for SPAH or to  begin a 
> new club out here.
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2012 06:50:34 -0800 (PST)
> From: Grant  Dermody <gdermody@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Inappropriate  harmonica [long]
> To: "mike@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,  Michelle LeFree
> <mlefree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc:  "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> Hi again all,
> 
> Yes,  perhaps a nerve was hit for me to post. 
> 
> Many years ago in Seattle, there  was a band with which I used to sit in
> regularly. They were fronted by one of  the best singers I've ever heard.
> Nobody can lean into a ballad like this  woman. The guitarist in the band
> was equally stunning.
> 
> The gig on this  night was at a small club in the University district.
> The place was jammed  and the band was smoking. They called me up and we
> played a couple of  up-tempo tunes and then leaned into a gorgeous, yet
> nasty, slow blues.  
> 
> It built up to a fever and then, right before the end, the  singer
> brought it way down, singing soft and strong, the audience in the  palm
> of her hand. We finished with a stop and then a slow, beautiful  outro
> retard, and then an equally gorgeous arpeggiated final  chord.
> 
> Deciding to add to this gorgeous chord was a harmonica player,  hanging
> in the back, but still very audible in this small club. In the middle  of
> this perfect ending and culminating one of the best vocal performances  I
> have heard before or since, this gusser adds his 2 cents,  loud,clear,
> and in the wrong key. He had played along with the whole tune and  hadn't
> figured out the key. Either that or he couldn't hear that he was  using
> the wrong harp.
> 
> It was so wrong and so messed up in so many  ways. I went and had a word
> with him, telling him, as kindly as I could, that  he had messed up a
> beautiful performance and that this is part of what gives  harp players a
> bad name.
> 
> He was outraged. He felt he had a  constitutional right to blow his out
> of key harp whenever he liked and if we  didn't like it it was our
> problem.
> I disagreed, and we went our separate  ways. 
> 
> So yes, I think gussing is incredibly bad form.
> 
> all the  best
> 
> Grant
> 
>