Bro i got to bend over and take it like a man i Live in Australia,
i hear of all these Jam Camps FUN FUN FUN!!! Or Top name players playing in a juke Joint down the road get ya ass down there now,
Bro Bummed!!! you got it Bro, I'm Buggerd Big time:)
It's not all bad my Bro and i have been invited to a Little Jam session this arvo just bumming around waiting to rock on at 2pm AEST:)
tell you what i just did though just bumming around, i tested 2x8 Vintage Manavox Alincos in my Harp Gear 2 i slapped together a Carboard box to put them in im very impressed with there sound, get out and do something Bro's:) or give that Harp a Blow:)
Last Edited by on May 22, 2010 7:47 PM
Well, I'm back at my hotel in Olive Branch. Day 1 (Sat) for me at HCH was a blast. Left early (10pm) to nurse a pounding headache... to much beer, heat and humidity?
I know = wus
Met your Crescent City Harmonica compadres Todd. Great bunch of folks. We sat at a table with Billy Branch. What a character! Talked about his time with Carey Bell. One of the highlights of the day for me. I think for Oscar as well.
Spent some quality time with Charlie Gilbert. Very cool guy. To bad he has to head out tomorrow. Has a day job teaching in a boys boarding school. Has to work Monday.
Terry "Harmonica" Bean is also quite the character and goes and goes. Loves to chat it up. Damn good player/entertainer. Bought two of his CD's on the spot.
Billy Gibson is also very easy going. Hope to see more of him as well as Brandon tomorrow.
Hydrating myself tonight. Gotta make it to midnight on Sunday....
I know you guys had a blast-Harvey had to call and rub it in a few times. If I wasn't busy replacing subfloor, running romex, building walls and correcting some moron's construction screwups so I can move my family into this house in a few weeks, I woulda been right there with you. I'm anxious for pics/video. Oh, and to get my amp back, if Harvey didn't trade it for a case of that corn liquor... ---------- Todd L Greene. V.P.
Last Edited by on May 24, 2010 5:13 AM
I don't have any video--I was too busy stage-managing, performing, and shaking hands--but there's lots of video out there and I'm sure it will surface.
The Saturday and Sunday night concerts produced some of the best blues harmonica performances I've heard in three decades. Johnny Sansone with his big chromatic on Saturday and Billy Branch blowing "I'm Ready" (also through a chromatic) last night, with Bill "Howl-N-Madd" Perry on guitar and the best shuffle drummer in Mississippi behind him, while the whole white-lightning-stoked pavilion full of harp players and local folk rocked, were high points.
Every single player/performer came up to me and asked to be brought back next year. Billy Branch said "You better bring me back EVERY year."
It exceeded our best-case scenario. Usually when people in my position, pre-event, engage in hype, we're whistling in the dark to at least some extent, knowing there's a strong element of crap shoot to the whole thing. I'm happy that the magic happened. A lot of it was due to the hundred blues harmonica players who poured heart and soul into the weekend. Forty of them gathered around a picnic table last night after Billy's first set and jammed with a couple of people beating on the table with sticks. In the last set, Billy created a conga line and brought every single player onstage, one by one, to blow two choruses with the band. The band played one song for 30 minutes.
Billy said "HarpStock. That's what this was. It's gonna be even bigger next year."
I just checked WeatherUnderground.com from yesterday. While all this madness was going on last night it was about 77 degrees and 100% humidity, after the heat blasted to 89 and hung there all afternoon. Same weather both days. Dew point between 70 and 77 from 6 PM to midnight, with no rainfall. Everybody was sweating, but nobody was complaining. We definitely gave 'em Mississippi.
Last Edited by on May 24, 2010 6:20 AM
Hey CONGRATS!! to Adam and all - It is nice when it all comes together, plus when the headliners want to come back, you know it all worked!! ---------- If it ain't got harp - it ain't really blues!!!!
pharpo just called me from Harvey's phone, and said he's got plenty of footage he will be sharing soon. He's still there now. They all sounded like some pretty happy campers. Glad it was a success! ---------- Todd L Greene. V.P.
Still in Oxford....had breakfast at the Beacon...now at the High Point Coffe house...for a wi-fi signal. WOW - great time guys...I do have quite a few vids. The lighting was tough at night but there is good footage and as soon as I get back home I'll start the process. I was thinking of putting it on my youtube channel but a friend I met suggested an ftp site so that you could actually download the stuff.. we'll see. I met a lot of new friends...the people of Mississippi are very friendly. I here there might be a HCH 2 - I'll be there !!!....Todd - great talking to you !!!
Paul ---------- Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art. - Charlie Parker
white lightnin...hooo hoo hooooo! if you dont know? you better ask somebody!! I made it just outside of Jackson TN back on I40 East before I decided to stop and sleep. That was 4am central...Been home 15 minutes...
Adam, Deak, Brandon.. all you guys that frequent this forum that were a part of it, well, it was something special indeed. It far surpassed any and all of my expectations. Bravo! Brandon, when youre old enough, your first ride on the white lightnin's on Kyzer, hear?
Shout out to LeonStagg, Kingobad, and the few other MBH boys I was privy to meet n greet...
Had a blast. Will write more later, but that should suffice for the moment. Just a great weekend. Wish I could have met everyone, but for now, am just happy to have met so many lovely people and great players.
Scott Albert Johnson http://www.scottalbertjohnson.com
Last Edited by on May 24, 2010 9:43 AM
Todd....didn't Harvey tell you about your amp ??? Last I saw him he was loadin a bunch of plastic milk jugs in his trunk...looked like water, but...... ---------- Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art. - Charlie Parker
As long as he shares! That would probably make him the world's first Jewish bootlegger-at least the first with a white ponytail. You do know that if you hold that stuff up to the sun and it isn't perfectly clear of color, mainly blue, it'll kill ya, unless you run it in a top fuel dragster? That's why you want it in clear glass growler jugs. Or so I hear... ---------- Todd L Greene. V.P.
Last Edited by on May 24, 2010 10:11 AM
checked in daysinn at holliday,tennesse @2am the hotel clerk said I looked really tired and I said it was a happy tired after where I had been it was one for the ages
wow this was a one time event. Learned more than one mind can handle and listened to probably some of the best harp I have ever heard. I got back to the Days Inn at 1:30am Sun morning and was so humbled by the talent there I wanted to flush my harps. I didnt, and Sun morn I was up at 8:30 playing. Maybe I had that depressed tired syndrome. To Adam, Jeff, Brandon, both Billys and everyone else thanks for making this such an enjoyable learning event - I say Adam for Mayor. How about playing a double solo just inches from Billy Branch ON STAGE. That was truly being on ground zero.
Had a great time. Didn't get to meet as many of you as I'd liked to but it was a full schedule! In retrospect, bringing the whole family camping with me was ill-conceived (seemed like a great idea at the time). Live and learn.
I drove through the night to get home, unpacked and went to work this evening so I'm short on time but here's some key words to describe my experience at HCH:
Oh Yes, the forty table bangers were us. Led by Oscar from Oscar and the Blues Cats and the rest of the Crescent City Harmonica Krewe, Driven by the MOON!! I took a small video, I will post it as soon as I recover. Also one of the Bobble Head twins. Just wait.
I want to move to New Orleans and join the Crescent City Harmonica Club! Ok, I'll settle for a road trip.
Met several other folks and missed out on meeting a few others (Kyser Sosa - damn it! Saw you from afar a few times but didn't bump into you man)
I just got home (near Austin). Still wired.
Enjoyed the performances and the super nice folks I met to include those running FireFox. Have some video and pics. Will bounce videos off Adam to make sure I can post.
Todd, as Terry put it, "moonshine is a miracle drug".
Oscar was dragging a bit Sunday night (I missed the Saturday night party at the cabin - not authorized to talk about). He took a swig of that super clear liquid and soon was leading a few rounds of impromtu playing. He kicked ass. I'd like to see video of that.....assuming I had an ounce of rhythm banging a bottle opener on Oscars beer.
Tip #1 for Moonshine Indulgence:
Swig and swollow fast! My first sip evaporated in my mouth before I could swallow it. It had a nice breath freshener effect....
harvey, i was sitting just 4 feet to the left of deak when he went into that convulsion... i almost spit out my elixir... almost. ---------- Kyzer's Travels Kyzer's Artwork
What a night. If it has lasted another day, we might not have ever come home. Oh, and never spit out that elixer. That would be abuse. I brought home a gallon. It should last me at least a week. Bye Bye brain cells.
bobble head twins <<<< You guys are a trip .....i call it my rubber leg trick ....... and i thought i was the only one who could do it till i met Greg ....i almost fell over when i saw him do it with me ....Ill never forget that .....if you guys are ever up my way ... i got lots of space on the farm for a Harp camping weekend .....
I didn't realize quite how many MBH forum members were at Hill Country. I saw a lot of Kyzer and Harvey as I ran to and fro, but really were should have had a little designated meet-and-greet.
Y'all probably DID have a meet-and-greet.
Annie Hollowell gave me a half-filled cup of the hooch when I was playing with Bill Perry, but I knew from the first sip that I needed to tread very softly. I'm sure it was high proof--150 or more. Extremely clear. Looked just like water. Hah.
I seriously cannot imagine how the performances could be any better. It was fantastic! Especially the 2:30 am performance by Billy Branch and Deak Sunday night (Deak, as soon as I can get the recording downloaded, I'll get you a copy.)
It was great to meet all of you guys - Omaha, Kyzer, LeonStagg, and the rest of you MBH guys.
That corn whiskey was soooo smooth - until it burned a hole straight from my throat to my intestines. I wish I had taken a togo bottle with me too. I could have made the Mississippi tick I took with me explode if I took one sip. That stuff is liquid Mojo.
Annie treated us right. I could not have asked for more.
Adam, thank you for a fantastic event! It was unforgettable.
Got home late last night--the storm in Memphis caused me to miss my connection.
What an experience! Here are just a few of my standout memories (aside from the GREAT music):
Sitting in front of Theo's museum in Clarksdale on Friday and having Deak Harp walk up to me out of the blue, saying "You're going to Hill Country, aren't ya?"
Terry "Harmonica" Bean: "Don't blow that hole!" And that story about coughing up tadpoles--spooky.
Billy Gibson's "Twinkle, Twinkle" session ("It's a CONCEPT")--and the hilarious reaction thereto in certain quarters.
The party Saturday night at Cabin No. 3, with Johnny Sansone barking at me, "BLOW THAT MOTHERF...ER!" Um, yeah, you know what I mean.
Harmonicabruce's balloon trick.
Deak's TB session, especially the extra, after-class Q&A stuff. Deak, you really helped with my understanding of TB fundamentals. Thanks, man!
Adam & Brandon's great session on improvising.
Getting the straight dope on harp tweaks from Harvey and Dan Ridgeway.
Sunday night's spontaneous table jam. My hands still hurt from pounding that table! Heartfelt thanks to Harmonicabruce for finally handing me those drum sticks. I don't think Oscar is on here--but Oscar, you just rock, and that's a fact!
Having my first-ever on-stage harp experience be one where I was sharing the stage with Billy Branch!
Getting to meet a bunch of really great people, some on here and some not. I want to single out Harvey, Terry, Oscar, Rocky, and Johnny from New Orleans, here. Thank you for your kindness and hospitality, you guys. Rob, I'm with you, I've gotta get myself down there! Littleeasy, Kyzer, AV8R, Superchucker, rpoe, Jeff, Dan, Tom, Chad, Andrew, Jordan--great meeting you too! Todd, sorry I missed you.
Adam, it was a pleasure to finally get to shake your hand. Thanks again for all you do for us.
Dave, you became a legend overnight. We constantly talked about "BLOW THAT MOTHER F..R" all the way back, and you know what, You DID. On stage with Billy. Proud of You.
We missed you Sunday night, because we did the same to Andrew, the New Kid for New Orleans that we met there. He might never be the same again.
So Billy and Deak were jamming at 2:30 Sunday night? Uh, I mean Monday morning? Whew. I was there when Deak gave Billy one of his custom harps. Billy is currently an endorser for Manji, but when he tried that harp--and it sounded alive and bluesy, like a prewar harp from a cardboard box--you could see where his heart was. When I left at around 1 AM, Billy was standing in front of the five remaining people in the pavilion, giving them a little impromptu concert. I'm amazed to hear that he and Deak were still at it 90 minutes later. Sounds like a good time to me.
What amazes me in retrospect is how many crucial turning points occurred where the entire event could have gone South in a major way. It began back in mid-January with an idea about bringing Jason and his band together with Satan and Adam in a harp-friendly event at Foxfire. I sent out an email and got a lot of interest in THAT event. Then, after Jason's schedule suddenly took him to Europe and Mr. Satan was prevented from traveling, that plan fell through.
I could have quit right then. I didn't. I thought about various headliners and quickly settled on Billy Branch. His manager harshly spurned my initial offer. I could have let my hurt feelings get in the way. I didn't. We ended up paying him more than twice the initial offer (an offer which was, admittedly, too low....but then what do I know? I'm still thinking in terms of 1990s prices) and threw airfare into the deal. Got our headliner. Got everybody else I wanted.
Event is one week from happening, a success in the making, and.....well, I won't go into THAT near-disaster. Let's just say that Jeff and I engaged in some last-minute renegotiations with the venue and both sides are glad we did. We got through it.
Two days before y'all show up, I call Terry "Big T" Williams just to reconfirm the fact (already confirmed one month ago) that he's playing Friday and Saturday night with me and Charlie, and he tells me, "Aw, man, I can't play Saturday night. I'm double-booked at Ground Zero. I just found out about it. It's my big gig and I gotta hold onto it." There goes my rhythm section! But he tells me that he's found a sub on bass. And he got that girl on drums for both gigs. Suddenly it's Saturday, the event is on, but because Bill Hollowell had been running around on Friday, I'd never gotten a chance to test out his PA. I step up to the mic at Foxfire on Saturday at 1 to say Hi and realize that we've got terrible static. We basically have an unusable PA system. Somehow I make it through my presentation and then look around frantically for Deak and say, "Man, bring your PA head up here," and he runs to his camper and does that, I haul his two speakers back to the stage, and suddenly we've got a great PA. Saturday night and it's time, at last, for Charlie and me to do our thing. Two hours before we're due to hit, the new bass player shows up. I ask him where the drummer is. "She's on her way," he says. He says that for the next two hours. "Why is she so late?" I ask. "She's borrowing the drums from somebody and she had to drive back from Batesville to the Delta and get a kick drum pedal." She finally shows up. Then it turns out that she has forgotten to bring along a snare drum stand.
Usually when a musician is hopelessly late and has left needed equipment at home, drugs are involved. But the girl seemed straight. She just could not get her act together. For at least 45 minutes she fumbled around on stage, trying to find something that could serve as a snare drum stand. There was a LOG sitting on the end of the stage and she tried to lash it to that. She tried lashing it to the top of a big plastic water dispenser. Finally--because I Never Say Die--I found a second drum stool and she took it, upended it, and, when she couldn't quite make it serve the needed function, she let the bass player transform it into a snare stand.
Now, at any point in there, I could have said "Fuck it!" (AG is allowed one four-letter word here) and told her to go home. I could have told the bass player to get the f--k out, too. Charlie and I could have kicked a-- as a duo. But there was supposed to be a jam session after we played, with Johnny Sansone and all the pro players, and so I just had to take it. And then, when Charlie and I got up there, we just had to let everything go and play.
Amazingly, the girl--who had played with us the night before--really grooved beautifully on "Every Day I Have the Blues," and I was able to blow off a little steam. If anybody has video of that particular performance, I hope you'll post it.
Now, were my worries over at that point? No! On Sunday afternoon, one of our elderly registrants passed out--sun stroke, apparently--and then revived and sat in a chair while Bill and Jeff discussed what to do. Jeff basically wanted to say, "You think you're going to die HERE, when we don't have any liability insurance? Not at MY event, you don't!" They took the guy inside the Hollowell's house, then took him, at his request, to his motel. He was apparently a local guy--regional, I should say--and had recently been hospitalized for a stroke. But he didn't die.
Then came the big one. I've just come offstage, along with Deak and Brandon, after our one-man band thing, and Billy Branch is getting ready to go on. His backing band consisted of Bill Perry on guitar, Bill Perry Jr. on keyboards, and Lee, a young drummer who can really play. No bass player. When I booked Bill Perry three months earlier, I told him that since I wasn't able to pay him huge money, I wasn't going to insist that he bring a bass. His usual configuration is that trio. This is fairly common in Mississippi. Often it's just guitar and drums. I figured that Bill, Jr. would hold down the bottom end on his keyboard.
Well, when I told Billy Branch that there wasn't going to be a bass player, he looked at me aghast. "No bass player?!" he groaned. "Adam, man, you can't have no Chicago blues without no bass! Don't tell me that!"
Luckily, my friend Willie Johnson, a bass player, had been hanging out all day. He'd played bass behind Billy during his lecture, in fact. So I ran over to Willie and said, "Man, can you play bass behind Billy? I really need you, man. I'll give you a hundred bucks." He's a mild-mannered guy, and we've been friends for more than five years. He obliged. I calmed Billy Branch down. He complained that my 56 Bassman wasn't quite loud enough. I miked it up. The PA system wouldn't work. I yelled for Deak. He came and said, "The master volume is down." And suddenly everything was OK.
And that, my friends, is why, once Billy Branch and the Bill Perry Band had kicked into gear, I retreated to my big green truck with a glass of Glenmorangie on ice and just enjoyed the show for a while, before coming back out and standing right in front of the stage and watching Billy blow on "I'm Ready."
Hill Country could have gone down with a crash at so many points. But if you work hard, select your friends well--and Deak and Willie are my friends for life at this point--and find a way of hanging in there when the bad stuff surges into view, long enough to improvise a patch-around, you can actually create the conditions within which some big fun gets had and some hellaciously good music gets made.
I need to sleep for a week.
Last Edited by on May 25, 2010 12:13 PM
thats the beauty of nearly everyone in the audience having a full set of harps on em. and most, a mouthful of the hooch...trust me adam, very few saw those problems. it was monumental. you improvised, as you do... ---------- Kyzer's Travels Kyzer's Artwork
Congragulations on a successful outing! My hat is off to you. To organize all that is involved in such an endeavor takes a ton of work and emotion. 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. " No one can control anyone, but anyone can let someone control them"
Corn whiskey must do something to the space time continuum, as it probably was 1 a.m. We were up until after 3 a.m. with Deak, so I tried to backtrack from some point where I actually looked at my watch.
It did not last 90 minutes, more like 5-10, but it was very cool none the less... You probably saw a good part of it leaving...
I think Billy really liked Deak's harp. It was fun to see someone as experienced as Billy Branch getting all excited about a new harp.
As for the whole event, all that really matters is it got done, and done very well. It's gotta be part art and part science. To double Kyzer's comment - well improvised!
The story you told was awesome; in the sense that I was there (with very little shine in me) and never realized any of it was going on. I do remember thinking Adam looks a bit stressed a couple of times & now I know why. I talked with Jeff a couple of times & all seemed well. Thanks for a great time & a great enviornment to learn the "BLUES". I made a friend that lives down the road from Foxfire (Larry Smith) he's having a Blues fest June 12th week end and really wanted me to come down to his place. I may make it but doubtful (Chicago Blues fest is somewhere at that time). It was a great time for everyone from what I could tell. Next year I will be retired & will be able to make it for sure. A great big "THANK YOU" for all the effort you guys put into this.
This was by far my best harmonica year. It was a long way to get from Colombia to Firefox Ranch, but it was more than worth it. I met very nice people from different places that shared with me this amazing mix of love and craziness for the harp.
For me, it all started a while back when Billy Branch came to Bogota. That sound just stuck in my mind and heart, following me everywhere. There is not a big blues scene in Colombia, as you can imagine, but as a wise man told me at the HCH, “internet has brought us all harmonica lovers together”. I got to take Internet lessons from one of the best, Adam Gussow, and my iPod is now packed with blues music and harmonica lessons. It just became a big part of my life. I practice while driving, while in the elevator, while waiting for customers, and even at low volume in the morning not to wake up my girlfriend.
HCH was just amazing, practical breakout sessions, enriching experiences, great lectures, incredible performances and over all great people willing to share their knowledge as well as a good time. Thank you Adam for making this one of a kind event happen. Jeff, impeccable job, thank you. And Adam please count me in for HCH2.
Bronxharp thought I should repost this from the HCH forum. Sorry for the repeat to those who have seen it. BTW didn't realize there were so many MOT's at HCH.
After watching Frank from Berlin eat the biggest ass pancakes I have ever seen at Big Mama’s on Beale Street, I slapped in Johnny Sansone’s CD and headed out of Memphis toward Little Rock. It was only then that it began to really sink in. I too felt myself welling up with emotion as I reflected on the generosity, camaraderie and authenticity of the weekend I had just experienced. And while I was thinking about all the things that I was feeling so grateful for the word Dayenu kept popping into my head. Which is Hebrew for - It would have been enough!
Interestingly enough, Dayenu (pronounced Die A New) is also a Jewish call and response song that dates back to medieval times and is about appreciation for gifts from God, and we all know how important call and response is!
So here is how the conversation went in my head – feel free to respond with a resounding Dayenu yourself.
If it had just been the incredible camaraderie, support and open sharing of knowledge by faculty and participants alike
DAYENU!
If it had just been the non-stop blues experience from morning until morning Friday on
DAYENU!
If it had just been the firsthand accounts and history of the blues delivered by Billy Branch, Terry Harmonica Bean and Bill Howl-n-Mad Perry
DAYENU!
If it had just been the awesome performances by Johnny, Deak, Adam, Brandon, Billy Branch, Billy Gibson, Howl-n-mad Perry, Terry Harmonica Bean and Adam
DAYENU!
If it had just been the Hollowell’s graciousness, tireless hard work, delicious food and wicked libations
DAYENU!
If it had just been getting up on stage Sunday night to jam with Billy Branch, Bill Perry and his incredibly talented and PATIENT band
DAYENU!
THANKS ADAM & JEFF!! You created a memory that will stay with me for a lifetime.
