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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
best towns/cities for blues harmonica
best towns/cities for blues harmonica
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kudzurunner
4413 posts
Dec 04, 2013
4:25 AM
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I'm curious to know what forum members think. It's clear that Chicago has a thriving community, driven by the presence of stars like Sugar Blue and Billy Branch and also clearly driven by Joe Filisko, his teaching at Old Town, and his "You Missed Monday!" newsletter.
San Jose seems to have an active scene, driven significantly by David Barrett's work.
Memphis these days, with Beale Street as an anchor, has Brandon Santini, John Nemeth, Dr. Feelgood Potts.
I was amazed by how many great players showed up at an event in New Orleans several years back. No question that NOLA belongs on the short list of great contemporary blues harmonica towns.
Austin strikes me as an obvious candidate. I've still never been there, though, and can't speak from personal experience.
Chicago, San Jose, New Orleans, Memphis, and Austin.
Where else? Portland? New York/NJ? Clarksdale, with Deak Harp and Watermelon Slim? What specifically makes for a great blues harmonica scene? Gigs, jam sessions, teachers?
Please weigh in--and/or take issue with the five cities I've nominated.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Dec 04, 2013 4:26 AM
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LSC
548 posts
Dec 04, 2013
9:28 AM
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Kim Wilson, Greg Izor, Jimi Lee, Dan Kaplan, Michael Rubenstein, Paul Orta, Dale Spalding, James Cotton, and the sadly passed Gary Primach, and no doubt some I forgot makes Austin a pretty good city for harmonica players to be inspired by. Unfortunately though as far as a "community", I'm not so sure. It's also not particularly easy to hear these players in town as the nature of the Austin music scene requires these guys to be working mostly out of town.
@kudsurunner - You really should try and make it to Austin. One can hear world class musicians literally seven nights a week, the food is great, and generally a very chill atmosphere. I can even offer you a spare room.
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LSC
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LSC
Last Edited by LSC on Dec 04, 2013 9:29 AM
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Rgsccr
215 posts
Dec 04, 2013
10:16 AM
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The Seattle area is pretty active. Lee Oskar is the best known harp player, but there are many other great blues harp guys. Steve Bailey, Paul Green, Brian Lee, James King, Jeff Mason, Mark Dufresne (might be from Portland but he's up here a lot), Doug Oyler, Grant Dermody are some very good national level harp players who come to mind, but there are quite a few others. The blues jam I go to regularly will sometimes have as many five harp players a night including some of the guys mentioned above.
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HawkeyeKane
2192 posts
Dec 04, 2013
10:22 AM
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Seems to me like Denver is a pretty vibrant blues harp town. What with Rick's weekly jam...it's almost like Denver is becoming a sort of retreat for harp players.
My city of Springfield is situated between two major blues towns: Chicago and St. Louis. There are about four or five of us harp players who perform on a regular basis. But the masses of the city itself do seem to love harp on the whole.
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Hawkeye Kane
Last Edited by HawkeyeKane on Dec 04, 2013 10:28 AM
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kudzurunner
4414 posts
Dec 04, 2013
10:31 AM
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Seattle, of course. My bad.
By community, I guess I mean that the players know each other, show up with some regularity at jam sessions and/or each other's gigs, and make a space for--or simply check out--touring pros when they come through.
By this standard, NOLA definitely has a great blues harmonica scene. And when I think back to my visit to Seattle, hanging out with Kim Field and Steve Bailey and sharing a stage with them, I know that that city, too, has a vibrant scene. I guess "scene" is the word more than "community."
My experience in New York taught me that scenes/communities spring up around specific clubs and specific nights or jam sessions at those clubs. Harp guys, like most blues players, like to hang out, check out the competition, have a drink, shake hands, then get up there and blow a few songs.
I realized that Clarksdale has something going on when I went to the Bluesberry Cafe (I think it was) during the summer to see Deak Harp, a recent relocatee to town, and he gave Watermelon Slim and then me a chance to get up and blow. I actually sat in with Deak, then blew a solo song later. It was tough following those two guys! Watermelon in particular is a killer harp-and-vocal-mic player, just stomping his foot and howling. So maybe Clarksdale is starting to get some specific gravity as a harp-friendly place. (I know that Gindick has a house there, too, although we haven't crossed paths in the clubs.)
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Dec 04, 2013 10:36 AM
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Joe_L
2410 posts
Dec 04, 2013
12:14 PM
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Very few people who are learning or students rarely venture out to jams. David's School of the Blues has a monthly jam where he encourages students to get on stage and perform. The times that I've dropped in to watch it, there aren't a lot of harp players. The couple of guys that I do see, periodically make it to jams, but they aren't exactly "fixtures" on the scene.
When I attended the Gussow/Shellist/Kumar show at the Grand Dell a few years back, I saw a bunch of players that I had never seen before and have never seen again. I don't see them at any shows which feature harp-led band leaders who gig a lot like Aki or Hummel.
There are a lot of jams here. Lately, there aren't a lot of harp players that attend them, unless the host is a harp player. For example, when Hummel is a special guest at a jam, there will be a lot of harp players. If a jam has a special guest who isn't a harp player or isn't hosted by a harp player, it can be rare to see another one in attendance.
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Rick Davis
2746 posts
Dec 04, 2013
12:41 PM
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Denver is a good place for all kinds of music. Here's why:
25 reasons the Denver music scene rules
For blues harmonica in particular Denver is strong, with players like Ronnie Shellist, Nic Clark, Al, Chesis, Dan Treanor, and many others. But I don't think Denver measures up to some other areas, such as San Francisco and the south bay, Austin, Chicago, and other cities.
One thing Denver has that stands out is the number of good blues jams, and the number of players who attend. I've heard really good players say Denver is the blues jam capitol of America. We typically have 15 blues jams per week in the Denver area, and most are really busy.
All the Denver blues jams I know of are friendly to harp players, and that helps proliferate new and better players.
And, Denver is a really fine city. There are about 3 million people in the metro area. You can see 200 mountain peaks, 30 of them over 14,000 feet. We have as much sunshine as San Diego. We have more parks and bike paths than any city in America. And... marijuana is legal!
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-Little Rick Davis
The Blues Harp Amps Blog
The Mile High Blues Society
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kudzurunner
4416 posts
Dec 04, 2013
7:54 PM
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Atlanta definitely has a large and active blues community. If you google "atlanta blues society" and go to their website, you'll find the following list:
WEEKLY JAMS:
Sunday – Locals Sunday Night Jam – Locals Bar & Grill, Acworth, GA
Monday – Jam w/Lola at Northside Tavern
Monday – Jam w/ Mike Watson & Friends at Loco's Grill & Pub in Alpharetta, GA
Monday – Open Jam w/ Barry Richman – Dixie Tavern
Tuesday – Jam w/Mike Watson & Friends – Montana’s, Alpharetta
Tuesday – Acoustic Open Mic w/Bones – Nik’s Place, Marietta
Tuesday – Locals Tuesday Night Jam – Locals Bar & Grill, Acworth, GA
Wednesday – Pro Blues Jam w/ McKnight and Company – Darwin’s, Marietta
Wednesday – Open Mic w/Barry Richman & Larry Griffith – Danny’s, Woodstock
Wednesday – Open Mic with Stephen Duncan & Alexis Vear at Hottie Hawgs, Atlanta
Thursday – Open Jam w/Nathan Nelson – Nik’s Place, Marietta
Thursday – Open Mike w/ The Larry Griffith Band – The Cove, Dallas
Thursday – Seminole Jackson’s All Pro Jam – Misty’s Hideaway, Tucker
Thursday – Open Jam w/ The Cazanovas - Darwin’s, Marietta
Thursday – Open Jam w/ Nathan Nelson – Nik’s Place, Marietta
Friday – Chicago Joe’s Student Jam – Tin Roof Cantina, Atlanta
Now, whether harp players are welcome at those jams, and show up, is another story.
Rick, I wasn't aware of just how vibrant the Denver scene was. Thanks for clarifying that.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Dec 04, 2013 7:54 PM
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Gnarly
812 posts
Dec 04, 2013
11:42 PM
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San Diego has a good scene but I don't think most players are making any money.
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Littoral
1010 posts
Dec 05, 2013
2:44 AM
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Atlanta? Marginal from my limited (recent) experience. The place is such a monstrous sprawl that I'm sure it's hard to generalize.
Tallahassee? No. But dang I really have tried.
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Pluto
270 posts
Dec 05, 2013
6:14 AM
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Portland!!!!
Home of the late Paul DeLay, Curtis Salgado, Mitch Kashmar, Jim Wallace, Hank Shreve, Franco Paletta, Arthur Moore and many I'm not listing. Portland has on average 7 "blues" jams a week. Arthur Moore features 1-2 harmonica specific jams, where he passes the mic around to the audience. He often features one of the players listed above, as hosts. The Portland Waterfront Blues Festival is the largest blues fest west of the Mississippi. Here is the link to the Cascade Blues Association: http://cascadebluesassociation.org/
Last Edited by Pluto on Dec 05, 2013 7:05 AM
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kudzurunner
4418 posts
Dec 05, 2013
6:33 AM
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I'm going to add to my list, then:
Chicago, New Orleans, Memphis, Austin, Portland, Seattle, Denver. Maybe San Jose and Clarksdale.
What about Boston? The blues scene in general used to be great there, and may still be.
Anybody want to speak up for San Francisco or LA? Buffalo? NYC?
Let me refine my definition of "scene" or "community": If an ambitious young blues harp player came to you and said, "I'm willing to relocate and I want to end up in a place where I'm going to be able to gig, jam, maybe take a lesson or two, and see good live harp on a regular basis, what American cities and towns should I consider?", where would you send that person? (The answer, "Stay at home and watch YouTube" isn't an acceptable answer. This person wants live action.)
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Dec 05, 2013 6:36 AM
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scojo
438 posts
Dec 05, 2013
6:42 AM
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My hometown of Jackson, Mississippi has a fine harmonica history... Greg "Fingers" Taylor is mostly known for living here, and he still does but is not really gigging now due to health reasons... Jason Ricci lived here for a while... Sam Myers was from here, and Sonny Boy Williamson spent a lot of time here. But now it's not much harmonica-wise... other than myself, the only guys gigging regularly are my friend Arthur Jones (a very good Chicago-style player) and Bill "BC" Carlin. Bobby Rush lives here but doesn't really play in Jackson that much. It's still a good music town, but just not that much harmonica-wise any more.
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groyster1
2479 posts
Dec 05, 2013
7:43 AM
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Ive seen good blues acts in downtown Asheville nc
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atty1chgo
778 posts
Dec 05, 2013
8:41 AM
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Also in Chicago, besides Sugar Blue, Billy Branch and Joe Filisko, are Matthew Skoller, who is a bandleader and producer, and of course living legend Billy Boy Arnold.
Kevin Purcell (harp and vocals) and his band, the Nightburners recently made the finals of the 2013 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. The band blends southern rock with traditional Chicago blues. This is an underrated but very much up and coming veteran band finally getting their dues.
Other harp players in the circuit are Harmonica Hinds, Russ Green, Omar Coleman, and Harry Garner.
Richard Pryor, son of the late Snooky Pryor, plays in southern Illinois as well as the occasional Chicago appearance.
Female harp player and Hohner endorsee Geneva Red is based out of southern Wisconsin, and plays in the greater Chicago area occasionally.
Last Edited by atty1chgo on Dec 05, 2013 10:01 AM
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Rick Davis
2748 posts
Dec 05, 2013
8:59 AM
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Portland definitely has a great blues harp scene. Sacramento is probably a 2nd tier place for harp but there are some good players and clubs. Boston, for sure. Gregg MacKenzie moved to Denver from Boston and he is a heck of blues harp player. He hosted a popular blues jam in the Boston area.
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-Little Rick Davis
The Blues Harp Amps Blog
The Mile High Blues Society
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HarpNinja
3631 posts
Dec 05, 2013
11:57 AM
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Minnesota is boring and shouldn't be considered much of a destination location if you are interested in blues. There are a couple of female led groups doing well, one might even have harmonica, but it is a small click of blues players doing very small shows...the jam scene is probably pretty average to boring considering the metro.
The Twin Cities, Duluth, and Rochester get some national acts on occassion, but I can't recall any harp driven blues bands.
Willie Smith and Jason Ricci have played in Mankato - same venue which no longer does music. Adam played here for a pick up gig once. Otherwise, there a couple hundred people might show up for the occasional Eric Bibb or Robert Cray appearance.
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Mantra Customized Harmonicas
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nacoran
7396 posts
Dec 05, 2013
1:38 PM
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Bufalo? I suppose if you are always snowed in all the time and your economy is in the toilet you might have the blues! At the other end of the state here in SmAlbany, we do have a decent music scene from a listener point of view (not a lot of paying venues though). I'm not sure how focused it is on blues, but there are a few guys playing the coffee houses.
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Nate
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Rockin Daddy
1 post
Dec 05, 2013
2:10 PM
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I live in Atlanta and I can definitely vouch for the very active blues scene, with a strong roster of very talented musicians. While they might not be huge, well-known names to people outside of the city, that doesn't mean they are any less talented. There are a lot of extremely talented musicians that play 3-5 times a week along with a large number of venues that support live blues music. Let’s not forget that Sean Costello was based here in Atlanta, along with the 2013 Solo winner of the IBC, Little G Weevil is based here. Go to the Thursday night jam at Darwin’s and you’ll be blown away by the local talent that lives here. Bands like The Cazanovas, The Electromatics, The Breeze Kings, Stoney Brooks, Jeff Baker, Joe Lee Bush, all are harmonica heavy bands that are full of talent. I moved to Atlanta about 2 years ago and have easily found the town is full of amazing talent that wants to play the blues like it should be played. Don’t discount Atlanta, instead check out some of the guys I mentioned above. Like Adam mentioned, come to Atlanta and you can find live blues every night of the week.
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TheATL
71 posts
Dec 05, 2013
3:21 PM
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@scojo,
Just saw a posting on another forum about a jam in JAX not this weekend but next weekend. Was that you that posted it? I am on Tybee Island, GA and was thinking about making the four-hour drive just for fun.
Savannah, GA has a great music scene, but maybe not what Adam was getting at. It is easy to find a place to get up and play, but as far as a community of harp players, not really that great. On the other hand, I walked into a bar late one evening to have a drink and the band was playing jazz tunes - during the break I started talking with the guy who was playing stand-up bass about the blues and he was completely into it. I was invited up to play a couple of blues tunes and the band was fantastic. More than that, the crowd came unglued - yellin', clapin' and screamin. Definitely walked out of there with a smile on my face.
NOLA - from my experience, Harvey and the Crescent City Harmonica Club do an outstanding job of creating a community around the harmonica.
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Greg Heumann
2495 posts
Dec 05, 2013
6:03 PM
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Referring to San Jose does the San Francisco Bay Area - which is larger than most countries at about 14M in population - a disservice. In this larger area the blues and harp is very well represented. Within about 100 miles of the geographical center, San Jose is at the southern extreme. The north end is Santa Rosa. West is San Francisco and East is Sacramento. Within that area you have Charlie Musselwhite, Rick Estrin, Mark Hummel, Aki Kumar and a bunch of other pros and semi-pros. The list is too long to list - but there's a lot of blues going on - jams every night of the week.
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/Greg
BlowsMeAway Productions
See my Customer Mics album on Facebook
BlueState - my band
Bluestate on iTunes
Last Edited by Greg Heumann on Dec 05, 2013 8:04 PM
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walterharp
1247 posts
Dec 05, 2013
7:05 PM
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Well,
Manhattan KS has 50,000 people and 1 active blues band featuring a harp player gigging...ours. and one weekly open mic. That would be like 60 blues bands 60 open mics in the greater Denver metro area or 280 in the San Francisco area. We get on average one pro-level harp player here every 2 years including Gussow, Musselwhite, Hummel, Wilson, Taj Mahal, and Watermelon Slim.. so per capita not too bad, cept I hear the harp player in the local band is not the greatest!
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wowwiezowwie
14 posts
Dec 05, 2013
9:32 PM
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@ nacoran you live in albany too!? I moved from Denver for a job and I'm looking for some other harp players- you ever play at the roadhouse on Sunday? Where do you normally hang out and blow harp?
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nacoran
7398 posts
Dec 05, 2013
10:24 PM
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Wowwiezowwie, I haven't made it to the Roadhouse. I used to do the Pauly's Hotel open mic every week, but my schedule changed and I'm not downtown on Wednesdays anymore. Occasionally I go to the Hudson River Coffee House down on Lark. They get a pretty good crowd, especially when the college kids are around. There is a pretty good circuit of open mics. I think there is still a blues jam at Pauly's too.
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Nate
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Mirco
36 posts
Dec 06, 2013
12:22 AM
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I second Greg's ideas about San Jose and the Bay Area. The blues are rich here.
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scojo
442 posts
Dec 06, 2013
7:30 AM
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@TheAtl -- no, that was not me. I don't get out to a lot of jams, actually... I am gigging so much that, with three small kids, any night I'm not getting paid is happily spent at home. Did it say where the jam was going to be? This can be a really good town to visit musically so let me know if you do. You can email me off my web site or find me on Facebook.
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Greg Heumann
2501 posts
Dec 06, 2013
8:37 AM
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I just posted in another thread, the list of what's going on in the "greater San Francisco Bay Area region this weekend in answer to that question in another thread: SF Bay Area Blues Clues
Take a look. It is impressive. Can any other area match that?
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***************************************************
/Greg
BlowsMeAway Productions
See my Customer Mics album on Facebook
BlueState - my band
Bluestate on iTunes
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Rick Davis
2749 posts
Dec 06, 2013
8:55 AM
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Greg, the answer is "NO." I don't think another area can top the SF-area blues scene.
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-Little Rick Davis
The Memphis Mini harp amp
The Blues Harp Amps Blog
The Mile High Blues Society
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Tuckster
1376 posts
Dec 06, 2013
10:17 AM
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If you want to hear some really good blues check out Charlie Barath & Jimmy Adler duo. All the venues they play are smoke free.
Pittsburgh's blues scene isn't a desert,but it was a lot better in the past. I can think of blues open stages on Sun.,Mon.,Wed.,Thur. and Sat.,so a harp player could stay entertained. Harp players in general are not really common. I think less than a half dozen play out regularly. We seem to have quite a few like Frank. Very talented,but choose not to play out.
Last Edited by Guest on Dec 07, 2013 4:22 AM
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Frank
3445 posts
Dec 07, 2013
3:59 AM
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I talked both to Charlie and Jimmy recently at the Hummel blowout show - discussed with Charlie about the rigors of giggin and how a serious passion is required to commit to adding it to ones schedule...
I like singin and playin harp, but not enough to get in my car at 8 or 9 at night, drive to a bar and hang out for the next 3 or 4 hrs. I played a couple tunes with Jimmy years ago - his style of blues is right up my alley.
Anyway, Jimmy has been playing bar blues for decades and has been a premier guitar player in the best blue bands in Pittsburgh - so I asked him - who is the best blues harmonica player in the burgh that he has had the pleasure to play with... and without hesitation he said "Will E. Tri".
I look forward to seeing Charlie and Jimmy's duo gig - so far they have been booked on nights I work. Both those guys are great people as well as class act musicians.
This is the show I'm bringing my wife to - she loves horns:)
Last Edited by Guest on Dec 07, 2013 4:23 AM
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Tuckster
1377 posts
Dec 07, 2013
7:13 AM
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Frank- Buddy,there was no need to explain your choice of not playing out. I was being selfish in the fact that I don't get the pleasure of seeing you play with a band. :>)
That was smooth jazz,I guess, but it also had some balls.I could listen to that. It ain't Kenny G.
Oddly,some guest has edited a fairly innocuous small part of my previous post. What gives?
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Frank
3446 posts
Dec 07, 2013
7:39 AM
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I hear ya Tuck - just relaying the brunxt of what me and Charlie talked about...My hats off to him and all the players that can commit to adding gigging to their lifestyle...I met Charlie at a mutual buddies house seems like 20 years ago, fine gent and harp player.
Yeah, these SAX cats are the young hippsters on the block and are layin down some serious blowin...The venue as I mentioned earlier is Latitude40 in Robinson Twp. - it a newer place and hopefully they will get some blues dudes there too to show-off thier craft :)
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atty1chgo
785 posts
Dec 07, 2013
9:45 AM
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Boston, or rather near Cape Cod Massachusetts, is where Jerry Portnoy lives and teaches/performs, and of course, Annie Raines lives in the Boston area.
I think that Magic Dick is still based out of Boston, isn't he?
blueswannabe a/k/a Mike Barris has a band named The Rusty Mikes out of Worcester. He should know more about other local Boston harp players.
Last Edited by atty1chgo on Dec 09, 2013 6:10 PM
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Tuckster
1378 posts
Dec 07, 2013
9:50 AM
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Isn't BBQ Bob from Boston?
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pharpo
724 posts
Dec 07, 2013
12:53 PM
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Syracuse does not compare to the "big boys", but for a city of it's size we are blessed with a vibrant music scene, and that includes the blues. We have some great musicians and some great venues / jams. The New York State Blues Fest is held here yearly. The local harp "pool" is pretty good too ! Tom Townsley , Pete McMahon, Bernie Clark, Mike Petroff, and Matt Tarbell all call Central New York home. It is also home to Dave Kott - THE premier source for info on vintage Shure elements and mics at greenbulletmics.com (referenced many times by Greg Heumann)
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kudzurunner
4422 posts
Dec 07, 2013
2:09 PM
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Thanks for reminding me about Syracuse, pharpo. Years ago Satan & Adam used to travel up there at least two or three times a year; at least once we appeared on Tom Townsley's show. Yes, it's more of a blues town than most people from outside the region realize.
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bonedog569
901 posts
Dec 08, 2013
11:31 AM
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Yeah - this place (SF Bay Area) is LOUSEY with freakin harp players! When did our little instrument become as popular as guitar?
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blueswannabe
376 posts
Dec 09, 2013
6:14 PM
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In Worcester, MASS, Greendales Pub. Great blues jams.
There are always harp players.
Nick's in Worcester, MA (live music no jams)
Vincent's in Worcester, MA (live music no jams)
The Blacksheep, In Sterling Mass, ( I have seen professor Harp pay there a couple of times). (blues jam)
Dunny's Tavern, East Brookfield, MA.(blues jam)
Stone's Public house, Ashaland, MA (blues jam)
The CHicken Bone, Framingham, MA (live musci and jams)
Firefly's, Marlborough, MA (live music and jams)
In Woonsocket, RI, Chan's. One of the best places to go to see the blues - all the greats have played here - Kim Wilson, Rick Estrin, John Nemeth, Sugar Ray Norcia, Dennis Gruenling, Pierre Laroque, etc.. The atmosphere is a Chinese restaurant with traditional and vintage chinese decorations littered with orignal art work of the owner and photos of all the greats that have played there. Going to Chan's is like walking onto a film set of a Quentin Tarantino film. Totally cool. It's a gem.
Last Edited by blueswannabe on Dec 09, 2013 6:33 PM
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Frans Belgium
6 posts
Dec 11, 2013
3:19 AM
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Reading about Clarksdale, it strikes me that Watermelon Slim and Deak Harp are always on the shortlist, whereas there is no trace of Stan Street of the Hambone band and gallery. I talked to Deak Harp last september during my blues trail tour after hearing Stan (albeit briefly) the night before with Mad Perry. We both agreed on what a fine player he is. So yes, Clarksdale comes to my mind talking about 'harp' scenes.
Last Edited by Frans Belgium on Dec 11, 2013 3:26 AM
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kudzurunner
4427 posts
Dec 11, 2013
5:32 AM
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Funny you should mention Stan Street. I was in Clarksdale last night, about 8 hours ago, hanging out at Stan Street's Hambone Gallery with him, Deak Harp, and Raoul Bhaneja, who was in town from Toronto. All of us jammed with the band, playing through Stan's vintage Reverberocket. 2 x 12, with a vintage Astatic. Stan sounded better than all of us through that rig. (Everybody sounded better than me through that rig, in fact. I just don't like ball mics.) Stan's not a fancy player, but he's got great tone--especially on that rig--and there's no question that the Hambone is THE place on a Tuesday night.
http://stanstreet.com/
Deak gave me a copy of his current CD and I listened to some of it on the long drive back. Buy it! Deak is the man. The first two songs each lasted about 8 minutes, and they take you into a meditative zone-out space. Deak is making real blues. That album should be getting heavy play on Bluesville. It's better, more honest and authentic blues than a lot of what they play on there. Deak is one of the few contemporary players, white or black, who does what the old blues players in the Delta, like Hooker, used to do, which is transform the actual stuff of their lives into blues songs. The hard times he sings about are times he's lived through, and survived. When you combine that life with his ability to blow harp and his ability to spin out a story with a great groove, you've got real blues. It's a very rare commodity, that kind of blues, but you don't realize it until you hear his stuff.
It's the difference between the song and the story. He's got both.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Dec 11, 2013 5:40 AM
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messy ventura
104 posts
Dec 11, 2013
7:07 AM
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+1 What Adam said about Deak. @ Adam "I just don't like ball mics...'' When I'm outsurfed by a couple of my friends in the water I always just say '' I had to use the wrong wax ''. heeeeeheee!
Last Edited by messy ventura on Dec 11, 2013 7:12 AM
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kudzurunner
4639 posts
Apr 02, 2014
4:33 AM
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bump
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Mighty Slim
2 posts
Apr 02, 2014
5:18 AM
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The Baltimore/Washington D.C./Northern Virginia metro area has a devoted blues scene, with multiple (and I find harp friendly) open mic blues jams almost every night of the week and four or five to choose from on Sunday nights. Weekly Blues events for the area are listed at the Live Blues Calendar at www.mojoworkin.com which is updated every Wednesday. Mark Wenner and the Nighthawks call the area home, there are a number of nice venues (Birchmere, Rams Head, State Theater) that book touring blues acts often, Phil Wiggins and Pierre Beauregard both hail from the area and are frequent visitors, and there are a number of local bands that feature harp players who gig often at the local bars and restaurants that feature live music.
It isn't Chicago but you won't starve here for lack of opportunities to hear and play harp.
Mighty Slim
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Philosofy
531 posts
Apr 02, 2014
5:20 AM
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Dang it Mighty, I was just there weekend before last, and just didn't get around to looking for blues jams.
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Mighty Slim
3 posts
Apr 02, 2014
5:36 AM
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Philosofy -- I think the Live Blues Calendar at www.mojoworkin.com is a great resource for blues oriented visitors to the area with no local to guide them around. Lists everything from national touring acts to open mics to local bar bands playing local bars. It seems to be run by a guy at The Baltimore Blues Society but is linked to from the D.C. Blues Society web page as well.
Next visit you can be prepared.
Mighty Slim
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Littoral
1063 posts
Apr 02, 2014
5:39 AM
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Mighty Slim, new to the neighborhood, Welcome.
I hail from DC area and got a couple lessons from PT Beauregard in about 78. I also played a lot of shows with the Cambridge Harmonica Orchestra (DC contingent).
Love to know more about what Pierre is doing.
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Bass410man
15 posts
Apr 02, 2014
5:57 AM
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If Canada is included in this list, Toronto has a great blues blues seen, especially around the Port Credit area. with guys like David Rotundo, Jerome Godboo, Steve Marriner, Chuck Jackson, and Johnny Max, Steve Strongman, FatHead, to name a few.
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Mighty Slim
4 posts
Apr 02, 2014
6:30 AM
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Littoral -- I first met (briefly) Mr. Beauregard at an open mic blues jam in northern Virginia (maybe mid 2012?) hosted by Jimmy Cole, who introduced him as an old friend of his. I gather Jimmy played with Pierre in a local band here way back in the day. I had never heard of Pierre before but soon saw that he is a fabulous player. I did a bit of research on him afterwards and learned that he was Magic Dick's patent partner regarding some harmonica design ideas they had. I thought that was pretty cool.
Then, maybe six months ago, he showed up unexpectedly (at least to me), at another jam in northern Virginia I frequent, and as it happened, he let me play through his gear, and I got a brief chance to talk to him after as we were all packing up to go. He had played some nice harp accompanying someone on "St. James Infirmary Blues" and I couldn't figure how he played it, so I asked whether he had played it in fifth position (which is what I would have done) and he said no.
He explained he was playing harps custom made to his own design, which were not (yet) commercially available (although he hoped one day soon they would be), and that he could bend every draw note up and down the scale, and he pulled one out and sort of played it up and down the scale real quick so i could see that it didn't sound like any diatonic I owned.
I know he was in town again (or was still in town) shortly after that event as he sat in with a band I have some friends in, but I missed that show.
That's all I know about Mr. Beauregard.
Mighty Slim
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Littoral
1064 posts
Apr 02, 2014
8:27 AM
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Mighty Slim, Much appreciated. Pierre was with Powerhouse back in the day. Truly awesome. Pricipato, George Leah...
I knew of his collaboration with Magic Dick. I'd just love to catch him someday and show him I figured some of it out :)
He was actually almost my brother in law but she ended up with and civil engineer that designs hill and sewers. Damn it.
Last Edited by Littoral on Apr 02, 2014 8:28 AM
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DukeBerryman
316 posts
Apr 02, 2014
8:57 AM
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Visit LA for great blues jams from blues impressario Cadillac Zack - jam with Joe Bonnamassa, Alvin Lee, and Dennis Gruenling:
Cadillac Zack's Blues Party & Jam
Stay for harmonica instruction from the country's best teacher Dave Gage at world famous music store McCabe's Guitar Shop:
McCabe's in Santa Monica
And finally, put your chops to the test at the annual Battle of the Blues Harps in Long Beach and become legend:
Harp Battle
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