[Harp-L] What first attracted you to harmonica?

[David McCurry]

I was in high school, on my way to a summer job (around 1973) on the bus.
Got off at my stop and the guy sitting in front of me got off too. He
pulled a harp out of his shirt pocket and started blowing while walking
down the block ahead of me. I was sold. Been playing ever since.

On Mon, Mar 6, 2017 at 8:40 AM, Mox Gowland <mox.g at xxxxx> wrote:

>
> My first harmonica came to me on Brighton beach.
>
> It was a sunny bank holiday weekend in the early sixties.
>
> There I was, hanging out with the beatniks when, all of a sudden (as they
> say), from our left we saw, walking slowly down the beach, a gang of, 30,
> maybe 40, "Mods" - you know 60's style fashion victims  - crew cuts,
> Lambreta's - remember Tommy from the Who?
>
> You get the picture?
>
> Here we were six or seven longhairs, blue jeans, roll-neck sweaters &
> corduroy jackets, the anti-thesis of MODernity. Nobody said anything, but
> you could feel the tension mounting.
>
> Then low and behold (now nobody says that anymore!) from our right, appear
> 50 or 60 leather clad Rockers - yes the deadly enemy of any self respecting
> Mod and vice versa!
>
> It was clear to us that we were in a difficult situation.
>
> My new found friend -Fred the Carpet- turned to me and said "can you hold
> on to my harmonica for a while? I think I'll go for a swim" and off he ran
> into the sea fully clothed!
>
> All Hell broke loose.
>
> I managed to escape - don't ask me how - and, about 3 months later outside
> of a London pub called the Duke of York I met up with my long lost friend -
> you guessed it - Fred the Carpet -
>
> who said " weren't you the bloke I gave my harmonica to on Brighton
> beach?" to which, when I replied in the positive, continued "well, if
> you've started playing it you can keep it";
>
> And I've been playing ever since.
>
>
>
> Mox
>



-- 
David S McCurry, EdD

DS McCurry Fine Arts Studio
www.davidmccurry.net
Jacaranda Educational Development, LLC
www.jacarandaeducation.net