|
Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Hanging with Buddha
Hanging with Buddha
Page:
1
Brendan Power
29 posts
Jun 03, 2010
7:28 AM
|
My US trip has got off a good start. I did a Suzuki Seminar in San Jose last Saturday which filled all the seats, and met/jammed with some cool players. Kinya Pollard was a great help (thanks Kinya :), and showed me his well equipped workshop. He has some interesting specialist equipment there, including a very clever reed tuning machine in construction.
Dave Barrett joined us for lunch, and we had Kinya, Gino and Andy Just playing on stage, plus John Harl in the audience. San Jose seems to be a real harmonica hotspot.
The past couple of days I've been in Phoenix, staying with Chris Michalek (Buddha). Chris has been very generous in showing me the incredibly detailed work he puts into his harps, and his personal tricks and techniques. I've been loving trying some of the Buddha harps myself. The response is fabulous - way better than the harps I play myself ;)
It makes me realise I should be less lazy and put more time into them. When I get home I'll try out some of the stuff Chris showed me to tweak my own harps.
His six dogs (including three Rottweilers), are initially an imposing presence, but within minutes they were at ease with a stranger in the house. They like to be around Chris while he's working, so there are always two or three prone dog bodies to step over in the workshop.
In between the customising and enjoying some of the stunning local Mexican & Vietnamese food, we've been having fun jamming to loops and stuff. Aside from his very tasty harp playing Chris is a closet singer, and I heard him doing some cool scat singing a la Bobby McFerrin. I persuaded him to give it a blast at our gig last night; he really let rip on an Arabic funk loop we jammed on, putting vocals through his big bank of pedals to get some wild sounds. Some people looked a bit startled, but the venue manager told me that was his favourite number.
The gig was fun; not a big audience, but well appreciated by those there. The seminar before hand was nice too, and it was good to catch up with a Larry from SPAH and Isaac (Isaacullah), who I'd only known from this forum. Isaac showed me one of his cool custom mics, very funky looking yellow and black.
Today it's back to California for more gigs (San Rafael tonight and Sausalito with Steve Malerbi tomorrow).
This was supposed to be a holiday!...
|
toddlgreene
1398 posts
Jun 03, 2010
7:34 AM
|
What, no bitesuit story?
----------
Todd L Greene, Co-Founder
|
Joch230
161 posts
Jun 03, 2010
9:07 AM
|
I think he only does that to bass players who fail the drug test. : -
|
toddlgreene
1401 posts
Jun 03, 2010
9:11 AM
|
What constitutes a pass or fail on his test? :-)
Doesn't do it, or doesn't have enough to share?
----------
Todd L Greene, Co-Founder
|
Blown Out Reed
160 posts
Jun 03, 2010
9:16 AM
|
It's a written test
----------
"Although there is no progress without change, not all change is progress." — John Wooden
|
Diggsblues
331 posts
Jun 03, 2010
9:41 AM
|
Brendan what's your schedule?
If your coming near Philly I'll let
the Philly H.A.R.P. club know so they
can spread the word. We have a meeting on
June 16.
|
isaacullah
977 posts
Jun 03, 2010
11:21 AM
|
Hey , just waking up. The gig last night was AMAZING. Brendan and Chris got dealt some, shall we say, "interesting" sidemen, but they dealt with that like the pros they are, and still delivered one hell of a show. I got to hang out with them while they set up their gear and did soundcheck, and then attended their 2-hour seminar, which was very helpful. Brendan is a super nice dude and an amazing player. Of course, so is Chris, so it was particularly cool to be able to hang with both of them. There was some incredibly inspiring and thoroughly modern harp playing going on, and I just hope that some of it rubbed off on me!
I have video of the show. I need to cut it to YouTube-length segments, and then I'll upload a few of the best clips. Now I got's to head into work (3 hours late!) :)
----------
------------------
The magnificent YouTube channel of the internet user known as "isaacullah"
|
Marinharpist
2 posts
Jun 10, 2010
11:15 PM
|
It's possible I failed the drug test...
and while Chris may appear to be laughing malevolently while his rottweiler attacks, I can assure everyone on this board that really he has a heart of gold! I studied harp with him for a week in Phoenix and it was truly an enlightening experience...Michalek is a true artist--he puts himself on the line and throws open the doors of the unknown fearlessly in pursuit of his craft, and importantly, as a teacher. And I've still got a f***ing scar on my arm (those bite jackets aren't really that protective!)
Tony Watts
Last Edited by on Jun 10, 2010 11:20 PM
|
Post a Message
|
