kudzurunner
918 posts
Jan 05, 2010
8:02 PM
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I'm going to be doing a harp clinic in Tulsa on either February 13 or 20, a Saturday late afternoon or early evening thing. I'm interested in rustling something up in Little Rock on the Friday evening before either of those dates. Can anybody here point me in the right direction? A clinic would be ideal but I'm open to other possibilities--including, for example, special guesting with a blues band or opening with a solo set (powered by foot drums). All leads are appreciated.
asgussow@aol.com
Last Edited by on Jan 05, 2010 8:03 PM
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jbone
248 posts
Jan 05, 2010
8:34 PM
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adam, i will see what i can put together or find out. i live just north of little rock area. i'm guessing you'll need a hall, maybe a band, and an audience? or conversely, a band with a date that weekend who you could open for?
anybody close enough to little rock who reads this, chime in!
i will canvass my local harp buds and see who's up for a clinic or at least to come out and catch you playing adam.
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roadharp
11 posts
Jan 06, 2010
5:16 PM
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man im in hay jbone how bout the parrot beach.that would be cool. may be port arther would play. its T.C by the way jbone.
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jbone
249 posts
Jan 06, 2010
6:49 PM
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tc i plan to ask them! stay tuned...
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jbone
250 posts
Jan 14, 2010
4:22 AM
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adam-
any further word on this?
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kudzurunner
962 posts
Jan 16, 2010
6:45 AM
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The Ben Miller Band and Damn Bullets, two bluesy rootsy acts, are co-billing at the White Water Tavern in Little Rock on 2/12, and I've just written to the Ben Miller folks via MySpace to ask if they'll add the Gussow One-Man-Band as a special added attraction.
If anybody here--J. Bone??--knows anybody in those acts and can put in a good word on my behalf, please do so!
I'm also still open to the idea of putting on a harp clinic in either Little Rock or Fayetteville on 2/12. Would need a minimum of 5 players willing to toss in $20 apiece.
Last Edited by on Jan 16, 2010 6:46 AM
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jbone
251 posts
Jan 16, 2010
7:50 AM
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i'm working on the willing players for the clinic. any ideas where on a friday eve you'll have the clinic? i have fridays off lately but i'm not so sure about other potential participants in the clinic. i'm hitting local players up where i have their contact stuff, otherwise looking them up at jams.
wish i knew anyone in those bands, but i'll bring wife and anyone else i can get out of the house along if you do open for them. we did an open mic thing a couple of years ago there and the sound guy and system were very good indeed, and crowd response was good also.
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kudzurunner
963 posts
Jan 16, 2010
9:41 AM
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JBone: If I have a Friday clinic in Little Rock, you'll be telling ME where I'm having it! Seriously. As Blanche DuBois once said, I've often depended on the kindness of strangers--at least when it comes to organizing harmonica clinics. I have absolutely no plans for a venue, or even plans for a clinic, beyond what some local harp guy--in this case, I guess, you!--is able to manifest. It wouldn't make sense for me to approach a local music store, say, and go to the trouble of setting something up unless I was pretty such I had some core support from local harp players.
My fallback plan is simply to drive a hunk of the way from Oxford to Tulsa on Friday, grab a cheap motel room, and see what's going on in whatever town I happen to have stopped in. That's slightly less profitable and interesting than scaring up some clinic/gig action in L.R. or Fayetteville. Thus this thread............
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roadharp
15 posts
Jan 16, 2010
5:29 PM
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j bone did you ask the guys at the parrot.iam going next Thursday i will ask around then happy harpin SIN T.C.1 21 10.SEE YOU THERE.
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OzarkRich
81 posts
Jan 17, 2010
8:33 AM
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I can come down if it's on the 12th.
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Ozark Rich
YouTube: OzarkRich
Facebook: php?ref=profile&id=100000279894342
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jbone
252 posts
Jan 17, 2010
9:20 PM
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ok that's vital info. i can ask vanessa at parrot beach if we can do it there. how about a time frame? start and finish? i could bring the lil fender p.a. if needed. tell me what you'll want for sound reinforcement if anything at all adam. i'm still working on some local fellas to attend, more later. definitely count me in along with t.c. and ozark rich (pleez ta meecha rich!) i have several other local players in mind. will get on the phone starting tomorrow and do some emails tonight.
adam, i can offer a recliner chair which wife and i have both fallen asleep in many times if you want to crash free. our place is very small but you're welcome if you want to crash here. coffee and breakfast included! others may have better accommodations.
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OzarkRich
86 posts
Jan 21, 2010
7:41 AM
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Bump
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Ozark Rich
YouTube: OzarkRich
Facebook: php?ref=profile&id=100000279894342
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kudzurunner
988 posts
Jan 21, 2010
3:34 PM
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@jbone: I'm open for anything, although I'll probably want a motel room rather than a recliner chair! But I appreciate the offer, I surely do.
But yes: I'm definitely open to doing something at Parrot Beach: a (say) 90 minute harp clinic and a 30-40 minute set, for example. Or a 30-40 minute opening set, with no clinic, in front of the evening's entertainment.
If it's a place that doesn't have entertainment or a PA, then I guess you'll need to bring that small PA and I'll need to be the entertainment. Fender PA would be fine. One big speaker or two smaller speakers are fine. Let's to this on email from now on: asgussow@aol.com I'm much quicker to reply there.
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jbone
261 posts
Jan 23, 2010
11:07 PM
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so you all know, this is a solid lock adam will be at Parrot Beach Cafe on 2/12 from 6 to 8, doing a clinic and set. if you want to attend message me. $20 in advance.
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OzarkRich
90 posts
Jan 24, 2010
9:23 AM
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I'm in. What is your method for paying in advance? Is the cafe open before hand for dinner?
I'm off work Friday and can come down early if you need help with anything.
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Ozark Rich
YouTube: OzarkRich
Facebook: php?ref=profile&id=100000279894342
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jbone
264 posts
Jan 24, 2010
5:23 PM
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probably Vanessa will open at 5 or so, i'm not for certain. will talk with her tomorrow i think.
paypal or snail mail is good for payment. at least for the moment, as it gets close snailmail will not be an option!
rich, email me at bluester2001@yahoodotcom for details.
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kudzurunner
1021 posts
Jan 28, 2010
8:33 PM
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@jbone: I'm doing Parrot Beach from 6-8 PM, but I've just accepted a second gig that evening: 9:30 - 10:15 PM at The White Water Tavern. I'm opening for The Damn Bullets and The Ben Miller Band. One of those crazy things. Back before you'd approached me, I proactively followed up on somebody's lead and MySpace'd both bands that were working the WWT, asking if perchance they would let me become a special added attraction at extremely low cost. Apparently, while you and I were going back and forth on the clinic, they answered on MySpace and said Hell yes!
So I'm in the rare position of having two gigs in the same town on the same night, in sequence.
Since yours is a harp clinic, followed by a performance, I don't think my later one-man-band set steals your thunder. In fact, I promise NOT to speak with anybody at the latter gig who comes up and wants to talk harp. If you want to talk harp, come to the clinic and support your local touring one-man-blues-harp-band--and jbone, obviously, who has organized the thing. (And if as a result of this double billing you get fewer than 5 people, the $20/man fee sticks. Worst case scenario: You get a 90-minute private lesson for $20, followed by a set.)
Then come to the White Water Tavern and get drunk.
Last Edited by on Jan 28, 2010 8:36 PM
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clyde
2 posts
Jan 30, 2010
11:44 AM
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i don't know how many of you guys have heard the damn bullets... i have and they are a blast.
last summer at the 43rd reunion dance at the batman a go go (yeh sounds funny doesn't it)in sikeston missouri .... my old band the epic of sound opened for these guys.
it had been 40 years almost to the day when we broke up. everyone came in a day early and we got some practice in. it didn't go to bad..i sang and played a couple of licks on the harp. we only played one set and that was enough.
but these guys are a hoot...i hope i can get away for the clinic and show.
with these three acts it should be some night
clyde
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jbone
270 posts
Jan 30, 2010
8:00 PM
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adam- the payment is not a problem. i have the guys lined up to get in. everyone knows it's pay in advance and arrangements have been made to collect, or in some cases the $$ is in hand.
cool you got another gig, i may come down for that!
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jbone
276 posts
Feb 11, 2010
4:05 AM
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the clinic is scheduled to take place as planned!!
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jbone
277 posts
Feb 12, 2010
3:51 AM
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it's a definite go here. weather looks to be cooperative and i think i'm getting off work a bit early so i can get the p.a. set up.
if anyone is interested, and within driving distance, i will gladly bring you in, pay at the door.
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jbone
279 posts
Feb 13, 2010
7:22 AM
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it went very well guys. of course in the first place adam is such an absolute killer player, that got everyone's attention including other patrons of the bar and members of the band who were setting up for a gig when we were finished. his tone before he ever got near an amp was also nothing short of amazing. the man is truly resonant. and then when he did plug in his gear- a premier 2x6 or 2x8 and an even smaller amp i didn't catch the brand of- i and i think the other guys were just blown away. and that's just the icing on the cake.
after adam did a few songs, we took a table near the back of the club, introduced ourselves, and told where we were at on the experience and skill continuum. adam then polled us as to what we wanted to know about. i think he actually had to hold back quite a bit since time was limited and given that some of us were really fairly new to harp. he went over the overblow, tweaking reeds and his tuning kit, draw bends of course, and he showed us that with overblows it's possible and desirable to use the entirety of the harp in making music, not just the first 6 holes and a little bit of top end.
for me personally the revelation was about how much i didn't know, and how much work i have ahead of me! that's not a bad thing since i plan to keep playing harp until i physically can't any more, and to keep learning during that time also. i expect i'll never know it "all".
the clinic was just a couple of hours, enough to make me and the other guys want more. i'm considering the one coming up in may. but also we're thinking about having adam back locally here for a half or full day. more on that as things develop.
there were just four of us in attendance. i had hoped for double that number at least, but a few had to cancel for various reasons, and i wish they could have made it. but hopefully we can all hook up at another clinic!
we all left with the WOW FACTOR firmly in place. i am personally going to start going into adam's stuff on youtube. but sitting with him and talking with him and hearing him in person was a really excellent experience, one i hope to do more of.
if you get the opportunity to go to a clinic, workshop, or entire weekend with him, it's absolutely worth the time and money.
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kudzurunner
1082 posts
Feb 14, 2010
5:03 PM
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Thanks, JB. It was really generous of you to put the whole thing together. I'm happy to come back anytime.
The gig later on at the White Water Tavern went very well. I opened for the Ben Miller Band and Those Damn Bullets. The tavern is a small place with an amazing rootsy vibe. I played a 45-minute set--my first actual club-date set as a one-man band--and ended with "Sunshine of Your Love." Very good response; place was sold out. The owner wants me to come back and open for Cedric Burnside and Lightnin' Malcolm sometime. Whenever that happens, I'll let you know and we'll do another clinic. Or vice versa: when and if I do something for you guys, I'll let the WWT know and maybe do something there.
Again, thanks much for putting the thing together.
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jbone
280 posts
Feb 14, 2010
10:32 PM
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i know i was blown away adam. and i think the other guys were also!
all i did was ask folks questions, the rest was their generous responses. i really dig when things come together like that.
let's definitely keep in touch on this. i think i may get more folks in the door next time, and hopefully we can do a longer workshop, or at least not be rushed by the night's band setting up 15 feet away!
glad the wwt thing was good, Jolene and i played there one evening, got a very good response, but have yet to reconnect with the guy who books acts. Matt i think his name is. and btw, i thought the sound guy there when we played as really among the best i'd ever seen. red haired guy, very calm and capable. good sound there also, he made me sound like my voixe was levitating us off the floor!
thank you Adam, and here's to some good repeat events.
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