tookatooka
2770 posts
Mar 01, 2012
2:20 PM
|
The venue was at Kempinska's a night club in St. Brides Lane, just off of Fleet Street. Just as an aside (because I'm sure this will be of historical interest to Adam and I know he wouldn't have had time to look around the area) directly opposite the entrance to Kempinska's is a small church called St. Brides.
St. Brides is the eigth church on that site where Christians have been worshipping for the last 1500 years.
It was the venue for the marriage of the parents of Virginia Dare who was the first European child to be born in Colonial America in 1587.
The very first printing press with moveable type was brought here in 1500 and is the reason why St. Brides is referred to as the 'Printers Cathedral' and the 'Journalists Church'.
In the crypt you can see the pavement on which the Romans walked in AD180.
The steeple is the highest steeple that Wren ever built and was the inspiration for the tiered wedding cake.
Milton lived in the Churchyard; Pepys was baptised there; Johnson lived across the road; Dickens lived just up the road and King John held several of his councils at the church.
History lesson over.
The clinic was well attended by a keen group of harpists of varying levels. There must have been a group of at least fifty in total.
Adam gave out a work sheet "12 Key Principles of Improvisation" which we worked through along with covering the Blues Scale and amplified harp playing.
All in all it was very informative afternoon with a relaxed informal atmosphere with plenty of opportunities to ask questions which Adam was happy to answer.
Personally I found it a very worthwhile session in which I learnt a great deal. It was great to actually hear Adam play live. It sounds so much better in real life and I couldn't get over the volume Adam manages to achieve even without an amplifier.
Thanks must go out to Adam for running the clinic and also the people who organised everything and made it all run so smoothly. One of whom is our own 'captainbliss' (Will Greener). Thank you.
If one of these ever occurs again, I'll make a point of getting there and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys playing harp. It was well worth the time and effort to attend and to meet Adam.
Last Edited by on Mar 01, 2012 2:21 PM
|
lumpy wafflesquirt
538 posts
Mar 02, 2012
1:16 AM
|
you know how to make a guy envious don't you.
what about the flash mob and the gig?
----------
"Come on Brackett let's get changed"
|
captainbliss
575 posts
Mar 02, 2012
1:23 AM
|
@tookatooka:
Great pics.
Are you OK with me reposting them at the London Harps facebook page?
xxx
EDITED to fix HTML error
Last Edited by on Mar 02, 2012 1:24 AM
|
captainbliss
576 posts
Mar 02, 2012
1:25 AM
|
And...
KUDOS to the classy venue and helpful folk of Kempinska's.
xxx
|
tookatooka
2772 posts
Mar 02, 2012
2:32 AM
|
@captainbliss. Please do, be my guest. Thanks.
Yes I should have mentioned the people of Kempinska's.
----------
|
tookatooka
2773 posts
Mar 02, 2012
2:36 AM
|
@lumpy. The flashmob idea fell by the wayside fairly early on and in retrospect probably wasn't a good idea on my part. Needed more thought.
Unfortunately I couldn't stay for the gig due to long standing family commitments but the venue was first class and I'm sure the audience were very eager to see Adam play as a OMB.
Hopefully one of our other forum members can cover that?
----------
|
Stevelegh
405 posts
Mar 02, 2012
2:45 AM
|
Uploading some vids of the OMB performance and of Lyndon Anderson's sit in with Adam.
Lyndon's a bit good. Just a bit.......
|
tookatooka
2774 posts
Mar 02, 2012
2:49 AM
|
@Stevelegh. Look forward to seeing them. I'm really pleased that someone was able to video the performance.
----------
|
Stevelegh
406 posts
Mar 02, 2012
3:16 AM
|
Hi Tooka,
I didn't get everything as I was low on battery and drive space, so I kept stopping and starting.
There were plenty of guys recording and there was a digital camera on a tripod. I don't know if they recorded the whole thing.
One thing I'll say about Adam and I've said it before in other threads, but seeing him live just confirms it. He is the Stevie Ray Vaughan of the harp.
He totally floors it continuously. Loud, fast, accurate, soulful. Total tone that I can only imagine comes from the years on the streets playing with Mr Satan. It was wearing me out just watching him.
Lyndon got up and Adam suggested Cissy Strut. I play that on guitar with my band. I just missed recording the intro, so I got it all apart from a few seconds.
Had I been better prepared, I would have stolen my wife's Canon and put it on a tripod and recorded the whole thing.
|
MagicNick
59 posts
Mar 02, 2012
9:01 AM
|
It was great to get to meet Adam and even have a (brief) chat.
The clinic was great and I would have been happy to have carried on for hours.
I was sat right at the front for the gig too. The gig was amazing, Adam totally pulls of the one man band thing and like Stevelegh says he floors it continuously. I thought I had the whole of 'Sunshine of your Love' recorded but annoyingly my phone crashed at the end and it was lost.
Was slightly disappointed not to meet any other MBH forum members. I chatted to a few people but not any regular posters. Anyway I was the person who asked the question at the end about when to use the 3 blow instead of the 2 draw if anyone remembers me. Tookatooka where were you man?
----------
You Tube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/MAGICNICK145/videos
Follow me on Twitter @The_Flaz
|
Stevelegh
412 posts
Mar 02, 2012
9:36 AM
|
Don't worry Nick,
I've got it, but it's taking forever to load them up.
|
tookatooka
2776 posts
Mar 02, 2012
9:39 AM
|
@Magic I was sitting on the far right just behind those wide armchairs. I was wearing the flesh coloured crash helmet (baldylocks) and asked about Spoonfull (3 draw), Adam actually asked me to play that, and I also asked whether Adam's harps were OOTB or customised.
I was hoping to meet other forum members but all the people who I did talk to were not on the forum. Damn. It would have been nice to have met another member too.
Maybe next time eh?
I do recall your question but couldn't see who asked it. It was a bit dark.
|
GamblersHand
338 posts
Mar 02, 2012
10:14 AM
|
Hey Nick, Tooka, Stevelegh
I was the one who asked about blues tonality on the V chord, where (now I know) you don't hit the 2 draw fully bent.
Had to go pretty quickly afterwards which was a shame as I would have liked to meet Adam and other forum people
thanks for the vids, Steve, and thanks to Will for arranging the session
Last Edited by on Mar 02, 2012 10:17 AM
|
apskarp
589 posts
Mar 02, 2012
10:22 AM
|
I was pretty close to attend the event too, as I was visiting UK (Bristol) 29.2.-1.3. Unfortunately it was a bit too early for me.
----------
Hoodoo Sauna
|
tookatooka
2777 posts
Mar 03, 2012
2:05 PM
|
During the clinic Adam said that very often peoples playing can take a turn for the worse afterwards due to processing the new information and trying to incorporate it into their playing methods. Well I can vouch for that. I knew I had a problem with the blue third which Adam kindly diagnosed for me but now it's got even worse. I'm having to re-program my playing method to get it right but at least I know exactly where I was going wrong now.
I know it's only a temporary situation which will pass in time but I must admit to being sceptical about my playing falling away as it did but he was right.
I've become keener than ever to crack this harmonica thing since the clinic and found it has revitalised my willingness to learn.
One other thing I've found is that I've been trying to attack the notes with more gusto since watching and hearing Adam play live and found that my gaps need attention because they are set close for overblowing using less air pressure. Interesting times.
Last Edited by on Mar 03, 2012 2:06 PM
|
