Hi Harpers, just thought i would share a magic moment with you, i was at the Great British Rythem And Blues festival over the weekend in Colne in Yorkshire and there were a couple of guys busking outside the British stage on electric guitars with some great sounding Roland amps so i screwed up my courage and asked if i could join in. The guys were great and we jamed for about twenty minutes a drew a little crowd a got some money in the hat. It was an amazing buzz and i found myself just kinda floating on the music and playing stuff totally without thinking, stuff i have never played before!. When we were done i got loads off compliments, one guy shook my hand and said "that was the best harp i have heard all weekend" and some pissed woman was shouting "you were born to do that,you were lush" TE HE! what a laugh i told em i play Harmonica Fatwa which stands for Fuck All Technique With Attitude! i think that pretty much sums me up
Good on ya Geordie! FATWA. That sounds like my style as well. Something ALWAYS happens when I go out busking. Usually good. On Monday a BIG ISSUE seller gave me money, and an aboriginal lady invited me to share dinner with her (and a few homeless people that get free food from the restaurants in town). Just today, I was busking with a guitar buddy, and Christelle was passing by. She stopped by for a few minutes and blew some awesome blues, amazing all the citizens of this old town. A bike courier came up and asked me what the hell just happened. His lower jaw just about hit the floor. (My wife asked how long you have to play to get that good. She is going to have to suffer my practicing a few years longer, I'm afraid). Once you get the taste for busking, it's hard to stop. I've got it bad, I tell ya, and sounds like you do too!
"i found myself just kinda floating on the music and playing stuff totally without thinking, stuff i have never played before!."
This is what happens to me when i play with other musicians, assuming the other players know what they are doing. Always a rush. You forget about everything else in the world while it's happening. That 's the reason i play so much. I don't busk though.
We played a gig in Downtown Sarasota over the weekend and a guy was sitting down the street Blowing harp and singing. I went and visited with him after our gig. Guy had probably $100 in his box. Solid player and decent vocals. Nice guy. we blew a few tunes, i dropped a few bucks in the box too and went on my way. Seemed like a pretty good way to practice and get some dough for doing it!
Those are the BEST moments...as a muso...aren't they?
I once hitched a lift on an oil coaster (ship) going from Gravesend up to Lowestoft.
When we arrived at the port, we then turend inland and snaked our way through the fens and marshes in this 1500 ton tanker until finally we rested in a field (yeh!...a river in a field!) surrounded by vast rows of wheat crops.
The guys on the ship unloaded the oil, and we all got ready for a night out on the town at the only local pub for miles called (and I kid you not...)...
The Red House.
When we went through the door all of our hearts sank.
No girls to be seen anywhere, and just a lone old piano player sitting in the corner on a small stage with an empty drum kit next to him, playing old Ray Charles hits with some considerable gusto.
The guy was also blind.
After a while, as there was no one in the bar apart from me and the other guys from the boat, I went over to the piano player and asked if I could sit in on the drums for a laugh.
"Sure" he said and promptly launched into...
"What I say..."
"Oh Baby don't ya treat me wrong..etc etc..."
At which point I started to pound away on the skins, with not much skill, but lots of enthusiasm.
Now bearing in mind I am NOT a drummer, but a guitar player, I didn't think my amateurish tub thumping would matter much.
Well all I can tell you is that THAT night turned out to be the BEST GIG OF MY LIFE! (...and Ive played a few hundred over the last 30 odd years).
At 1am I was still bashing away and the pub was packed to the gills, with shouting appreciative people having a great time.
Unbeknown to me, this pub was a well known landmark, and it didnt fill up till gone 9pm, and by 11 it was absolutely jam packed solid.
I had rows of drinks being bought for me, and had them lined up next to the drum kit.
As it had started to fill up around 9, I felt bad getting off the stage and leaving the paino player by himself, and people coming in just thought I was the drummer, so it would have looked preety weird if I had just walked of stage in the middle of a set!
It really WAS a maigical night though.
A gig I never thought was going to be, playing an instrument I don't even play.
