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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
moments of arrival
moments of arrival
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Kyzer Sosa
870 posts
Nov 17, 2010
3:59 AM
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I have NOT been paid to play BUT...i have played for an audience, opened for a better band, learned to play well, a song i once considered too tough for my level. none of these ever carried with it a MOA.
One night, during a jam session, at the end of a song (Freebird) that we had never played before and where no harp had gone before, I forgot everything I knew and didnt know. All the while we are all looking at each other to try and determine a "stopping point", and I just stepped forward, and finished out the solo. 2 minutes of music that, since then, I have not been able to reproduce.
The zone, if you will. I felt like no one on this earth could have raised the hairs on the back of your neck like I did in my moment. not adam, not billy, not howard, not buddha, no one. just for that 2 minutes, since i started my journey with the harp, i was on top of the mountain.
the boys were ecstatic. hollering before the song even ended. and as it did, chest bumps and cursing and hooting and hollering commenced.
it was my MOA...and make no mistake, i damn sure want to get there again.
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jbone
435 posts
Nov 17, 2010
4:28 AM
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man it has been a long time of learning for me. arrival has been in bits and pieces. i remember very well the first time i actually did a harp solo that made sense and went someplace and came back at the end of the turnaround. i remember some years later, after a lot of stumbling around still not knowing what to do in a song, things just clicked and i began just doing little fills and accents with a duo partner, and getting complimented after the show by total strangers, and by my partner for that gig.
more time went by, a lot of time spent at jams. there were not many harp players around so i began trying to emulating the electric guitars i heard. then the keys. i was in a city with a jazz school and heard a lot of cool horns and began trying to do horn lines.
along the way a couple of better-than-me harp guys appeared, one of whom could barely play when i met him, and 6 months later he was blowing me out the door!
he and a band mate both tr9ied to enlighten me on 3rd position, blue notes, and some other ideas associated with real blues harp work. it finally began to sink in.
when i moved here from texas i had felt like i had arrived in the sense that i was working with several bands, writing material, running an open mic, working in a duo, and generally playing for $$ almost every week. once i moved here i had some real problems being accepted into the music community. i had to more or less re-establish my credibility. but time rocked on and i began to do that. one of the salt of the earth local guitar player/singer/bandleaders sort of adopted me for a while, had me on his stage a lot, and rarely gave me a hard time with anything i did on stage since i knew when to shut up and when to wail. he and i have a special friendship to this day.
i got to open for bobby rush about 4 years ago. despite the emcee saying some really rude things about my band as he intro'd us (and he nearly got shoved off the stage for it) we went out front and wowed a crowd of 500 or so. even when i stepped on my mic cord and had to stop and plug back in, even when the guitarist popped the high e string and had to swap guitars in the middle of the song- we just kept going and got it on trak asap, and the crowd ate up what we were doing.
that show cost me personally $45 after i paid the promoter and my guys. but it was money well spent.
there have been some other defining moments that told me i was "there" but i have to head for the job.
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kudzurunner
2043 posts
Nov 17, 2010
4:41 AM
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Whew! This is some amazing stuff. I'm sure I'm not the only one who didn't realize that Wolf had that kind of a background. Wolf: many of your MOA's came before I'd ever picked up a harp!
Here are a couple of mine:
Very late fall of 1985 or early winter of 1986, I'd run into Bill Taft at the Astor Place cube and we'd busked the streets of NYC, various spots--Washington Square Park, the Beacon Theater before a big show, etc.--and we now had our first and only "indoor gig" at Mills Pub, a now-vanished joint on Bleecker Street. Paul Butterfield was getting quietly trashed at the bar. As I played, he occasionally got up, tottered past me on his way to the men's room. On one of those trips he gave me a thumbs-up and said "Nice harp!" Later, a ghoulish lady with long black hair, in gothic dress, looking like the lady in The Munsters or The Addams Family, leaned in towards me and whispered "It's great that you're here. We need fresh blood"--or something like that. Definitely a Vampira moment.
In June 1991, not long after Satan and Adam had been picked up by our new manager, Margo Lewis of Talent Consultants International, we found ourselves on a one-week tour of the UK, opening for ("supporting," as the English say) Bo Diddley. Since as recently as December 1990 I'd been a street musician with a steady Sunday afternoon gig at Kelly's, a lesbian bar in the Village, this was a huge step up: a major-league MOA. Touring with Bo on the bus! His band consisted of Debbie (Margo's girlfriend) on bass and a couple of other white rockers. I remember sitting in the lobby of our London hotel, watching Mr. Satan and Bo both sitting at a piano and playing two-handed blues. I got a chance to jam on harp a little, but that was just icing on the cake.
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MN
17 posts
Nov 17, 2010
6:36 AM
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I can think of three big moments in the arc of my playing ...
1) First was playing at a jam session at the Bamboo Room in Lake Worth, Florida. I was taking lessons from Jason Ricci at the time and he lived right around the corner. This was probably 1999. Naturally, Jason was at the jam too and played a lot - great as usual. Come my turn, to sit in, I played a long solo and got a standing ovation ... the only one of the night. I still think about that from time to time and it always makes me feel good.
2) Next was playing in a band on a festival bill with Johnny Winter as the headliner. I was talking to one of the guys in another band on the bill that day, saying how much I dug James Montgomery (who was playing in JW's band). This guy agreed that James is a great player. Then, after our set was done, the same guy came running over and grabbed my arm and told me not to hang my head, that I'm right up there with James Montgomery. I still don't think so, but it sure was flattering.
3) The Kinsey Report came to town and told the promoter they wanted a local harp player to sit in with them. I got the call. I had the pleasure to eat dinner with the band beforehand and meet the guys. They said they'd call me up to play on two songs. They called me up to do those two .... and then brought me back in the second set for four more, and I even sang one. Kenny Kinsey told the audience that I "got that old time sound."
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bigd
241 posts
Nov 17, 2010
8:20 AM
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"Mills Pub". That's it (actually I think it was "Mill's Tavern" Adam). I was trying to remember that joint last week with my drummer who you may remember as he played with Bill D. and Robert R. back then: George Morales (now with me and Joe Taino). Mill's was the first place anyone let me play with them. Being drunk at the time the memory is "swiss cheesy" but I believe I played on top of a pool table. That was the first place I ever saw Bill Dicey. d
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Anonymous
501 posts
Nov 17, 2010
3:26 PM
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My MOA was the first time I went to a Bears game(my first time at any major sporting event).
It was August 28th, 2009. My Brother and I get off of the Metra at Ogelvy station (next to Union Station). It was a Saturday. We head North on Canal st. and hook a right on Washington st. The plaza across from the Boeing building was empty so we stopped to "Freshen Up". We proceed down Washington until we reach Michigan ave. We hooked a left and swung into the park. There were a lot of people flowing up the steps so we went and checked it out. There were a lot of people going left to the "Bean" so off we went. Walking around the Bean, we looked for a good place to sit. Chose the steps in front to the left......
.......Sat down. Nervous, I just hit the 2 draw, and started playing one of Adam's bits for a few minutes and switched to a Nat Riddles thing that got from 'El Cafe st. After I started playing i wasn't nervous at all. There was a huge amount of people.... The security guards didn't seem to mind (there were 4 of them. all in light green jackets) just watched. There were a couple of kids about 12 who just stood in front of me gawking saying various things to eachother (that was probably my favorite part)... I stopped because we needed to go. Already missed the first 1/2 quarter...... As I put my harp away I got a nice amount of claps. I smiled and gave a motionless wave. Then left. Headed down Michigan ave across another park to Lake Shore dr. Museum Campus dr. To THE greatest place I've ever been....... Soldier Field. The Bears beat the Giants and Johnny Knox had a TD kickoff return.
My biggest MOA.
The next MOA is jamming at a jam session with a Bassist named Marie Martens whom I met at my job at IHOP. we did some crazy song and everything went well. I got plastered. Talked Blues and went home.....
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gmacleod15
93 posts
Nov 17, 2010
5:56 PM
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My moment was this past weekend. I am an intermediate player by Adam’s ruler but I think of myself more of a beginner. I drove 400 Km to jam with some friends. This is a big moment as I have only been able to do this about 6 times. At the jam there was players for keyboard, guitar, drums and me on harp and singing....this was first time for the drummer to join us.....I am the least experienced of the group.
After warming on several songs and playing it safe, I let loose on Little Walters “Mean Old World”.... and I was pleased with my effort.
After the song I mentioned to the drummer that I thought he did a good job especially for not being familiar with the song......now here’s my arrival.....the drummer said “all I had to do was watch and listen to you....you were leading us....YOU HAVE IT....THE BLUES FEEL.
I remembered reading a past thread that Adam wrote were he praised a great harp player (might have been LW) saying something to the effect that in the particular song, the harp player controlled the flow of the song....he was leading the players....just like I did.
I know this is small compared to some of your stories but it made my weekend.
GMacLeod
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MBH member since 2009-03-24
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BronxHarp
31 posts
Nov 17, 2010
6:10 PM
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I still consider myself something of an intermediate -- maybe on the lower end of that scale. Yet I play in a band with my wife and some of our friends -- we jam pretty much on a weekly basis. We've played at our local park festival a couple of times and once at a local coffee house. I feel like I contribute modestly and people in the band say I sound really good. But I know what good is because I listen to so much of it and I don't come close, yet I perpetually aspire. At 44, I'm having fun and never thought that I would ever be playing an instrument much less in a band. So being able to make music with other people is an arrival -- even though I have a long way to get to where I want to go.
I think Adam's HCH was an arrival, too, a sense of belonging to a larger community of obsessed blues harp players, all at various levels.
At the end of that glorious weekend, Billy Branch led that sizzling 45-minute "Help Me" jam and I participated in that along with like 30 others of you. I think I really sucked up there, and I should've been embarrassed but I wasn't. I think that's because I felt welcomed by everyone around me, including Billy. We were all out there supporting each other, just tickled to death at the opportunity. This kind of epitomized the vibe of the whole weekend. HCH was a supportive encouraging space that allowed you to feel comfortable where you were yet hyper-inspired to go to the next level. That felt like an arrival, too.
Thanks, Adam, for all the different ways you've fostered this sense of belonging to a widely dispersed yet connected blues harp community.
Jordan
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Johnny Charles
11 posts
Nov 17, 2010
6:39 PM
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Back in high school daze I used to play my harp all the time when we cruised around on the weekends partying. Never failed...I played my harp in the back seat and the stereo was turned louder and louder until I stopped playing and put it away. My buddies were ruthless. This went on for a long long time.
Then one night the stereo wasn't turned up but shut off and my friends wanted to hear me play. WOW!! That was cool. MOA
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Tuckster
775 posts
Nov 17, 2010
7:03 PM
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Nice thread! Flashback 12 years: I'm in my 1st "real" band,where I don't just sit in for 4-5 songs,but I'm part of the band. I'm the "greenhorn". I have enough technique to get me through the blues standards,but don't throw anything at me beyond that. All the other band members are at least intermediates and one in particular is a seasoned and talented musician.I am often intimidated by his knowledge. A lot of the time I don't know what the heck he's talking about musically.
Flashfoward to present: I'm in that same garage with some of the same bandmates, including Mr. Experienced.It's impossible not to reflect on where I had been and where I am now.Since that 1st band,I've been in several other bands and done quite a bit of gigging.I've gained a lot of experience. Technically,I've certainly improved,in particular my tone,but in general I don't think it's a quantum leap.I know my way around the harp a whole lot better.But the vast and to me shocking,improvement has been in my musicianship.Mr. Experience no longer intimidates me. We now speak the same language. We have this rapport that didn't exist before. My improvisation skills are light years beyond what I was 12 years ago. I've really come a long way and in fact could now tentatively call myself a musician.
2nd MOA- My Greatest Compliment. I have a harp playing buddy. I consider us both to be at the same spot on the learning curve. We are both well received in our little pond. We both admire each others playing. "I have a confession to make" he says, " I stole one of your licks".
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boris_plotnikov
310 posts
Nov 17, 2010
10:29 PM
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It seems that I have some moments of arrival.
1) My first gig with Umka & Bronevichok in 2002 - it was my favorite band then.
2) My first performance at Moscow Harmonica Festival in 2003.
3) My first performance with big band.
4) My second performance at Moscow Harmonica Festival in 2007.
4) My playing at Metafest festival in 2009, I get familiar with bunch of great Moscow musicians which I love to listen.
5) Jamming with Howard Levy in 2010 and private lesson.
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Excuse my bad English. Click on my photo or my username for my music.
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6SN7
114 posts
Nov 18, 2010
8:34 AM
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Interesting post and discussion.
Most the MOA's here are money related: first paying gig, first change in the hat,etc.
I have had those experiences, but the MOA that sticks out is the first time I learned to tongue block. I had been playing for over ten years, had been in bands, played gigs, attended various jams, etc. But the day I got a lesson from a fellow harp player on how to tongue block was like learning a new language. It was like I had spoken English all my life and all of the sudden, I started speaking Spanish. And what more, I was THINKING in another language. At that moment, I went thru another door, to another level and it opened all sorts of new possibilities to me. I didn't get an air conditioned trailer or open for someone, but it was a real growth moment for me.
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lumpy wafflesquirt
276 posts
Nov 18, 2010
2:00 PM
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My mate asked me to put some harp on his youtube video. may not mean much to you, but means a lot to me.
Not sure how we are going to do it as we live about 30 miles apart, possibly by emailing mp3s backwards and forwards
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"Come on Brackett let's get changed"
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3 cav 84a
15 posts
Nov 18, 2010
3:50 PM
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G'day from the land "Down Under", my moment in time is nothing to do with gigs or jams. I was sitting Under my house,(up in tropical Darwin the houses were built on stilts to get the air circulating around them)having a beer and playing some harp when I blew my first bend. I had been trying all sorts of mouth and throat gymnastics for about 3 weeks without success when all of a sudden I hit the correct combination, I had to crack another beer to celebrate and continue bending the note in case I forgot how to do it LOL. I had the same moments when I found out how to blow bend the high notes and to do the vibrato, small steps for some but for me great moments I will always remember, regards to all, Neil
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Barry C.
50 posts
Nov 19, 2010
8:22 AM
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After contemplating the spirit of Adam's question a little further, I actually have to amend my inital response which had to to with some technical harmonica stuff.
My real moment of arrival was when my kids (25 & 27) came to one of my shows with a boatload of their friends - and thought their dad was 'cool' and 'pretty good' (translation; I didn't embarrass them!!) and now they come to almost all my shows - WOW -doesn't get any better than that!
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~Banned in Boston!
Last Edited by on Nov 19, 2010 8:23 AM
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bluemoose
393 posts
Nov 19, 2010
9:40 AM
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The guitar player for one of the west coasts best blues bands has been hosting jams at various venues here for many years now. I've been attending through the last 3 moves and he's now got a fairly regular session at the premier blues club in the area.
I've always had lots of support from him as one of the regular jammers.
Recently I had a couple of moments. Came off the stage after a regular 3 song set lead by one of the guitar players and the table of gals over by the front asked if I was going to be playing again. Felt good!
And then a few weeks ago the jam format shifted slightly from an open sign-up jam to a special guest by invite session. Oh well, I thought, I've hauled my amp down here for nothing. But at the first break I got the call over, "hey, wanna play some harp?".
You bet!
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