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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Report from a SPAH Rookie
Report from a SPAH Rookie
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florida-trader
174 posts
Aug 19, 2012
8:01 PM
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I got home late last night from my first SPAH. It was a fantastic experience. My perspective will probably be a bit different than many because I shared a vendor space with my good friend Greg Jones of 16:23CustomHarmonicas.com (GMaj7 on MBH). Not knowing any better, I had assumed that there would be some down time during which I could attend some of the workshops but such was not the case. It was non-stop action from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM. I had never met Greg in person prior to SPAH but we have become good friends via countless emails and phone conversations. Even though we stood about 6 feet apart for 8 hours a day for three days and about 4 hours on Saturday, we barely had a chance to speak to each other because we were so busy. We both met so many wonderful people. It was a blast. I can only imagine how much fun it would have been to be able to take in all the workshops and performances. Our booth was about 20 feet away from the stage at the Hohner area and there was a continuous flow of great music always playing in the background.
When the Vendor’s Room closed, we ate, interacted and jammed with too many people to list. There was no shortage of star power at SPAH – Steve Baker, Charlie Musselwhite, Ronnie Shellist, Brendan Power, Todd Parrott, P.T. Gazelle, John Gindick to mention a few. I know I’m leaving out a ton of people but my point is that even though there were plenty of big names – every one of whom was incredibly gracious, by the way – there were a lot of guys I never heard of who were very very talented. It was a pleasure to hear them play, guitar and harp and sing and to be able to play some licks with them.
I was too busy at my vendor’s table to write down or otherwise record the names of all those who stopped by and/or supported me. If you are one of them, please accept my sincere thanks. Every conversation I had was great whether or not it led to a sale. People were just too kind.
I want to send a special shout out to my good friend Harvey Berman of HarveyHarps.com. Both he and Greg have been amazingly helpful to me since I started my business 20 short months ago. Like Greg, I had never met Harvey in person either and it was an absolute pleasure getting to know him.
And finally, to Greg Heumann of BlowsMeAway.com - who lived in the booth next door to us for 4 days – it was great getting to know you as well. You are a class act.
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Tom Halchak
www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
Last Edited by on Aug 19, 2012 8:04 PM
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HarveyHarp
363 posts
Aug 20, 2012
7:49 AM
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Tom is a true Gentleman, and very generous. As an example, he had a very rare 1920s, I think, Marine Band deluxe, which is very valuable, and was in pristine condition, and he donated to Hohner to put in their museum.
Class
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HarveyHarp
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GMaj7
72 posts
Aug 20, 2012
10:11 AM
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Pretty amazing time I have to say. The most surprising to me was how SPAH was a 24 hour event, literally. There were jams going on all night long and the great players were willingly sharing their expertise with any and all. That was really cool.
Thanks to my man Harvey for all his help. He's a first rate harmonica tech and has a perfect sense of timing, too!
He's right about Tom donating the harp to Hohner.. Tom donated some other harps, too.. Very cool.
Thx all... and get some rest!
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Greg Jones
16:23 Custom Harmonicas
greg@1623customharmonicas.com
1623customharmonicas.com
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Greg Heumann
1744 posts
Aug 20, 2012
12:43 PM
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Great gettin' to know y'all too! Your first SPAH is a religious experience. And it gets better from there as you get to know more people and become less self-conscious. There are so many incredibly good players around it can (and probably should) be a humbling experience. But everyone is SO supportive - it is really an incredible experience.
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/Greg
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eharp
1954 posts
Aug 20, 2012
1:30 PM
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why dont you guys get a room?
oh, yes. you did.
hope it was profitable, too, for all of you.
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Gnarly
310 posts
Aug 20, 2012
1:33 PM
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I lost a lot of money to go!
But it was fun.
Breakfast with Harvey LOL
It's good to be back in San Diego--I drove . . .
I was at Suzuki across the way from "the Boys" . . .
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scojo
326 posts
Aug 20, 2012
1:55 PM
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I am going to post something longer in the next day or two... but suffice to say that it was the most rewarding musical experience of my "young" life. I'm still trying to process it.
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Michael Rubin
646 posts
Aug 20, 2012
2:32 PM
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This was an amazing SPAH as it always is. I want to thank everyone who worked hard to make it come together. It always surprises me when I am clued in to who does the behind the scenes work at SPAH. Often it is a very quiet member who is not drawing attention to himself.
As usual it was great to see old friends. I especially feel like I made some new friendships with:
Mike Caldwell, a great country player who seemed surprised that I had heard of him when he was one of the main reasons I was excited to go this year.
Patton Oswald, a teenager who is one of the best and most obsessed bass harp players I have ever met and his Eema (mother) Jodi, who is starting to play chromatic.
Tony Sgro, legendary vaudevillian, member of Minevitch and Puleo's groups and one of the best chord players I have heard.
Charlie Musselwhite, just some guy who seems to really like harp. Actually we've met many times before but this year he emailed me complimenting my Meat and Potatoes videos and we got to know each other better at SPAH.
Charlie's email quote:
"I think your instructions are the best and when people ask me about learning harmonica I tell them about you." That made my year.
Filip Jers and I shared a great breakfast, he can play a little.
Connor, one of the younger diatonic players.
And a whole slew of people who took my morning blues jam and sat at my table during the Filisko Teach In.
I greatly enjoyed all of the performances but especially Stan Harper, (who I heard play some killer diatonic), Joe Powers, Cheryl Arena, Rupert Oysler, Tom Ball, Mitch Kashmar, Mike Caldwell and the Sgro Brothers.
I feel I learned the most from the vibrato seminar and the overblow seminar. Both situations made me aware of techniques to get different vibratos and I will hopefully get to working on them.
I got some toys. I got the new sub30 in C, for which I will try and post a video review soon, a CBH 2016 and a low F 270 chromatic.
I felt good about how my seminars went. I thank everyone for participating.
I felt my performance with The Kalu James band went well. I thank everyone who listened and for the kind words. I will admit to being especially excited because Musselwhite listened to the whole set. There is a special feeling when someone you've respected to the point of heroism for 27 years watches you play.
All in all a great SPAH.
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Thievin' Heathen
12 posts
Aug 20, 2012
6:25 PM
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I too am a rookie. I live in the Dallas area and happened to attend a couple of the free evening events early in the week. I knew it was too good to let pass by so I took Friday off from work and attended on a day pass. Mine was not a very organized attendance but I caught Filip Jers' seminar and a 2 hour semi-private lesson from Will Scarlett at the Filisko Teach In. I find it a little difficult to imagine that there was more. See you in St. Louis.
Last Edited by on Aug 20, 2012 6:26 PM
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