Please go to the following web page on ReverbNation and click the second song, "Pride and Joy."
http://www.reverbnation.com/TexasFloodSRV
If I'd been able to send you directly to the song link and you'd streamed it without knowing who it was, would you think it was SRV?
I certainly would. If there are differences between the original and this track--and there certainly are--then they are very small.
In the art world, the world of collectors and very expensive paintings, what the lead guitarist, Tommy Katona, does would be called forgery. Very high level forgery.
In the world of rock and roll, it's called "leading a tribute band."
In the blues world--well, I wonder what y'all would call this.
I personally happen to think that there's a certain important but limited utility in this sort of thing. Katona, in this context, proves to me that he is a superb copyist. And I gather that that is EXACTLY what he's trying to be. That's the definition of a good tribute band, isn't it? You wholly subsume your own personality, your own style, within the outlines of the band or individual performer that you're trying to copy and bring to life by copying.
Speaking personally, I also find this sort of thing sad. It seems to me that so conspicuously TECHNICALLY gifted a performer, one blessed with great ears, should be a little less willing to concede the field to SRV. It seems like a guitarist this good should make his own bid for immortality--so that guys his age, twenty years from now, are copying HIS stuff.
I wonder what Katona sounds like when he's playing Katona. Does he ever play Katona?
Here's a video whose title speaks for itself: "How to play like Stevie Ray Vaughan, with Tommy Katona of Voodoo Blue."
Don't get me wrong: he's a great student. But if I were his teacher, I'd be kicking him out the door. I'd demand that he get very drunk and curse out SRV until he was blue in the face, then go off and figure out what the Tommy Katona style is.
He was born in Hungary, interestingly enough. Here's his website:
http://www.voodooblue.net/fr_tommykatona.cfm
Perhaps he's still got one foot in the European concert tradition: the classics are the classics and the repertoire must be mastered. He's certainly done that. 100 is his grade on the final! Now go out and get a job!
I do hope the guy decides to search for and earn himself an original voice. Of course, not everybody wants to do that. Some musicians just want to make a decent living, and I suspect he can make a decent living doing just what he's doing.
Last Edited by on Dec 15, 2012 11:30 AM
Adam, you seem awfully bitter these days. First Hubert (whom I love) and now this poor chap who plays guitar, not even harmonica. I hope all is well. ---------- Hunger is the best spice.
Not bitter at all. Constructive criticism sometimes looks like that, though. I seek to find, appreciate, and encourage creativity. A few musicians--and you're a superb example--actually seek out constructive criticism. I applaud that.
As for Hubert: heck, I call 'em as I see 'em. I posted the video! It's an amazing video. When others began to testify to his amazing live performances as an older man, I had a choice: don't say anything, or speak frankly about what I'd actually witnessed. I chose to speak frankly. But that doesn't get in the way of the delight that I felt when I found and posted the original video.
Last Edited by on Dec 15, 2012 11:39 AM
"In the blues world--well, I wonder what y'all would call this."
I don't think there is a term for it, but there have been plenty of people who have done it.
Joe Carter sounded an awful lot like Elmore James. Forrest City Joe sounded a lot like John Lee Williamson. Good Rockin' Charles and Wild Child Butler sound an awful lot like Rice Miller. Little Willie Anderson sounded an awful lot like Little Walter. Big Daddy Cade is a gifted guitarist, who has chosen to be a BB King imitator. Keisha Wright does a downright creepy imitation of Tina Turner.
Let's be real. Nobody gets rich playing Blues. A few are fortunate enough to eek out a modest living. When Muddy died, he was living in a modest house in a modest suburb of Chicago. Most guys, like Pinetop, work until the day they die out of necessity.
Life is short. People should play whatever moves them. Eventually, they will find their own voice , if they have one. You might as well have fun doing whatever it is that you do.
I don't know the guy and I watched part of the video. Maybe, he's just giving it away and sharing what he has learned. As you know, it can be a lot of work to master an instrument and perform tunes as they were done by a person that the copying artist admires and respects. For some people, that is all they aspire to do. Some can't even imagine doing that.
What blues harmonica player hasn't sat down and tried to learn Juke (or other Little Walter songs), note for note, tone for tone? Who hasn't tried to master some Rice Miller tunes note for note when they were learning?
Plus, these days recording is pretty inexpensive. There is all sorts of stuff that gets recorded and posted on the internet that isn't worth the bandwidth it takes to download it. People can record and post stuff at all levels of their artistry. Sometimes, that isn't a good thing.
Unable at the moment to hear or view this fellow, but I’ll comment on the ideal of the discussion that’s been raised…
With “music” I’m listening for great musicianship, period!
Lets face it…there is also WAY to many so-called original musicians whose music is bland, boring and not worth listening to at all.
Again, for ME personally –I want to hear great musicianship regardless if its origins are original or not.
I do understand the PURE EXCITEMENT of hearing something that is (uniquely original and musically powerful)…
BUT I also very much appreciate hearing GREAT renditions of the classics ESPECIALLY when viewed live in a club or small theater…
Bottom-line, I don’t look at these performers as pitiful souls, lacking original musical intelligence, but rather as players who are forging a path that is right for them…
I can listen to a million different tribute renditions of JUKE in a row, as long as it’s a GREAT rendition.
To drive my point home – it is GREAT music that turns me on, NOT originality – IF it is TRUELY original and GREAT TOO > that is icing on the cake for me :)
Last Edited by on Dec 15, 2012 12:30 PM
I recently went to a Mark Hummel concert that featured some top level harmonica players doing a tribute to little Walter. I have to assume that they were all altering their style to play close to what they perceived as his style. I say assume because I am not well-versed in the music of Walter. In some ways it's easier to play your own music because you don't have to be held accountable for not measuring up. But people like the familiar and so they are inclined to support their heroes. I think that's why tribute bands are successful. It's two different things; art and commerce. It's always great when you can do both at the same time but sometimes one at a time is all you can manage.
Last Edited by on Dec 15, 2012 1:05 PM
People play for different motivations; not everyone wants to be immortalised or copied in twenty years time. For some its just the love of playing music. If I could create music that I enjoyed more than what I listen to, I'd probably play that instead.
That said, I'd be more likely to listen to Stevie Ray than Tommy Katona, even if he plays it exactly the same. ---------- Lucky Lester
Kind of a weird monkey this. In Austin every mother's son, and a few daughters, are doing the Stevie thing. You hear some band blasting out "Pride and Joy" and you want to stick your head in the door and say, "Y'all aren't from around here are you?" Usually they're from Germany or Cleveland or some such. Having said that, this guy is a bit different. I would say that, yes, he certainly is influenced by the European/UK reverence for getting it exactly right but with this guy there is also an obvious and very strong emotional connection. That to me sets him apart. In that context I don't find what he's doing "sad" at all. He set himself a goal and seems to have in major part achieved it. I suspect his band does quite well for themselves. Good tribute bands are always in demand and get paid well.
So the guy is doing something he loves and most likely is successful with it. How many musicians of any stripe can make that claim? He also has a generosity of spirit in wanting to share what he has managed to learn, to make someone else's journey a bit easier. That is a very apt tribute to Stevie in itself.
As far as going beyond Stevie, maybe he will. Maybe he won't. Maybe he will find his own voice but then perhaps what he's doing now he already considers his voice. If the dude is happy with what he's doing, and I'm pretty sure he is, more power to his arm. ---------- LSC
Hey, I'll tell ya what..., That bar he is playing at next Saturday is right down the road from me. I'll get back to you with a review.
My SRV story.., In about '85 I was home in Dallas on leave from my HI Navy gig, and I looked up an old girlfriend on Thursday night for a date and maybe more. Well, we wound up down town and ventured into a bar where the cover charge was $10. I asked the doorman, "is this band worth it?", he said, "oh yea, you'll like 'em". Well it was SRV and there were only about 20 peope in the room + his parents. The old girlfriend listen's to about 3 songs and goes into a "I wanna go to Bennigans" routine. I must have forgot she was there? Anyway, off to Bennigans we went. I went back the next night, early, and got the table up front center stage. I took my brother that time.
Not really much of a story, but I have never heard anybody play guitar like that before or since. Except maybe.... Jeff Beck, but when was the last time you sat 5 feet from Jeff Beck and had a girl bring you beer all night long?
Last Edited by on Dec 15, 2012 2:00 PM
After watching that video, If I were his Teacher, I would invite him to stay so I could enjoy his company longer,and I would demand that he give me a private concert of the music he has been working on. Then I would congratulate him for honoring the awesome music of Stevie with such a divine love as to continue to spread its power live to the masses... and I would strongly encourage him to continue to nurture and care for the the awesome talent he has and lastly I'd pray with him, thanking God for Stevies Awesome musical catalog he left us and give a shout out to Stevie himself and tell him we love him! Then I'd tell him to go off and continue his journey of full-fulling his musical dreams and aspirations as I thanked him for the time spent with him during our session together! The only advise I'd give him,would be to stay away from booze and drugs,If you can't say it sober,grow a pair! If your drunk, you ain't gunna remember what you said anyhow...
Last Edited by on Dec 15, 2012 2:33 PM
It's a shame Tommy and his band aren't touring, I never got to see Stevie Live...I've seen Jimmy twice and he and his band were awesome too. I think it's wonderful that he can recreate to the best of his ability the Power and Magic of Stevies genius, I love this guy, he's the REAL DEAL!!!
Last Edited by on Dec 15, 2012 6:01 PM
Oddly enough Adam I checked these out when you posted the link on FB. On Pride and Joy he nails it and nails it hard. On the cut of Voodoo Chile on the reverbnation page he falls off the SRV sound quite a bit to my ears.
I would continue to call him them a Tribute band. If all they do is SRV then that is all they are. I would also love to hear what this fellow can do when he goes off on his own.
My favorite blues guitar guy right now is Anthony Gomes. Someone who incorporates a lot of SRV and Jimi into his style but does something all his own.
@LSC: I don't know you, but I agree with everything you've said, more or less. Good response.
@Frank: I like your "If I was his teacher" post a lot. You're clearly coming from the "nurture with love" camp, and it's hard to disagree with that basic approach.
Let me be clear about where I'm coming from: I say many generous and complimentary things about Katona in my thread-starter. I say that he is a superb copyist. I agree that, being that, he has wholly achieved his apparent purpose: sounding just like SRV and bringing that sound to the masses. I say that he's blessed with great ears. I encourage him to honor his talent, and strongly urge him to have an ambition equal to his talent. I call him a "great student."
I praise him. But of course I'm also damning him with high praise of a certain sort. I know enough about the blues tradition, and know enough great blues players individually, to know that one thing they all value--one thing they all feel and sometimes explicitly articulate--is the importance of being yourself. Singing your own song. Finding your own style. Coming up with a distinctive field holler that identifies you across the fields. Muddy. The Wolf. Walter, big or little.
Yes, SRV had a crisis moment which is easily available for perusal: the in-studio concert with Albert King in 1983, where King put him through his paces, forced him to play all his Albert King licks next to the REAL Albert King and then helped him go just enough beyond those licks that he could emerge from the battle with his head held high. Here's "Pride and Joy." This is where Albert blesses him on his journey. This is pure SRV and NOT Albert King. 1013 "yesses" and only 5 "no"'s. This is a triumph:
This is why Stevie Ray was great. Each blues player who would be great must go through this sort of fire, pass this sort of test.
It's not that I don't respect Tommy Katona. It's that I think he desperately needs a good teacher to convince him to set his sights even higher. He's set them too low.
But maybe that's just me.
Last Edited by on Dec 15, 2012 7:10 PM
I love that SRV / King show. that is a great moment. I think it helped that SRV was respectful and by all accounts was very respectful backstage as well. ---------- The Musical Blades My Electronic Music World
having spent the years 1979 to 2000 around dallas and denton texas, i saw first of all Stevie when he was just about to break out, and again after he'd hit the national and world scene. he had no equal. still doesn't since he was the innovator of that particular vein of texas guitar wizardry. i saw more wannabes and imitators in that area. for a while they were like locusts. in a way who could blame them, they were striving for a higher level. BUT did we ever get tired of those cats!
to me this is the same as everybody learning note for note and inflection for inflection, certain little walter songs. it's fine for exercise and maybe occasionally to show respect, but to me personally, i would rather hear you innovate and surprise me than to rehash what was already done with the verve and creativity only the original guy can give it.
we all emulate our idols to an extent. i was likened to wolf and sbII a long time ago, and this was not anything conscious i was doing, just reflecting what i had heard and been impressed with in a small way.
if anything i want to sound like me. of course there are elements of others' styles and tricks in my playing, there is nothing new under the sun or so it's been said. but my aim has been for a long time to play what others do not. or to play different parts than everyone else usually plays on a given song. my style puts a jimmy reed twist in a swing song, a bit of jazz in some country from the 40's, maybe some delta chug in a rock song.
so for me the bottom line is, be your own self. exercise with your idols but develop your own thing. take your time, you likely have time ahead of you.
be yourself. ---------- http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
Blues harmonica-- Copying, imitating, is how I learned. All by ear, never by book. That's how half the people in MBH learned, right?
Imitation is the start of the journey but cannot be the destination. Why listen to a perfect Little Walter imitator when you can listen to Little Walter's recordings forever? We know this.
If you have anything to say as a blues musician, your personality, your soul, informs your music, and makes it unique from what preceded you. Just as you are unique from everyone born before or after you.
Here's my problem-- when some "blues" musicians get creative, they stray so far from the form and spirit of the blues that it's not blues any more. Great, creative music for sure, but not blues.
I think he has become the TEACHER even at his young age, that does not mean he has stopped learning or forging forward, but, he doesn't need a good teacher to convince him of anything. LOOK at the video posted were he is sitting and TEACHING. The kid is not an idiot or a musical recluse- he has met and played with other very successful famous "original" artists in his journeys. Tell me, What exactly are you going to teach this kid - if you had 2 hours to spend with him or he with you? Seriously - WHO is going to end up getting schooled?
Last Edited by on Dec 16, 2012 3:53 AM
I'm no fan of tribute bands, they do however provide an audience with a great way of hearing the "live experience" of long gone/defunct artists. At it's best the artist and audience are celebrating the artist's work, the imitation is hopefully flattering but I'm not blind to the fact that money is also changing hands. For the players I imagine it's a great way to measure one's own technique in comparison to your heroes. (The ability to play like SRV cannot be viewed as a bad thing). Individual expression and creativity is fantastic but in the wrong hands is also posturing and self indulgent nonsense. There's a time and place for everything. (You'd hate your dentist to suddenly get "creative and flamboyant" inside your mouth.) Imitation is a destination, you just don't have to stay there.
"Imitation is the start of the journey but cannot be the destination."
That is so perfectly expressed, Wolf, that it could be the epigraph or motto for this website. You are a phrasemaker.
Gerry is right, too: tribute bands have their place, and I'm more than willing to acknowledge the validity of that place. And yes: when "originality" is ungrounded and undisciplined, it becomes the drunk antic person making up "steps" as they totter towards the bathroom to throw up.
So yes: imitation is extremely helpful. It's probably an essential element of the learning process. "Watch me do this. Now you do this. You didn't do it quite right"--i.e., you didn't do it quite like me. Rinse and repeat.
And no, I want my dentist to play it safe when he's mucking around in my root canals!
As for the statement "The ability to play like SRV cannot be a bad thing": Well, yes and no. And that's why I made the comparison with painting. If a contemporary artist made a name for himself by replicating the visual style, even the individual works, of a recently-deceased modern master with an instantly recognizable style, would you be saying the same thing. "The ability to paint like Andy Warhol can't be a bad thing." "The ability to paint like Andrew Wyeth can't be a bad thing." Well, that kind of technical ability and fidelity of eye can't be a bad thing if it's a prelude to something else--some expression of a remarkable ORIGINAL vision. But if it restricts itself merely to working in the stylistic vein of the original--more than that: replicating the oeuvre of the original--then, at least in the art world, there's a real problem.
Obviously the analogy isn't a perfect one. But it's close enough that it might defamiliarize the "tribute band" idea just a little and make us wonder why so gifted a technician would bend his own ambition so completely in the direction of subsuming his own personality, his own originality, in the direction of what has already been achieved.
If we can get beyond irritability, it becomes an interesting question. One obvious point: economic utility. If you can play exactly like SRV, you can probably guarantee yourself a decent living, because there's an audience for his recorded music and thus surely an audience for SRV brought back to life in the form of a gifted live replicator. (As for whether those same people want to spend money on recordings that merely replicate is another matter entirely.)
There's also the fact of the replicator's own hero-worship. I imagine that being able to replicate the music of a bona fide blues hero is, for some or perhaps many people, sort of like being a hero yourself. In one sense, it's a cheap and easy way of becoming a hero, but in another sense it takes not just great talent--if not any originality--but an incredible amount of hard work, and a whole lot of love for the person whose music you're disciplining yourself to reproduce. I'm sure, in any case, that it feels incredibly good to get to the point where you can actually DO what this artist does. And of course the adulation from people who similarly idolize SRV and are grateful for the living image of him that you've provided must feel good, too. (Heck, maybe female admirers are involved. They never got a chance to sleep with SRV, but now you're here.)
To me, the interesting questions are all raised, though, once you've achieved that replicatory perfection. Now what? What's next? You've pushed so hard to get here. What's the next step? Do you just do the same thing until you die--as long as you're able--and collect the checks? What's your next album about? Do you just record the full songbook of SRV songs?
Or do you start to hear stuff that SRV never played, and begin to chase THOSE sounds? If you start to do that, do you feel guilty--as though you're seeking to go higher, further, than your namesake?
Last Edited by on Dec 16, 2012 5:21 AM
K runner... You are one of the most respected Harp Teachers in the world today - you have been around the block, toured and made some great Cd's as band and solo and you know the music business, you have played with the best of the best, you have an original style, you play multible instruments, your a successful businessman, husband, father and have a great day job and continue to gig and teach throughout the US - if you had 2 hours to spend with Tommy face to face to get to know him, what would do you think you’d spend that time doing with him?
Last Edited by on Dec 16, 2012 5:47 AM
What if you're a phenomenal musician but you don't hear THOSE sounds? You've put in thousands of hours. You are a complete master of your chosen instrument. You can absolutelty make it sing in almost any style almost effortlessly. But.... you have no material of your own that anybody cares to lsten to in any significant numbers. Does this somehow cheapen your accomplishment? Are you any less of a musician? Are you a failure somehow?
In my little corner of the world I gp out to listen a lot of local live music, that of the $5 cover charge (and often no cover) type. Invariably the musicians pull out some of their own material. Often it's awful. Though they can produce very good enjoyable cover material. I don't think anything less of them because they weren't able to write some good original stuff. I imagine it's extremely difficult to do.
I like a lot of the local bands that do strictly covers. I hate Tribute bands. I think there's a big distinction.
-----------------
I can only dream of being able to play harp as well as Tommy plays guitar.
Have no problem with tribute bands. Their is a need in the market place for recreating a proven musical experience. Audience loves'em.
Back in the day, I worked w/a top 40 band that recreated the Neil Diamond live experience. I was musical director, so really paid attention to the details of the recording.
Friday nights at a little country bar in Detroit far suburbs were Neil Diamond Nights. The bar was PACKED w/slightly heavy set over 40 women who just ate up the experience. Although we weren't originally creative, we did enjoy bringing so much good experience to the paying customers.
Also recently met lead singer of a Led Zeppelin tribute band..they tour all over the US and in Europe and are pretty well received...always have gigs. Although it was a little creepy to see someone who tried looking like Robert Plant from the old days, he was happy, working steady, supporting his family as a musician, etc.
Not everyone can make it on their own musical merit or originality, so as long as people love what they do, they seem satisfied with their lot in life. ---------- The Iceman
I think we're looking at two different branches of the same tree. I agree that "tribute playing" would start from a position of hero worship. But it's not just playing the identical notes. It's the forensic attention to detail. Even sourcing the vintage correct gear is probably an art form in itself. To me that is where the tree splits, "Doing your own thing" need not require any musical experience at all, simply grab an instrument and express yourself. (I'm sure we all have a 2hr concept album played solely on bagpipes within us). Only playing covers would not satisfy me but I don't perch on that particular branch. Is an impersonator less skillful than the person they taking off? Or is it a different discipline?
so there was this Italian painter who got on Leonardo DaVinci's sleep schedule.. with short naps and only 2 hours a day of total sleep... so he could be more productive. He finally got it down, but after a short time he quit, he simply did not have enough ideas to fill all that time with creative work..
Some have it, some don't. From the tapes you can see how SRV really had no direct control over what he was playing, it was just coming out of him (the time I saw him he was near rock bottom and most of what came out that time was crap), I have seen Jaco Pastorious play like this, Jason playing live could do this as well.. the tapes show Hendrix and Joplin in that space for extended periods of time. the reason the dead were so great live is that they found that space from time to time.
Doing a tribute will never be the same as that.. however at a time when live music is on the ropes, any way someone can make a living and bring joy to others (as has been said here already) is fine.
What about all the famous bands that have been touring for decades and playing the same hit songs over and over again, are they not merely paying tribute to old news- they’ve become a tribute band to themselves…And the famous bands that go on tour after years of lay off …They get together, throw and album together – go out on the road and end up playing 2 mediocre songs off the new album and spend the rest of the show recreating their glory days, paying homage to the past…
SRV did alot assimulation on Albert King and Jimi Hendrix.i look at him as a bit of a copyist when i first saw him. after the third time i saw him ,i felt his personal style coming out...most all the great blues players assimulated another great player,thats how they learned the BLUES LANGUAGE !!!!!!! maby this young dude will eventualy do his own thing...
Honkin on Bob has a good point I think about cover/tribute musicians. Not every person who can master an instruments playability can also write things people want to hear. Either the lyrics are trite or the chord progressions cliche, etc. Being able to play and being able to write are two different skill sets to a certain degree.
There's an important distinction between Local Joes, journeyman musicians who play mostly covers and have not-terribly-original styles that incorporate a range of familiar influences, on the one hand, and truly gifted musicians such as Tommy Katona who essentially give up on the originality thing for the sake of focusing all their effort into honoring one specific player who they consider the be-all and end-all.
The journeymen may not be conspiciously gifted, but they're working professionals (or semi-professionals) and they don't harbor dreams of heroism. They're skilled tradesmen of the blues band and dance band world. What's not to like? They may not be the next Stevie Ray Vaughan, but they're not trying to be, and most likely they've got something original, a few small twists on the familiar vocabulary, and you can listen to them and appreciate them for that--or just for a job well done.
The gifted replicator, by contrast, strikes me as somebody who is setting his sights too low while simultaneously missing, misrecognizing, a core value that animated his hero. But a guy like Katona may in fact be doing exactly what he wants to be doing. It's certainly true that early SRV sounded like a cross between Albert King and Jimi Hendrix and he managed to find his way beyond that.
In answer to Frank: If I had two hours with Katona--well, I wouldn't need two hours. I would set him on the right track in roughly an hour. First, we'd drink shots and chat for a while. Then I'd ask him to stand up, grab a baseball bat, and whap it repeatedly into a bed mattress while shouting "F--k Stevie Ray Vaughan!!" very loudly, once per whap. This exercise is adapted from the bioenergetic work of Alexander Lowen. Once the tears came, I'd ask him who he REALLY wants to be, now that he's in touch with his own daemonic energy. We'd talk about that for a while, then have a few more shots. I'd ask him to strap on his guitar and play, with only one restriction: he can't play anything that sounds like SRV. He'll need to pick a different guitarist to emulate. Or, better yet, he'll need to just play HIS stuff, his sound. Nothing fancy. Weird and partial is fine. I'd ask him to play what he's feeling.
Last Edited by on Dec 16, 2012 10:19 AM
What if he doesn’t drink? Or worse yet, swings the bat like a girl and refuses to use profanity and only cries because he feels you bullied him?
Last Edited by on Dec 16, 2012 10:33 AM
@kudzurunner - I've only been playing any music at all for 2 years; however, from high school to now, I've met many different kind of musicians (I've sought them out). There are the band kids who play because they have to and the orchestra kids who play because they're technically talented, and the jazz kids who can read music and improvise all together. Then there is the mixed breed of harmonica players who don't fit into that paradigm (that's me) and those guitar players who are all right copying popular music or the ones who think they can make it big without knowing what the root of the five chord is in the key of G. Of course what all these kids have in common is that they play music, but there is a reason they do it in different venues. Since I've started following your videos, I've always encouraged my guitarist friends to learn a little bit of music and my orchestra friends to learn a little bit of improvisation. The two don't mix well and I've watched it. If you've ever sat there and learned a piece of music and then tried to improvise it while reading it, it is hard. It seems from my observation that most people who read music and perform classical and the likes can't improvise.
My point is, maybe that's YOUR talent and partially a product of the blues. I can improvise, you've seen that. But I can't take BWH's Easy and add to that yet and from my experience with musicians who've played far longer than I have, it would be particularly difficult to begin breaking from that chain of either reading sheet music or memorizing licks to being musically intellectual about it.
It's that age old thing where there is that kid who gets straight A's for memorizing and yet the intellectuals get marked for their intelligence, but "laziness" for not achieving. You appear to be in the camp of the intellectual learners, the Philosophy majors. This guy is clearly in the memorize everything and get straight A's camp. We all know the the advantages to both camps, but who are we to say what they should or shouldn't be doing. All we can do is encourage it through our own examples and teaching. All we can do is appreciate our own talents and others. We cannot force our ideas upon them. I wake up every day wanting to slap the kid who thinks because she can memorize Descartes' meditations that she understands all the contingencies of first philosophy, that's it, game over. But then again, maybe if I was partially that kid, my grades would be better, who knows?
You have a video on Pride and Joy:
It's great harp, but it's not SRV. My grandma believes you do no justice to the singing either. But it yours and you seem content with it. I'm not calling you out, I'm just saying that in a room full of SRV nuts, you'd get tomatoes in a worse fashion than we are challenging Katona. Let's just be fair. No one liked being called a "CopyCat" in grade school. Katona is simply an SRV scholar. Who doesn't like scholars? No one really asks scholars to go be that person or that time of which they study.
That's my two cents, take it or leave it. I'm young, I don't know what I'm talking about. But I respect you and everyone here. :P Peace. ---------- Hunger is the best spice.
To further the thought…What if, while he's in this drunken demonic state of mind - crying and screaming profanities, he turns to you and starts swinging the bat – in his blind rage thinking your Stevie Ray, he begins chasing you with the bat sobbing and shouting I f__ing hate you Stevie Ray Vaughan – then what would you do?
I never could stand tribute bands and generally detest musicians who make a living playing note perfect replications of another musician's style. I am 60 years and I have't, as yet, become so uninterested in what I listen to that I require everything to be familiar , safely known, unsurprising. Euphoric recall has its limits. The first harmonica I heard and saw who inspired me and continues to inspire me, Paul Butterfleld, seemed such a brilliant stream of spontaneous ideas, improvisations created within a tradition and yet stepping out from what had come before to expand the lexicon of blues harmonica. Butterfield's example led to a long and exhilarating journey of listening to other musicians who embodied the paradoxical virtues of having sound that told , historically, the particular player had been listening to but whose own improvisations bore very few earmarks of their influences--Miles, Coltrane, Parker, Shorter, Monk. It's not that a musician revealing the influences of Hendrix, SRV, Albert or Freddie King is offensive ; as long as they show that they are making the style their own and keeping the tradition truly tight, alive and vital. What is horrible is the way technically credible professionals make it specialize to openly covet the style and image of another musician who had paid their dues and by their own blood sweat and tears achieved a level of originality. Fore the glib and facile bullshit these hacks can muster, it turns music into a wax museum and disgraces the memory of the musicians they suppose to honor. Great music is meant to inspire more great music, not reruns for later life. ---------- Ted Burke http://youtube.com/watch?v=-VPUDjK-ibQ&feature=relmfu
I Love and respect a musician that plays Great music.... Tommy is certainly in that category for me - the ones that don't play Great music- their okay to I guess :)
@theoburke: "I never could stand tribute bands and generally detest musicians who make a living playing note perfect replications of another musician's style."
That's cool. That's your opinion.
I used to have the same feeling until I saw a great St. Augustine based band called "The Falling Bones" (recreates British pop music from the 60's) play for a free outdoor show that I did sound w/my BOSE systems a few years back.
I finally got it - it is the look on the faces of the audience as they danced the night away, in their minds they were 20 again for an evening.
So, getting out of my own head and attitude, I realized that creating happiness for the "citizens" (aka non-musicians) was a worthwhile endeavor indeed.-* ---------- The Iceman
A crowd, that's actually enjoying the music enough to dance, now were talkin buddy :)
But, wait...their dancing and having fun to a "tribute band" oops - sorry, doesn't count, their not real enough musicians :(
Last Edited by on Dec 16, 2012 2:46 PM
I once heard an interview with a musician -- I can't remember who -- asked to give judgement on another artist. He said, as far as he was concerned, anyone who could make a living as a musician these days was a genius and worthy of respect.
@kudzu.. wrong approach.. take the shots if he does, then jam with him... SRV did not do much with harp players.. that would force him into another place, at least for a moment, and if it worked could be a killer harp axe duo!
@Iceman: Well and good and I am glad you found some honest joy in that enterprise, which I think is dishonest art. Note-per-note duplication of someone else's recorded solos, including slavish replications of tone, pitch, note choice, is not art, not creative, not improvisation. It is, I think, analogous to necrophilia. When I hear someone's influence in what they play, I look forward to hear what they did with the style that inspired them. Without that, it is morally askew, mere grave robbing. ---------- Ted Burke http://youtube.com/watch?v=-VPUDjK-ibQ&feature=relmfu
There are graveyards full of crappy musicians...Tommy is a Great Musicians havin a ball livin his dream, I highly doubt he'll let a few cranks rain on his parade - God I love this guy,he's the best :)
Jd, no need to, I have serious skills :)
Last Edited by on Dec 16, 2012 3:48 PM
Hey, I feel your pain guys, but, your takin this kid doin Stevie way to seriously...He's a friggin kid having some fun playin MUSIC for goodness sakes ...It's only music - The Prez got serious problems...Tommy's playin around and bringin joy to others, lifes to short fellers to be an ole cantankerous grumpy ole goat?
We've got a local group who occassionally do a SRV tribute night. They're very good at it,the gigs are always packed,(Harleys for Africa parked outside)they have a lot of fun and the pay is three times a normal gig fee. (And the single guys always end up back at party and well,you know what can happen at a party..^) Not a serious fan of SRV myself but we'll sometimes go along just 'cos it's a great night out.
None of them are pros',can't see the harm in it myself.
Focusing early in ones learning on what has come before is logical. The same logic applies to most art forms. Painting for imstance some of the most important painters throughout history as part of their education directly copy a masters work and or technique. I know I am enamored with several painters that have certain techniques that I needed to find out how they accomplished what they did. Be it Francis Bacon's creating a figure with so much tension they could explode or Anselm Kiefer and his sculptural work and large scale paintings that incorporate ash, broken glass, tar and straw to achieve an austere landscape or John Marin and his archtectural background and its drawing from cubsim to creat abstract but instantly recognizable landscapes. Hell how about Dekooning and his paintings of women and the complete abstraction of form and setting but by use of color makes it believable.
As has been said before there is a language to musical forms. That idea holds true in visual art aswell. Knowing rules within a language allow you to take liberties that break or bend the rules. This doesn't mean learning music theory in depth but it does mean getting the instrument to do what your ears and brain tells it to.
Art in and of itself is very open. I am a believer in the intention behind a composition determining artistic merit. This is where a tribute could fail or succeed. If the intention is to copy for the sake of copying or money or what have you it is not art you are a xerox for music. If it is done for love, desire , the need to share your reverence of something or just because you enjoy doing it, it then has merit.
There is a difference between what I consider a tribute band and one that is just slamming out covers. A band might call itself a tribute band but is it really?
Last Edited by on Dec 16, 2012 4:58 PM
I hear what you are saying but,I think you have the student/teacher thing mixed up. ---------- Sun, sun, sun Burn, burn, burn Soon, soon, soon Moon, moon, moon
Last Edited by on Dec 16, 2012 5:18 PM
