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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
A nice story
A nice story
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LittleJoeSamson
344 posts
Jul 12, 2010
1:52 AM
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I went to check on my friend, Sir John O. yesterday. It had been several months . John is the sound tech that worked at several movie studios, and he also was a multi-instrumentalist...playing reeded horns and harmonica ( but only chromatic ). He turned 90 this year, so he is frail and sometimes can't remember my name.
Anyway, I got to his house, and his son that I had never met answered. We exchanged pleasntries, and I mentioned that I was a harmonica friend of his father's. At that point John came into the room and said HI. Hey, come back into my music room. We get back and he instructs me to sit in the ofice chair. He pulls out a box from the closet and says, "Open that up for me" . Inside are about a dozen old chromatics.
Now, I was in the light, and John spoke up suddenly, and said, " OH, NOW I remember you ! ".
We talked some about what each other had been doing.
John had me pull out of the box several harmonica's one at a time. Then he gave me a tutorial on proper prep in cleaning before playing one that had not been played in some time. There were old Cromonika's...48's and 64's, different keys; one old Chromonica II DeLuxe.
John then said, "Hey take that one out of the case, will you, and clean it good, " . So I did. It's a Hering Membi 48 in the key of "G".
Then he asked me to play some, and I did a short version of "Sunnertime" first, and then John insisted I play some more, so I did "Speak Softly,Love". When i got done, John said, "OK, now put it back in the case and give it to me".
Then he handed it right back and said, " Put it in your pocket, now....it's yours".
Well, I was flabbergasted.
John replied, "I have have several dozen harmonica's, and only one mouth ".
He further explained that when he was in Hollywood, He was the compensated representative for Hohner, and every time people from the company showed up, he got some more harmonica's.
I retrieved my Bari-bugle and played briefly,as I knew wuld be amused by it.
Very pleasant afternoon, and a super nice gentleman.
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MP
669 posts
Jul 12, 2010
2:31 AM
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what a great story joe!!!
one day i'll have to tell one about an old fella friend who was a hobo, a soldier, a drunk, and french horn player with the symphony.
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MP
hibachi cook for the yakuza
doctor of semiotics
superhero emeritus
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Joe_L
449 posts
Jul 12, 2010
10:22 AM
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That is a cool story.
About a year or so ago, I went to a local jam. I signed up on the list. I got called up to play. After I got done playing, a very pretty young woman came up to me and asked me if I was the harp player that was on stage. I said that I was. She said, "I've got something for you."
She reached into her purse and pulled out a crusty old 64 Chromonica. She said that it had belonged to her grandfather who had played in harmonica bands back in the day. He had recently passed away. I could see the tears welling up in her eyes. I told her that I couldn't accept it and that she should keep it as a memory of him. She insisted that I take it. The only condition was that I didn't sell it. She wanted to give it to someone that would use it.
I accepted her gracious gift. I still have to find someone to clean it up. It's pretty rough and needs some serious work.
The inside of the case has been autographed by a bunch of guys that I've never heard of and they don't show up in any Google search.
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waltertore
763 posts
Jul 12, 2010
10:41 AM
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that is a great story and thanks for spending time with an elder! I have been involved with collie rescue for years and our current collie and I went through social therapy certifcation. Long story short, we went to a funky nursing home in Santa Rosa Ca that was around the corner from our house. Here we met Rocky, a real old time musician from los angeles. He was dying of lung cancer and we would go by every few days to give pets and I saw a guitar lying in the corner. That led to music talk and me bringing in a mobile recording set up to capture some of his music. Here is a link to it. He died a couple weeks after this and was barely able to play at this session, couldn't put in his false teeth and could barely breath and hold the guitar. He also was on oxycondon and in lots of pain. Still he insisted on playing. I will never forget this session. He was on oxygen and had to lay in bed. the entire wing came to listen. It perked him up. Things like this can make the end meanigful. He thanked me continiously with tears running down his cheeks. Our next session was to be with him on piano, but when I got there they told me he died. I also met one of Bob Wills early fiddle players at a similar place in austin. Lots of stories from these old folks. If I hit the lottery I am going to tour the country collecting such storied on video. Walter
Rocky's music as stories
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Last Edited by on Jul 12, 2010 10:59 AM
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