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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
winners of 5th WV State Harmonica Championsip
winners of 5th WV State Harmonica Championsip
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Jim Rumbaugh
558 posts
Aug 28, 2011
7:32 PM
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The 2nd Diamond Teeth Mary Blues and Art Festival 2011 was a success as well as the 5th WV State Harmonica Championship. The event was one our best, with 2 participants from out of our area, The winners were:
1st place Scott Gray from Mount Solon, VA
2nd place Mark Cabell from Huntington, WV
3rd place Shane Swezey from Lexington, KY
Our judges were Adam Gussow, Phil Wiggins, and David Payne. They worked hard and serious at their duties of grading and selecting our winners
Shane Swezey is a member of MBH and came because Adam had the event posted on his schedule. I hope Shane will tell us how he likes the Seydel Session Steel that he won.
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ElkRiverHarmonicas
724 posts
Aug 28, 2011
7:43 PM
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Each contestant, when all judges scores were tallied, could get a total of 900 points, only FOUR points separated 2nd and 3rd!
It was an honor to judge with the likes of Adam and Phil.
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David
Elk River Harmonicas
Elk River Harmonicas on Facebook
"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato." - Lewis Grizzard
"Also, drinking homemade beer." - David Payne
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Greg Heumann
1243 posts
Aug 28, 2011
9:06 PM
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Any video we can see?
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/Greg
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kudzurunner
2668 posts
Aug 29, 2011
4:25 AM
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Jim and his group put on a very nice event. The harmonica portions were neatly sequestered within the larger Diamond Teeth Mary festival. I enjoyed playing Friday evening--it's always nice to have harmonica players in the audience and a sound guy who knows what he's doing--but the high point for me was the Saturday night performance by Phil Wiggins and Nat Reese. Reese alternated between deep blues and much lighter swing fare, the sort of songs that he and the late Howard Armstrong, jazz/blues fiddler, used to do. Phil was masterful. He was masterful on the uptempo blues, masterful on the swing stuff, and amazing on the slow blues. I was noodling in the men's room later, muttering about how I needed to get my own slow blues playing in gear.
During the harmonica competition, Jim was not only a gracious and funny MC, but his own performance of "Black Magic Woman" impressed the judges mightily. Neither Phil nor I had ever judged a harp competition, but Dave mentored us and we all dialogued quite effectively after we retreated to a cabana and tried to weigh the evidence. The #1 player emerged pretty quickly for all three of us, but we seesawed on second and third. I'll be discreet, since those sorts of conversations are supposed to remain private; let's just say that each of us had slightly different criteria and I learned something important as Phil clarified his standards of value that I'll take with me as I move down the road. He's a wise man--and an ego-free, unpretentious guy who knows how to kick back with a beer (as he, Dave, and I did on Saturday after the competition) and talk harp.
I'd love to see some video of the blowoff that he and I engaged in at the end of the Saturday night jam session. There were a lot of camera-phones being held up. :)
Last Edited by on Aug 29, 2011 4:26 AM
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Jim Rumbaugh
559 posts
Aug 29, 2011
10:25 AM
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@greg Some video may surface. My wife stood with her iphone in hand for half an hour.
@Kudzu Thanks for the kind words.
I have a promise of video of the Saturday night "after jam". If I get it, it will be shared. It was the kind of evening I had hoped for and wanted for over 3 years. There was an energy in the air as well as a party feel, as everyone took turns playing and singing. The big moment was when Adam and Phil both got up and traded leads. It was not a "head cutting" competition. It was two proffesionals, sharing and playing great music so everyone could have a good time, and we did.
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The WV State Harmonica Championship at The Diamond Teeth Mary Blues Festival Aug 26th & 27th 2011, Huntington,WV
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