Re: [Harp-L] . Re: Michalek Blues

[Robert Koch <rok68@xxxxxxx>]

          Woaw Richard,
           What a district attorney you could have been I you were not 
today a talented harp player. Like Chris...
           I'll just make my testimony: Michalek was one of the most 
gentle person I met in my 62 years of existence. Forget (forgive?) his 
excesses: let the music he played be the judge of peace... And there you 
have a point: it's a shame his body of work is so, well, meager...
           I visit him a lot on Utube: he remains of (very) good advice 
for players like me. That's his legacy too, I guess.
           Regards to you too, Richard.
           Sunnyside Bob
> > Chris's "rather bellicose exterior" was his "true nature," as much as, or more than, any other aspect of his personality.  His arrogance and narcissism were prominent parts of his demeanor, not a clever disguise. How many people choose a nickname that designates them as a god?  Chris did. He loudly and frequently anointed himself the most important harmonica player of his generation, and made a point of denigrating his peers and contemporaries--anybody remember Chris's casual assertions to the effect that chromatic harmonica players all sucked?--but in the end he didn't produce much to back up his claims.  I can't think of any harmonica-related innovation, technical or compositional, that originated with Chris, and his recorded output is astonishingly meager for a professional who came of age in the last two decades of the 20th century.
> >
> > Music is a personal relationship business, and I have no doubt that Chris's narcissism and general abrasiveness damaged his career in music significantly.  Nobody likes to be stuck in a windowless studio for hours on end with a guy who comes on like Napolean.  It's difficult otherwise for me to explain why a player with such strong skills and obvious commitment produced so little recorded output in his 40-plus years, and almost all of that self-produced.
> >
> > Chris played well. But the idea that his "true nature" was angelic is flatly ridiculous.  To put it as concisely as possible, he was a jerk--a talented jerk, but a jerk nonetheless.  And he paid for it with a drastically limited career.  That's the lesson.
> >
> > Regards, Richard Hunter