MichaelAndrewLo
479 posts
Nov 06, 2010
11:26 AM
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Maybe this isn't a problem for others, but I just played with a long time blues/soul/funk band from the area and here there is no law to prohibit smoking in the bars. I am seriously considering not playing with this band/at this club because ALL my harps taste like cigarettes. To me this is repulsive. You come home and your clothes reek of cigarettes. In Oregon ALL the bars prohibit this. Not worth it to play for basically no money and maybe others disagree with the "performance experience" bit but I know I could probably put that time to better use practicing than playing standard blues songs in a smoke filled bar while waiting 20-30 minutes for the next set to start. DONE.
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Andrew Larson, R.N.
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tmf714
317 posts
Nov 06, 2010
11:32 AM
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I deal with it all the time here in Florida-two things you can do-keep your harp case closed at all times-I still clean all my harps after with 99% isopropyl alchohol-and layer your clothing. Wear a button down shirt with a t-shirt under it-remove the outer shirt and bag it before entering your vehicle. If possible,bring a change of clothes.
Thomas Fiacco III
Last Edited by on Nov 06, 2010 11:32 AM
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harmonicanick
985 posts
Nov 06, 2010
11:38 AM
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Andrew this is a serious question for those of us unfortunate enough to play live in bars with no smoking ban.
The uk banned smoking a few years ago in bars, but up till then I had the same problem as you and I applied the criteria that if I was not enjoying myself then I would not do it, so I stopped playing at the worst venues.
It surely will be only a matter of time for all states. I read that California will outlaw tobacco smoking even in public places outside.
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Philosofy
373 posts
Nov 06, 2010
11:42 AM
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This is why I don't play wooden combed harps. You can dunk a plastic combed harp in mouthwash to rinse it out. I also make my harp cases out of spanish cedar: it give a great aroma to the harps.
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HarpNinja
759 posts
Nov 06, 2010
11:45 AM
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I personally couldn't do it. It isn't worth it.
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Mike
VHT Special 6 Amp for Harp Blog
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RyanMortos
881 posts
Nov 06, 2010
11:55 AM
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What are your other options? To not play out with any musicians at all? Or do you know other bands you can play with that play at "cleaner" places? I don't play out with any band but I might do it under these conditions just to get some experience. Maybe that band also plays other places that have stage further away from the audience?
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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)
Contact:
My youtube account
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nacoran
3176 posts
Nov 06, 2010
12:13 PM
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I couldn't go out until the smoking bans. Even restaurants with separate smoking sections were a problem (I'm allergic to something in cigarette smoke, pipe smoke doesn't bother me.) I never understood why there weren't places before the law that were smoke free. It seems that the market would have supported smoke free places alongside smoking places. Coffee houses might have less smoke. All I can suggest is look for places with less smoke. TM's advice is good. Get in, play, get out.
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Nate
Facebook
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MichaelAndrewLo
480 posts
Nov 06, 2010
12:18 PM
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@ Ryan yes I have other musicians like a blue grass duo and some punk bands etc. just not a real solid deal like this band is. They are put together and know their stuff. But they are the ones smoking as well so getting away from the audience wouldn't really help.
I enjoy playing with them for sure but if the next day I don't feel like practicing cause everything tastes like ass then I might just have to pass.
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Andrew Larson, R.N.
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MichaelAndrewLo
481 posts
Nov 06, 2010
12:21 PM
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@ Nacoran the problem for me is that they take breaks between sets and it gets -20 -30 here in the winter here so I won't just step outside. Also I don't play every song cause they play some country stuff which, frankly, I just don't wanna play.
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Andrew Larson, R.N.
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chromaticblues
260 posts
Nov 06, 2010
1:20 PM
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@Michael AL When I played SP 20's I would wash them in the sink with hot water dish detergent. I would take the covers off because they have to be dryed or they'll rust. As long as your useing harps that don't have wooden combs that should work for you. It did me!
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Joe_L
803 posts
Nov 06, 2010
2:20 PM
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It sounds like your mind is already made up. Don't discount the importance of experience on stage. It counts for a lot.
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The Blues Photo Gallery
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toddlgreene
2050 posts
Nov 06, 2010
2:48 PM
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I'm not a fan of it either, and can attest to 'smoke hangovers'from a night spent in smoky bars. I've got a littlebit of one now. Unfortunately, around here we have no such ban. My desire to play music live is stronger than my dislike for smoke, I guess, but I don't judge anyone who insists on staying away from all the smoke-you're staying healthier than I am.
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Todd L. Greene, Codger-in-training
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MichaelAndrewLo
483 posts
Nov 06, 2010
2:54 PM
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Yeah all my harps are marine bands (wood comb).
@ todd The health concerns are also present for me.
@ JoeL I still have some opportunities for live performance just not with a band of this caliber I guess. Just am contemplating whether the health negatives and impact on my harps and clothing is worth it.
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Andrew Larson, R.N.
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toddlgreene
2052 posts
Nov 06, 2010
2:59 PM
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You could alway perform in a HEPA filter-equipped plastic bubble onstage, complete with blinking Christmas lights;it's a built- in gimmick.
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Todd L. Greene, Codger-in-training
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Tin Lizzie
149 posts
Nov 06, 2010
3:43 PM
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Or get out of North Dakota....
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Tin Lizzie
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Honkin On Bobo
485 posts
Nov 06, 2010
4:25 PM
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"You could alway perform in a HEPA filter-equipped plastic bubble onstage, complete with blinking Christmas lights;it's a built- in gimmick."
A harp bubble boy?......would there be nightly trivia?
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harpdude61
456 posts
Nov 06, 2010
4:35 PM
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I posted about this last week. 90% of the bars/clubs in my area are smoke free because they don't want to be limited to over 21.
I backed out on an invitation to gig tonight because of the smoke.
I hate to be stereotyping, but the smoking bars that are left are biker bars and good ole boy bars where you might see a rebel flag...or the older folk fratenal lodges.
They all book bands regularly but I'm like harpninja..... its just not worth it to me.
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eharp
900 posts
Nov 06, 2010
4:40 PM
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more *cough! cough!* places *wheeze* for me *hack! hack!* to jam at!
(is that part of my lung on the floor?)
i smoke, not much and never at home. i smoked in bars when it was allowed. but there were places i didnt like going into because of the smoke. 2 AA meetings come readily to mind.
but i would never skip playing because of it.
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kudzurunner
2002 posts
Nov 06, 2010
6:10 PM
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I respect every response to this issue.
There wasn't a no-smoking policy in NYC bars when I was working there (1986-2000), so playing blues live meant playing in places that were smoky. That's just how it was--and certainly how it was for every single player on the all-time greats list to be found elsewhere on this website. It's just how it was. That was the blues life. Booze, cigarettes, and violence.
Well, the violence part of it had essentially disappeared by the time I came on the scene, but all the old-school blues guys, including Paul Oscher and others of his age, can tell you that guns and knives were just...how it was.
Just as that age has passed, so has the age of smoky bars--at least in many left- and right-coast places. But in the great midlands of the USA, old school is still the rule.
Coming home very late at night with damp, smoky clothes, too much booze in your bloodstream, and slightly stinging eyes is just...how it was when I was learning how to play the blues. All that was a given.
Now things are a little different. I can't blame anybody for being more fastidious than I was. Heck, if gunfights had been part of the NYC blues scene in the 80s and 90s, I would have been writing exactly the same sort of posts as MichaelAndrewLo. I would have said, "I love the music, but HELL NO." And guys like Paul Oscher would have made faces and said, "Sure. Whatever." Because they'd normalized all that.
I started smoking, in fact, around 1990, and didn't even notice the "smoky bar" element of smoky bars. I contributed to it! My minor heart attack in 2000 set me straight about that.
I think each person needs to wrestle with this smoky-bar issue, and make whatever personal policy they need to--recognizing, of course, that people in earlier generations would have laughed at them for being pussies. Thankfully, we're all New Agers now and have let go of that judgmental vocabulary and masculinist cool-pose crap. :)
I'm a distance runner these days and am extremely grateful for the fact that most of the bars I deal with now aren't smoky.
Last Edited by on Nov 06, 2010 6:15 PM
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clyde
70 posts
Nov 06, 2010
6:25 PM
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there is an ozone machine availible at some hunting stores that will get the stink out of your harps. just put them in the box and get em in the morning. it was developed to put a hunters clothes in to kill the human sent so deer can't smell you. can't remember the name but i know they work.
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MichaelAndrewLo
484 posts
Nov 06, 2010
6:31 PM
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@ Kudzurunner in this day and age with all that is known about what smoking can do, and second hand smoke as well, that is harder to ignore. Especially with what I see as a RN. The "tough" guys aren't so tough when they have to carry around an oxygen tank at 45 or 50 because of COPD. Or like you, can have a heart attack. Then they are "wise" and say "don't do that"! Well, I try to listen NOW!
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Andrew Larson, R.N.
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jbone
432 posts
Nov 07, 2010
5:04 AM
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well and good. you guys who can't accept smoke in bars can find other venues. i am either fortunate or unfortunate to have been a smoker for a lot of years. i've played in some great joints with some great cats, and in a lot of dives with some great and not so great cats. i will play virtually anyplace that pays, and some that don't, and i can tailor my behavior to match the venue. ie step outside on break and puff. in smoking venues i prefer not to smoke on stage anyway. outdoors like at a farmers market or street corner i may light up occasionally but the main reason i'm there is to play music.
none of us is an old time blues originator. we don't have to do all they did just to get by. for that i'm very grateful. the current generation is still under a marketing onslaught to recruit new buyers of tobacco products, which i applaud anyone who resists those campaigns and leaves it alone. if i had it to do over i never would have taken up smoking, but here i am.
other hand, it's like that springsteen line: "mama always told me not look into the eyes of the sun, but mama- that's where the fun is!" i would be much less the player i am if i'd had to modify my behavior based on smoking vs non. of course i had no internet and free lessons all over the place, let alone decent harps to order online as well.
we all make our choices at some point.
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mercedesrules
62 posts
Nov 07, 2010
8:00 AM
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.....I don't mind if individuals try to persuade nearby bars to go smokeless but PLEASE don't lobby to have government goons pass (more) laws concerning how a clubowner must run his danged business.
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Mojokane
134 posts
Nov 07, 2010
11:41 AM
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I don't want to sound neurotic about it, but it is a health issue, too. And, ofcourse who wants to smell like an ashtray, and taste like one, when you kiss someone. Well, other smokers perhaps...but that's their problem not mine. TAKE IT OUTSIDE!!!!!!!!!
I take it personally now. The law in Hawaii, is no smoking inside any establishment. And the hotel I work at has extended the ban for even smoking outside, where they used to have everyone go to get their fix.It wafts inside the common area's.
I treat it as an addiction.
The bar scene is dismal here anyway, so...as a musician, I'm not faced with the decision like many. All I ask is go outside. But I am seeing desperate bar owners fail to enforce the ban. It's been several years now, and some think business is suffering. I think, it was suffering without it. I have seen several folks get up and walk out, me included. It's just plain nasty.
Now...if you were to light up a joint, I wouldn't mind. But I'm sure someone would object to the pungent odor and lack of consideration. It's turning in to a situation where people should respect the non-smoker and go OUTSIDE!...pleeease.
Last Edited by on Nov 07, 2010 11:42 AM
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Joe_L
807 posts
Nov 07, 2010
3:15 PM
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Andrew - I hear what you are saying. I knew a guy who didn't smoke. He played for over fifty years. He died of lung cancer that people believed he picked up from second hand smoke.
Life is short. This is a personal decision that you will have to make. Will you really be influenced by an exchange on a harmonica forum? Especially on something that is part of your core values?
I am thankful that bars are smoke free. It makes my decisions simpler.
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The Blues Photo Gallery
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Tin Lizzie
150 posts
Nov 07, 2010
4:48 PM
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Portland was one of the last left coast cities to go no smoking. All the bars thought they would lose money. They haven't. You can't persuade a bar to do anything. It has to be legislated. The sad truth.
PS Andrew, come home.
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Tin Lizzie
Last Edited by on Nov 07, 2010 4:49 PM
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earlounge
204 posts
Nov 07, 2010
8:06 PM
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the laws were for employee protection.
In Jersey they thought the smoking ban would take away business, but it actually did the opposite. Non-smokers don't avoid smokey bars now, and the smokers just go outside.
Most places have porches or covered areas. My band plays at The Delancey in NYC, and they have heated rooftop garden/green house thing where you can smoke.
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boris_plotnikov
299 posts
Nov 07, 2010
9:50 PM
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I never smoke. But smokers and smoke in bars didn't bother me at all. My mother smokes, my father smokes all my childhood and then gave up, so I used to smell, but never want to smoke myself.
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Excuse my bad English. Click on my photo or my username for my music.
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ZackPomerleau
1262 posts
Nov 07, 2010
10:08 PM
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Luckily Maine banned it all. Sorry, but it can affect my health, it could get into my food, all this gross stuff. The majority spoke. I am very glad the majority does not smoke.
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Aussiesucker
673 posts
Nov 07, 2010
10:48 PM
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Having been once a heavy smoker who also quit a long long time ago I find that I now really hate going anywhere smokers are. Even recently at an outdoor venue watching a concert I had to move to avoid the stench & annoyance. It's a gross habit to have. Over here, in our State, all indoor venues ie clubs, pubs, theatres, restaurants, shopping centres and public transport do now ban smoking. It is also now even banned to smoke on our beaches. Nearly, but not yet, completely stamped out. Those who do still smoke huddle in groups outside entrances to venues & still foul the air and litter the area with butts.
Unfortunately my years of being dumb enough to smoke has left me with scarred lungs & open to suffering bouts of asthma and shortness of breath every time I catch a cold. Fortunately playing the harp is, along with daily exercise including distance swimming, very helpful to maintaining a post smoking healthy lifestyle.
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