I had a great time there. Jim and Donna were great hosts, and it was fun being around a bunch of harp lovers. The accomodations and food was great too! I spent a good amount of time with David Payne while he tweaked harps. Lots of really nice folks were there and I felt lucky to be a part of it. The expereince and ride to and from inspired these songs. My ride (320 miles r/t)was on small 2 lane roads through almost continual countryside poverty, depressed towns. It really hit me. Walter
Dave Payne said to say hi to everyone
harmonicollege get together happiest man I am 300 miles of poverty poverty where the green grass grows vote republican
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
I was tweaking harps from about 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, so much of it was blur for me and went really quickly, but I had a great time. The tweaking/anything-short-of-reed-replacement repair was free for those who attended. Great jam campfire, those who left early really missed out. Jim Rumbaugh and I were the last to leave the campfire (a little after midnight). Jim played a bass fiddle for most of the campfire. When you have a bass fiddle, you know there's some serious music gonna happen. When it was down to just us, I played guitar and sang some originals, Jim did a fine job playing harp.. I really enjoyed his minor-key work on "Lonesome Coal Train" and "Echoes of Time." Usually he's working hard to make sure everyone else is having fun or he's backing everyone else with a guitar or bass or something, so it was good to hear him and let him play some. Had a great time seeing and meeting everyone, too many people to mention all, but it nice to finally meet THE Walter Tore, who filled the Joe-Leone-most-interesting-man-in-the-world role very well. It was nice to talk to him about our experiences working in special education, harmonicas and the natural order of things. You may not know Walter is a master bread baker. He brought some great muffins, bagels and various breads he had baked. My one regret was not being able to hang with Pat Missin some. Among many others, it was great to see Danny G again, I really missed Danny, hadn't seen him since Minneapolis SPAH. Danny gave my son, David II, a harmonica, which he was so happy with and proud of. As we were leaving, little David had tears pouring down his cheeks, because he enjoyed hanging around everybody so much. He had a wonderful time. When we came home, he pulled his Vinetta out of a drawer and started playing it. That's what it's about!
I see that video has been posted on Youtube. I arrive at the campfire about two minutes into the video. Then, there is extensive footage of me apparently demonstrating how to play chords rhythm on harmonica and open a bottle with a pocketknife at the same time. I got a laugh out of that. I guess you gotta live every minute as if it's gonna be on Youtube. Sometimes, it is, lol.
OK, after a much needed, nap, I'm back to the land of the living. Here's my first two memories:
1) Walter Tore shall now be known as "The Muffin Man" :)
2) I asked Dave, "what's the prefered way to put out the fire in the pit". He said, "in the boy scouts, everybody just stood around the fire and together we took a leak." I'll let you guess what happened next :)
---------- there's already talk about HarmoniCollege 2 in 2013 theharmonicaclub.com (of Huntington, WV)
Last Edited by on Mar 25, 2012 6:51 PM
thats a nice looking guitar that Walter has,I guess good clean living has kept Walter looking young cause I was like who's the kid with that nice slide guitar;-) ---------- Hobostubs
Jim: The Scoutmasters always hated it when we took a leak on the fire. We took turns though, not everybody at once. Also, we used to soak sandstone in water, then clandestinely drop it in the fire, then walk away. About two minutes later, the rock would explode. Somehow, none of us died, although one kid did suffer a crushed testicle once. Oh, I did get dysentery once after a lake mud battle. Good times.
Hobostubs: Thanks for that compliment! In reality I am lucky to be alive........
David: That is a 1938 kalamazoo. I got it in a swap. I was in a music store in austin that featured pretty much those heavy metal guitars and there it was sitting on the wall. I tried and fell in love. I didn't have any money but had a POS (IMO) peavey solid state amp in my trunk that someone gave me. I used it as a seat when I would chat with people outside gigs. We did a straight trade. All my guitars have come to me this way. I now have that one, a 1940 national style O (same as on the dire straits album cover), a 1963 fender jazzmaster that was given to stevie vaughn from lonnie mack, and a few more cool ones like that.
Walter
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Last Saturday, at theHarmoniCollege firepit, my wife's friends from the class of 1970 showed up to take our "5 minute harmonica lesson" They showed up carying their own harmonicas and all the women had a fake moustache stuck on their upper lip. (long story, I'll explain later) This was one of the larger groups I've done, and one of the better, and probably the most fun.
---------- HarmoniCollege March 24, 2012 theharmonicaclub.com (of Huntington, WV)
Last Edited by on Mar 30, 2012 7:50 PM
