Well, we had a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat. Hope y’all did too.
In my 30+ years of playing harp and watching others play harp I’ve seen this a few times in a blues context: While playing the harmonica, the guy slowly crouches down and then lies on the floor until he is lying flat on his back, still playing. After a while he reverses the process, slowly getting back up while playing harp through the whole process.
I’ve seen it maybe 4 times, so I’m assuming it has some cultural relationship to the history of our instrument. Adam, since you are a student of blues harp history (well, a professor of blues harp history) can you help me out with this? Does this have some kind of blues DNA?
One time at a blues performance in a park during the day I saw a short fat harp guy wander away from the stage into the audience and lie down on the grass while playing. There he was, pot belly sticking up and jiggling as he played, his pants legs hiked up above his saggy socks, red in the face and playing a long repetitive solo. All the people around me were mocking him and laughing. Nothing about it was attractive.
I’ve seen it a couple times at blues jams. I can kind of imagine Junior Wells doing it. I know the Harmonicats and similar groups would strike poses while on stage, and maybe Toots does some of this, but they are not “blues.”
I did a quick search on Google and Youtube to look for examples of harp players doing this but I didn’t find anything. Is this a tradition? Does it have some basis in blues history?
UPDATE: I found a picture of Corky Siegel doing this
George Harmonica Smith and SBWII also did this stuff as well. I've done it more than a few times on occasion and I know William Clarke did this too. It's all a part of showmanship and crowds eat this stuff up like crazy. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
LMAO @ Cork. He's always been a bit of a clown, but I love the guy.
I've done this a time or two. Once, I had so much energy that I had my feet waving in the air as I did it too. They've really just been heat of the moment instances, and I don't make a habit of it. But I will say this....depending on how you execute the manuever, it can either be a crowd pleaser, or a crowd buzzkill. ----------
The technique stems from breathing exercises where diaphragm control is improved through deep breathing while laying down. Many fine harp blowers have done it including our own BBQ Bob who did do it in the crowd during a festival. Check out his website, he could be your fairground troubadour. It's all in your opinion on it being cool or not but a show is a show and it is indeed part of being a showman and putting it on for the crowd. ---------- "Keep it in your mouth" - XHarp
This was taken at the Sunny Slope Blues Festival in Boise, ID back in 1998. Got the cameras rolling like crazy doing this and I had the wireless going where I could go as a far as 1500 feet with the one I had at the time.
This was at a gig at Harry's in Hyannis, MA back in 2003.
---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Last Edited by on Nov 23, 2012 9:02 AM
No, it wasn't BBQ Bob. I just now tried to click to his website and it is defunct. Is there a different URL?
My point is that we already suffer under the false stigma of being non-musicians who play a toy, and play it too much. The whole laying down on stage thing does not demonstrate any talent at all, and it is a rather clownish sideshow that I think detracts from a noble instrument. When I've seen it done the audience did not go crazy, they rolled their eyes and kind of jeered.
While we are on the topic, what other non-musical things should we do for the sake of "showmanship" while playing harp? Dress in a clown suit? Juggle? Break dance?
To me showmanship is dressing and acting the part, like Wm Clarke. It is playing your ass off, like Kim Wilson. Some people may think Rick Estrin talks too much, but I think it adds to the show. Jason Ricci wears outrageous clothes, but so did Junior Wells and others. That says something about the performer. I'm not sure what laying on the floor says about anything.
you have to let your personality come out. Then it is all legitimate. Nothing is more embarassing to watch than someone going through antics that are not them. Roy Buchanan is a great example of showmanship with doing no showmanship. You have to be willing to be yourself. Honesty, transparent, is something of near extinction today, so when a performer can allow this to happen you will always be well recieved. Walter
I am perfectly comfortable wearing these kind of clothes and doing such things. ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year in the Tunnel of Dreams Studio. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
If the Band/Performer is not more interesting than the crowd they will loose to the crowd.
The band should always look and act as though they put more effort in to getting ready to go out that night than anyone in the club/audience! Their dress, their demeanor, their attitude must remind the audience that they came to see the performer.
I don’t know but, maybe one of the reasons there are fewer live shows these days is because there are fewer “performers”. From what I’ve seen most people at a club want to see a performance. Too many of the bands I see today just play music…they may be good players but, they don’t know how to connect with a crowd and get the crowd involved.
If the crowd is up dancing, singing along with the band, imitating the goofy dance moves.. they are drinking and time is flying. Rather than hopping from bar to bar they stay until closing time. The bar makes money and the bad gets another booking.
This isn’t just blues, it any bar/club act. The DJ’s that bring in the lights and the have the dancers up on stage get more gigs. From what I’ve seen bands that have an “act” seem to do better.
This is even true for the singer/songwriters out there. The ones that weave a story into their playing are the ones that keep the crowd at the shop. Today, I think more than ever, audiences want to connect.
Watch a really good busker…they don’t just play…they build a crowd first by interacting with the folks walking by…they get people interested in why they’re there…then they do their performance, remind the folks of the story so they feel connected again and then they ask for the money…as a friend who just shared a personal moment with them.
"To me showmanship is dressing and acting the part, like Wm Clarke"
I saw WIlliam Clarke on the floor a few times when I saw him live-it takes balls,but if you can pull it off,and the audience enjoys it {Mannys Car Wash crowd went crazy when Clarke did it},more power to you.
Magic Dick did it a few times when i saw him with J Geils-I suppose it takes a certain type of player personna-I would not enjoy seeing Howard Levy on the floor-nor would I expect it.
I would enjoy seeing Rod Piazza,Rick Estrin,Kim Wilson or Sugar Ray Norcia on the floor-I would not enjoy seeing Rick Davis do it.
Last Edited by on Nov 23, 2012 10:19 AM
I hadn't seen anyone do this in several years until about two weeks ago. John Nemeth did it. His guitar player, AC Myles did it, too. They were trading licks and stage antics. The crowd seemed to enjoy it, especially the girls. Unfortunately, John couldn't play the harp behind his head.
Its either part of your personality or it isn't. Its going to work for some people more than others. To pull this off, I think a person has to be very extroverted and be able to play to and with the members of the audience. Additionally, to pull this off, you almost have to be the front man.
People have been doing stuff like this for decades and probably originates from playing on the street. You had to do something to keep an audience and extract the most money out of them.
Guys like Howlin' Wolf or Muddy Waters weren't always the old guys sitting on a stool playing the Blues. In their younger days, they were pretty wild and were moving around. The stories about Guitar Slim's showmanship are quite legendary.
I've seen Buddy Guy, Lonnie Brooks, Lil' Ed and Carl Weathersby do all sorts of crazy shit on and off stage that other people couldnt get away with. Bobby Rush has made a nice career off of his stage show. It's part of the show. They pull it off because of their personality.
Read what Buddy Guy has said about the development of his degree of showmanship and where it came from.
I couldn't imagine Jr Well rolling around on the floor. He was a sharp dresser and took great pride in his appearance. I couldn't see it happening, but that doesn't mean it never did.
I'd think it would all be about the timing. We've all seen guitarists get down on the stage (or at least footage of them doing it) and scooting along. If you did a huge dancing, leaping stage show, and then for a minute or two got down on the floor- the key would be that the audience would have to feel you'd 'earned' it. Lying in a field at a festival on a sunny day, I could see that working with hipsters or hippies. I don't know as it would play well at a biker rally.
Tmf, yeah, Levy doesn't seem like the rolling on the ground sort! I could totally see Steven Tyler doing it though. (In fact, maybe not with the harmonica, but I'm pretty sure I've seen him do it while he's just singing.)
I use to take off my cowboy boots, socks, put my guitar on the floor and play it with my toes and feet. People dug it. I can't preplan any of this stuff. It happens when the energies to make it happen line up. The faked stuff that you see so often onstage drives me right out the door. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year in the Tunnel of Dreams Studio. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
I’m pretty sure I've seen pictures of Bill Clarke on the internet lyin down and blowin harp...One thing I thinks cool is when a shows about to begin and there is no harp player in sight but you can hear the harp blastin through the speakers and out of no where suddenly the harp player walks into the room, through the crowd and makes his way to the stage all the while tootin their horn...For me - as far as "Performing" is concerned - there is a BIG difference between a Musician and a Performer...If a Musician lacks charisma and has trouble exhibiting emotions, then that combination can make for a lackluster impression on whoever they are trying to entertain. I'm a stickler for a performer who isn’t afraid to go the extra mile and work hard to bring some genuine excitement to show...even facial expressions – smiling etc…can go along way to making the crowd feel good. Exhibiting emotions can be exhausting and takes effort and I think there are players who avoid being animated because it’s easier not to be – but much more boring, even if their chops are okay.
My longtime bassist James "rock bottom" Dupree broke his collar bone going over the handlebars of his motorcycle. We were opening for albert collins the night he did it. We laid him down on the stage and he played an hour set on his back. I will never forget helping him up. His eyes were bug eyed. He said it was the strangest experience of his life. I knew albert pretty good at the time and when we went backstage he commented on how did my guitar player get such bass sounds out of his guitar? The dressing room was in the back of the club and with the elevated stage you couldn't see James on his back. This was pre looping backing tracks. Here is a great picture of a cool papa. He would do stuff like this all the time. He would walk out in the crowd, sit at a table, borrow a beer and proceed to get his guitar drunk via giving it sips around the nut on the neck. He would then seduce it, lay it down on the floor and make love to it all the time playing with his left hand on the neck. The black women would go crazy when he did this. Walter
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year in the Tunnel of Dreams Studio. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
@walter.."He would then seduce it, lay it down on the floor and make love to it all the time playing with his left hand on the neck. The black women would go crazy when he did this." Jeez Walter you sure did live an' play through some crazy times. Strange but nearly all of the lead guitarists I have known have been certifiably introverted. Too cool to even acknowledge the audience let alone entertain them. That was the Vocalists (or harp players) job. Trouble with me is at a BBQ or somesuch i'm the guy telling jokes or wearing the beer carton on my head for a laugh but get me on stage and i turn into Mr Invisible...in my early days the other guys in the band would be at the bar and a punter would say .."Man i can hear some harp..but whose playin' it?" Ok i'm exagerating here(dramatic license) but yeah most times on stage i'd try and blend into the PA speakers.(not now) I think those sort of stage antics have gone in many cases in Blues 'cos lets face it a lot of the practitioners have gotten old(er) Stage diving is the thing now and does the same job in that the audience sees an entertainer as excited as they are at being there. I'd loved to have seen the ODBG's in their heyday doing their "show' rather than the barstool stuff.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller Too true!
Last Edited by on Nov 23, 2012 9:29 PM
Joe mentioned Bobby rush...I had the pleasure of catching a show of his about 15 years ago - it was a party to say the least...In the clip above he is probably pushin 70 years old, his glory days must of been insane! BTW - he has an excellent "acoustic blues" CD that has a that old time raw feeling to it - some nice harpin on it too. Bobby Rush - Raw (Deep Rush Records, 2007)
Last Edited by on Nov 24, 2012 4:04 AM
Bobby is always at his peak. Age hasn't slowed him down one bit. If you want to see Bobby at his peak, you need to see him play to a Black audience. He's a showman. He is also a brilliant businessman and one of the nicest guys that you will ever meet.
He is probably older than 70, but no one really knows how old he is. I've been to two or three 69th birthday parties for him. Each of them were held in different years.
I can say, without a doubt. Geneva Red made an impression when she "laid down on the job" at the workshop she gave at Diamond Teeth Mary 2012. I was recording the whole time..... only to discover I had the camera in single shot mode. Drats, I only have a pic of her starting and ending, so actually nothing. To bad, it was a good performance.
hmmmmmm, maybe it's time for me to add it to the bag of tricks when I'm performing????? ---------- theharmonicaclub.com (of Huntington, WV)
Here is a guy who lays down on the stage for all the right reasons: Jeffrey Marshall at Ziggies Blues Jam last night. Absolutely amazing and inspiring.
Not sure if it's for "all the right reasons" Rick, but certainly for a damn good one! At first I didn't notice him on the floor - I would like to here his blues...
Mikey Junior does some fun stuff with this concept. I saw him get a woman on the ground and blow harp where it looked like he was doing another activity. The crowd went insane. -Bob ---------- http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/pages/Bourbon-Bleach/161722307208585
I saw William Clarke lie down on the stage the first time I saw him. It's pretty dirty down there, so it takes a certain kind of person, with a certain kind of suit--and style--to do that.
In a famous essay entitled "Characteristics of Negro Expression," Zora Neale Hurston claimed that black culture was, among other things, characterized by a quality of self-dramatization: "everything must be acted out." I suspect that the harp-player-lying-down thing began life as one extreme version of a musician trying to dramatize the act of "getting down."
What does it mean to get down? It means to get low, to get down into it, to get down into the nitty-gritty, to f--k deep from the hips, to dig way down, to bring something vital out from deep inside.....all the figures of speech have real-world origins. Playing in the dirt: there's a blues song about that. On the down-low: that's prison talk for two guys--and they might be straight--having sex with each other.
"He's down with me." "I'm going down....down, down, down, down, down." "What I want to know is, Do you know how to GET DOWN?!"
It's all related, all those ways of talking. I think the harp player who lays on his back and blows is working that general territory. There's probably an African origins somewhere in there. When I visited a fishing village in Senegal, we were greeted in the dusty town square by a master drummer and his drummers beating out rhythms on one side while a series of women danced into the circle, did their stuff, sank low towards the dust, then, when the drum corps went "bop!", jumped up and spun away.
With the harp thing, there might also be an influence from the world of clowning, circus, and vaudeville. Clowns dramatize their emotions in grandiose ways.
Bb, I saw Mikey Junior crawl around on the stage in Memphis. I don't remember seeing him on his back. It was actually pretty cool.
I've seen lots of guitar players lay down on the stage, but I really don't give a rodent's butt what a guitar player does.
Adam, thanks for the explanation. It makes sense if it is in context with the music or lyrics, I guess. Gettin' low or gettin' down. Like the song "Shout!"
The few times I have seen harp players do this slow dramatic laying on the stage thing it didn't seem to have any relation to the song. It seems to be just a stunt. I think that is what turned me off on the whole thing.
