Damn! You guys really connected by the end of the night. It's horrid that people in that bar have no appreciation for music, I didn't think that was possible. I would have stopped in my tracks even before I started playing harmonica & this might have caused me to start playing, haha.
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~Ryan
"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window." - Stephen Wright
Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
people go to a bar to drink and have a good time. the backround music is just that backround....don't get in the way of the good time. world class players know that
by the way i love buddas on mike tone
Last Edited by on Sep 25, 2010 9:32 AM
who says I'm complaining? I was just making a social comment on the music scene in phoenix. It sucks here... it's not worth it for me to play locally so I rarely do it.
---------- "I am a great believer in understanding, not copying."
I was there!!!! Let me first state that the venue (the "lost Leaf") is in the ONLY cool and happening neighborhood in ALL of phoenix: the Roosevelt Ave Arts District. This neighborhood was vacant lots and crack houses until a bunch of young artists started colonizing the area due to low rents and big spaces. This is where the First Friday art walk originated 6 or 7 years ago, and now the area has been semi trendified. There are more hipsters here than artists, these days. Never the less, it is still one of the only cool areas in PHX.
The Lost Leaf is a meet-up bar, not a destination bar. It's an old brick house converted to be a bar, and thus the stage is in a little nook in the back that you really can't see from the main room of the bar. The sound board is up in a loft!
Enough context: the show. My wife and I sat right up front (basically the only ones in front o the stage), and I operated the camera. The sound was REALLY good where we were. Chris's Harp Gear was in full effect, and Paul seemed to be playing through the house PA. Paul has a very unique and forward thinking style that melds Blues, Groove, Jam, and Funk, and inserts Jazz runs where appropriate. He plays rhythm by tapping and baning on his guitar, and he switches between finger picking, strumming, slide, and playing up high on the neck. He does so fluidly. He sometimes uses a capo. Essentially, he is the guitar version of Chris, and Chris is the harmonica version of him. Their styles fit VERY well together, because they can match eachother's runs perfectly. The funk infused blues grooves that Paul lays down offer the perfect bed for Chris's chromatic runs and beautifully intoned bends and overbend stylings. Chris also knows where to just blow the Blues, and Dirty Blues too! He even could throw down some Sonny Terry style! Then they both will switch to soemthing Jazzier. It's not a sudden, obvious transition, but a subtle movement, and your like "Hey! how did that happen?!?".
Chris also demonstrated a mastery of dynamics. With absolutely NO EFFECTS PEDALS, he was able to achieve an amazing diversity of amplified tones. Horn sounds, flute like tones, clean runs, massive chords, guitar-like runs, and more. All from breath control, embouchure adjustment (he tongue blocked at one point!), cupping technique, and mic placement. It was VERY impressive, and I think it serves as a HUGE lesson on amplified tone.
This is right up there with the very coolest musical moments I've gotten to witness. It's especially cool, because Chris and Paul were essentially playing just for my wife and I. This would NEVER have happened if we lived in a "real" city, with an established musical culture. So how good was it? Let me put it this way: My wife LOVED it. She's as big a music lover as I am, but she is WAY more discerning about her music than I am. If it's not REALLY special, she won't listen to it. She's not the biggest fan of all the harmonica music I make her listen to, but she loved this. She didn't consider it to be "harmonica music", she just considered it to be "music", and she too thought that the intimacy that we were able to achieve in that small out of the way venue really helped make this something special to see. And we weren't even charged a cover.
Thanks Chris, for calling me up and inviting me out. This was something I'm VERY glad I got to see. These things don't happen a lot in life, and they certainly don't happen a lot in Phoenix. And I got to see it live! ---------- ------------------ View my videos on YouTube!"
I've got friends in working bands that live and play in Phoenix. I've got other friends that pass through Phoenix, gig there and have nothing but nice things to say about the city.
It's far from a cultural waste land. I've been to far worse cities in the country as far as night life goes.
It depends upon what kind of music you like to see. You can see music here any night. You can't see good music very often though. And there just aren't enough good venues or the crowds of music enthusiasts to entice good musicians to come through here. I've lived here for 5 years, and I can compare here to five major metropolitan areas that I have lived. PHX is a veritable dead zone when it comes to music.
I'm talking mainly about Indie music, but the same goes for most genres around here. ---------- ------------------ View my videos on YouTube!"
Might be the lighting (or that new shampoo) but sometimes it looks like Chris is rockin' that half red/half black Ricci hair style from 4 or 5 colour changes back. Hummmmm....could this be a subliminal message that with J currently off the road that a certain harp player is gearing up to fill in the void? (or did I spend too much time last week staring up at Jupiter?)
(oops, little tiny captcha to interpret.. rats, where'd I put my glasses. No not my wine glasses, my readin' bifocals!)
I might. Paul wants to do something with me. He was talking about recording a CD. There is a record company that wants to do it and he wants me to be a part of that.
---------- "I am a great believer in understanding, not copying."
I got to check this vid out yesterday-you sounded great! Funny how that works though-you put on a great performance and it goes almost completely(sometimes completely)unnoticed. Thanks to Isaac for being there and videoing it-I certainly appreciate it. ----------
Crescent City Harmonica Club Todd L Greene, Co-Founder
Nice Chris love that eclectic folk blues Hybrid style. I think it would be great album. Love that pure tone. I think you guys are what they call xtreme folk. I would send a copy of the CD to the Philly Folk society to get into the Philly Folk Festival. ---------- Emile "Diggs" D'Amico a Legend In His Own Mind How you doin'
I thought the Rhythm Room in Phoenix was a smoking club. Lots of blues with national acts coming through. They have a huge blues harp show there beginning of Oct. Surprised nobody has posted news about it.
the rhythm room is one of the very very few places to play but what does that have anything to do with anything? Does that mean Phoenix is a happening area because there is one blues club in town?
Phoenix sucks. There is no getting around it.
And Joe_L didn't pony up with the names of his buddies so I'll assume they are amongst the players that liter this town with excessive mediocrity.
Phoenix is a cultural wasteland. ---------- "I am a great believer in understanding, not copying."
