Frank
3191 posts
Nov 04, 2013
2:13 PM
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Last Edited by Frank on Nov 04, 2013 2:15 PM
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BigSteveNJ
8 posts
Nov 04, 2013
2:36 PM
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Explain, how? It's a person playing fairly basic second through a bullet and getting the typical raspy, thin overdriven sound that white people usually associate with "blues harmonica".
The thing is, this person is obviously moving the crowd. They're digging what's going on.
Not exactly my favorite live harp performance ever, but performing is ENTERTAINMENT, not ten-feet-over-their-heads "art".
I'm not saying one shouldn't be technically skilled, I'm just saying that speaking fluently and gracefully in a language your listeners don't understand is a waste of time. The beauty of music is that we can connect with people. This person is obviously playing for all they're worth. Good for them.
My only issue was that I had to wait till the end of the video to hear the name "Brian". I couldn't tell whether that was a dude or a chick. I'm old.
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The Iceman
1257 posts
Nov 04, 2013
2:40 PM
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The Iceman
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chopsy
25 posts
Nov 04, 2013
2:41 PM
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I see a drummer who maybe didn't dress with the idea that anybody would be seeing him from the waist down, who ends up on the front of the stage...
and a guitarist who can't keep a steady rhythm when said drummer abandons the skins
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rogonzab
408 posts
Nov 04, 2013
3:31 PM
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There is a lesson in that video:
I am better in the thechnical aspect of playing (positions, OB, Bending, TB, flutters and so on) than this guy. Way better.
But, when I play the audience dont dance. So, I am 100% shure that this guy is better than me.
If the people are dancing, you have a good thing going on no matter how good of a player you are.
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Buzadero
1158 posts
Nov 04, 2013
3:36 PM
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"If the people are dancing, you have a good thing going on no matter how good of a player you are."
You get an "amen" for that one.
Playing to earn the respect of a bunch of dry, hyper-critical fellow harp monkeys is all well and good.
You can be the rootenest-tootenest music theory maven out there, but if they don't dance, you got nuthin'.
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~Buzadero
Underwater Janitor, Patriot
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Rick Davis
2653 posts
Nov 04, 2013
3:51 PM
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I cannot explain the hair...
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-Little Rick Davis
The Blues Harp Amps Blog
The Mile High Blues Society
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Martin
504 posts
Nov 04, 2013
3:57 PM
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In fact I think his *sound* is the only thing he´s really got going for him.
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Rick Davis
2654 posts
Nov 04, 2013
4:02 PM
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Oh, it's the Whole Earth Festival in Davis, CA in 1991. I have attended a few times; it is a huge hippie festival. Those people are not dancing because of the music. In fact, he's probably not really hearing the music, either.
There's your explanation, Frank.
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-Little Rick Davis
The Blues Harp Amps Blog
The Mile High Blues Society
Last Edited by Rick Davis on Nov 04, 2013 4:02 PM
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sonny3
75 posts
Nov 04, 2013
4:09 PM
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I want to play for this crowd so bad! They rock! I can't explain socks with sandals.
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blueswannabe
337 posts
Nov 04, 2013
4:51 PM
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He must be doing something right?! No?! The socks and sandals are working for him. He's got a groove going and people are interested and responding. People dancing to your playing means something is working. I can't say that his tone is thin and raspy. I don't know if he is playing a higher key harp. Don't know the settings of his amp. That bullet mic seems too far from the harp and he may not have a tight cup.
Last Edited by blueswannabe on Nov 04, 2013 4:52 PM
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BigAl
11 posts
Nov 04, 2013
5:36 PM
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There are great players, and there are players who connect with their audience. If you can do both you are killing it. I'd rather have the masses shake their asses, than sit and listen. It's great to hear a discerning fan tell me how great the band is. Still rather see um dance!!!!
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dougharps
465 posts
Nov 04, 2013
5:42 PM
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@The Iceman
That was my first thought, but I was too lazy to find and post the sound clip!
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Doug S.
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kudzurunner
4356 posts
Nov 04, 2013
6:04 PM
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Easy: it's a harp player w/percussion, working the groove. He doesn't have a sound, he has no intonation, but he stays in sync with the groove, the rhythm section is steady, he's got a decent sense of flow, and therefore he's the medium through which entrainment--as anthropologist Edward Hall (THE DANCE OF LIFE: THE OTHER DIMENSION OF TIME) calls it--is created. That makes people, especially tripping hippies, feel good. He's helping provide the soundtrack to their trip.
If this is 1991, that's the year when Blues Traveler was really making waves. ("But Anyway" was released in 1990.) So you've got a stoned hippie crowd thinking "I'm having a sorta-Blues-Traveler moment." That's a sure recipe for transcendence.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Nov 04, 2013 6:06 PM
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easyreeder
430 posts
Nov 04, 2013
9:59 PM
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What's the difference between a stoned hippie at a festival and somebody with a belly full of booze on a dance floor in a bar? I've been in both places, in both conditions and the music always mattered.
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blueswannabe
339 posts
Nov 05, 2013
2:55 AM
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You have to play to the audience. When I play out with my band, people dancing is a huge compliment. In my estimation, you have moved someone enough to get up and dance and, in a way, participate in the music. It doesn't matter if your hitting a tin can with a stick. If they're dancing, your music is working.
@kudzu, great expression "the dance of life; the other dimension of time" I couldn't agree more.
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jackleg
9 posts
Nov 05, 2013
4:33 AM
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whoever gets the most people on the dance floor,,,, wins!!!!
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nacoran
7306 posts
Nov 05, 2013
9:13 AM
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Rick, one thing we don't thank baldness for enough is fewer mullets! :)
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Nate
Facebook
Thread Organizer (A list of all sorts of useful threads)
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dougharps
466 posts
Nov 05, 2013
9:16 AM
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@easyreeder
Less likelihood of a fight when the dancing stoned hippies accidentally bump into each other as opposed to dancing drunks bumping into each other.
If there is a good groove, they will dance... regardless of what they used to loosen inhibitions.
If they don't have inhibitions about dancing, they won't need substances to dance to the groove.
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Doug S.
Last Edited by dougharps on Nov 05, 2013 9:20 AM
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walterharp
1206 posts
Nov 05, 2013
10:02 AM
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read the comments, better than I thought it would be, some of those way drawn out bends are actually not that easy to slide down so smooth... but I always try to look for the positive.
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Buzadero
1159 posts
Nov 05, 2013
11:13 AM
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"If they don't have inhibitions about dancing, they won't need substances to dance to the groove."
Which helps to understand and explain my personal ratios. I'm very self-conscious.........
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~Buzadero
Underwater Janitor, Patriot
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Hobostubs Ashlock
2084 posts
Nov 05, 2013
1:45 PM
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I liked it,yea he aint no little Walter,but then again no one is ,other than Little Walter,Heck he had them groovin,and a dancing.High on weed and LSD,heck whats not to like about a good show like that;-)
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Hobostubs
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Frans Belgium
5 posts
Nov 08, 2013
6:57 AM
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I kinda like the way most people on this board think about music. It reminds me of the passionate discussions I sometimes had with the(deceased) owner of my home pub.
Though not being a musician himself, he was very much into technique. In fact he liked the 'musician's musician' more than I did. The way many jazz lovers (I am one myself) feelabout music. Accessibility is a dirty word, if more than 5 people like it (or if more than 10 people know the musician's name), it must be commercial and so it cannot be 'good'.
He thought Toots Tielemans was a bad musician because of his commercial work.
My arguments that musicians have to make a living too and that Toots is a brilliant musician was put aside, even if it came from a harmonica player.
There is a word for that, I think it's called snobism.
Nothing of that on this board though. Here, James Harman and Carlos Del Junco (just 2 different styles that popped into my mind) seem to be equally appreciated.
Last Edited by Frans Belgium on Nov 08, 2013 6:58 AM
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