I never will forget the time I spoke to him for the first time. I called him up and said "Jason Ricci tells me you're not really an asshole in real life. I wanted to verify this."
We actually had a really nice conversation. Same when we met.
---------- David
____________________ At the time of his birth, it was widely accepted that no one man could play that much music so well or raise that much hell. He proved them all wrong. R.I.P. H. Cecil Payne
I only had a little contact with him on line. At a distance I thought he was an ass. But once it was he and I communicating about our dogs and a common friend that went way back for both of us, I realized he was just a very honest, upfront, little bit confrontational human being, like myself. I wish I could have known him better and it's a shame he had such a short time here. I have exchanged a few messages with Zihn about an unrelated thing in the past two days and it is obvious, he is still having a hard time dealing with loosing his mentor and dear friend.
Last Edited by on Dec 17, 2012 3:21 AM
I LOVE the middle finger picture! I think anyone who thought Chris was a complete dick didn't understand Chris. I also think to insinuate that he was the victim of Karma is also very short-sited, and technically an inaccurate use of the word.
Chris was called the Buddha, but wasn't even Buddhist. I think he was into Taoism (may have been a different Eastern religion). I always felt this was very appropriate for how he was perceived, and rather humorous (because of the contradiction, and not because this is a discussion of religion.
Zhin knows Chris's methods inside and out. I know them very well, at least as he used them in the majority of his builds. He taught me some other stuff that I never saw in the two dozen plus Buddha harps I've seen. Isaac studied with him as well as others. It is amazing how much he shared and yet was able to keep secret.
I think he was very innovative in his approach, especially as he tried making everything in house, and he may have been the first largely known customizer who himself was such a technically stunning player - double true as it pertains to overbends.
Personally, what I honor most about Chris was his ability to build capacity in others. He was a phenomenal teacher - I haven't seen anyone match that. I can honestly say that I don't do any custom work the way he did. I go for the same effect in some areas, but have found my own way to do them. He absolutely forced that on me for all the right reasons.
Mike. That sums up a lot. Was Chris a dick? Absolutely. But, yes he was also a very generous person. Was he Buddhist? I'm not sure. I spent a lot of time with the guy as an honored guest in his house. Religion, politics, harmonica, food, dogs, and a myriad other topics. Just a couple of guys talking. His conversational timbre was vastly different from his self-generated and perpetuated online persona. Like I said, I spent a lot of time with him. My take on all of it is that he liked to entertain himself, much of it using other people's reactions. Not necessarily a bad thing.....unless the recipient was overly sensitive, or didn't understand as it was happening and got even more reactive. Could he wad people's panties up just by being inflammatory? Very much so. I don't make an effort to explain nor defend the dude. All I know is that in a very short period of time he became a dear friend and I was sad when he was gone.
There are lots of reasons to challenge others. He often said things that in print looked insensitive or harsh, but in person, they would come out totally different.
At SPAH 2010, he was doing a Filisko teach-in and this beginning player was sitting in. He had no idea who Chris was or any clue of his own abilities. He made a rather harsh comment, and while others here might have expected him to lash out at this guy, Chris calmly illustrated his point with him. The guy still insisted on debating with Chris, and Chris tactfully told him he was moving on.
I honestly think, other than in regards to some customizing topics, he wanted people to simply use some metacognition. That pisses a lot of people off, unfortunately, but he was never really quick to give up on people. He would get snippy, but again, I think a lot of that was lost on people who had never seen him in person.
At SPAH '10 he had family come in from out of town. Those kids - his nieces and nephews - absolutely adored him. You can tell a lot about a man by how he is with children. ---------- Custom Harmonicas
Here is story about Chris...He would often put up examples of his playing and I decided I needed to tell him through e-mail that his music to me seemed lifeless and could he please put something together that would move me. Chris did not get upset that I questioned his emotional playing abilities and told me to go to harmonicaboogie and he'd put up a song that he would hope I liked...He did, and I liked it.
See my previous post. He was not a Buddhist. I am also shocked someone would say his playing was lifeless. His vibrato alone is the most expressive in the biz. His playing is also insanely dynamic. The vid of him doing the teachers jam at Rockin' in the Rockies is just insane.
I can totally see, though, where someone wouldn't "get" what he was trying to do in his playing. For one, he hardly ever played blues. He also liked to share a lot of jam-based music online. I always felt he did that as it was the most impressive thing to share with other harmonica players...but that was just an assumption. ---------- Custom Harmonicas
It was pretty obvious to me that Chris shared a lot of Bruce Lee's philosophies (which were a bunch of others' philosophies and some of his own, haha). I think Bruce Lee probably came off very similar in discussion off screen. I know Chris was familiar with Taoist philosophy and philosophies of Musashi as well. Being a fan of martial arts as well I read a lot of their writings but that in itself doesn't make one Buddhist. He probably called himself Buddha because he believed he was enlightened, in music, and could help others find enlightenment.
I agree with Buzadero, from what I could tell he enjoyed shaking things up but he was very kind whenever asked for help. I emailed back and forth with him for at least a year in which he shared lots of harmonica info, philosophy, etc with me without charging a penny. He helped me feel comfortable at my first SPAH. The Buddha Harp I have is a damn good custom harmonica. All the music he recorded I enjoyed listening to & even recorded the non available stuff. I can't believe it's been 2 years, time flies. I really wanted to get involved in more lessons with him... I agree with Mike, the subtleties alone in his playing could floor me, let alone the emotion. I remember at SPAH I was sitting with him & he was tweaking Tuckster's custom harp, we were in transition to go to dinner or something and he started whistling something. Then he pulled out his own harmonica and starting playing what he was whistling and to him he was probably just screwing around but to my ears it was very pretty moving playing.
"Was he Buddhist? At one point he said he was not, he just called himself that because he was fat."
sorry to be obtuse... my point, he was willing to be honest and make a joke at his own expense, the bluntness was not meant to hurt other people more than himself. seemed deep at the time.
WOW. I have been gone for a LONG time. People who remember me from this forum know that I not only stood up for Chris's brashness, but also butted heads with him. This is surreal to log back on here after being gone for over a year and finding him passed on. I don't know what else to say...
Yo! #Preston. Good to hear from you again. How could we forget Preston? One of the "old School". We were in the same grade in the early days of MBH. Hope things are working out for you.
I was the person whose argument with Chris got him banned from the forum the day before he passed away. As soon as Adam locked the thread and banned Chris, I sent both of them e-mails apologising for my behaviour and asking Adam to re-instate Chris. I got a reply from Adam but I think I was too late in sending my e-mail to Chris and I have often pondered what reply he would have sent. It's funny because just a few weeks earlier Chris had been so helpful in giving me advice as to how to refurnish an old harp I had. He really knew what buttons to press though to get a certain type of person riled i.e me. So Chris did teach me one thing and that is anything said on forums is not worth getting wound up about to lose your cool. I will never get drawn into a pointless argument again.
He came across as a fully paid up asshole on the forum sometimes but as many people here have said , at the end of the day he was a good guy and we here on the forum are a little worse off without him.
I hope he's winding up a few real Buddhas in Nirvana right now.
---------- Oisin
Last Edited by on Dec 19, 2012 4:04 AM
I found Chris to be arrogant and annoying, but I respected his talent and his opinions. I miss reading his often valuable posts.
On a side note, where is the initiator of this thread, Diggsblues? I haven't noticed him around for a while. Does he still come around now and then?
Last Edited by on Dec 19, 2012 4:29 AM
When I 1st joined here it was a time when Chris giving some people hard times,And I was so nervouse he would rag me,for my atttempts,I think I might have even said I wasnt interested in any opions I was going to do what I do regardless,Something like, that,
Then after awhile I started noticing he was a nice guy he just had this way about messing around online.
And I started wishing I hadnt said anything about not giving me some tips,Cause i think Everyone took it that way.And im allways open to some advise,I was just scared he would rip me a new one;-)
then one day he was gone,And I wished maybe he would of riped me a new one,R.I.P Chris ---------- Hobostubs
Last Edited by on Dec 19, 2012 11:15 AM
WestVirginiaTom, Diggs seemed to have a falling out with Adam. I don't know the details. I do miss his posts. Back in the bad old days when there was a dust up he'd find something beautiful to play and post it. A few times it was all that kept me from going to bed at noon and calling it a day. He's not banned or anything.
Preston, I was looking over old posts the other day, including my first post ever. I miss a lot of the people from back then. :)
Diggs had issues with some of the reoccurring themes on the board, made that public, and then left the forum.
I don't believe Chris gave himself the nickname, but maybe I am wrong?
We've lost a few forum members out of similar frustrations to Diggs, although not all of them made a scene before leaving - they just stopped posting. IMO, Chris's roll here was that of enforcer. When he passed, it allowed for some Ego's to come out that wouldn't have had otherwise. It also put some people in check or kept them grounded.
He played bad cop because he felt he had to. It essentially kept others from blowing up as he generally pointed out obvious inconsistencies.
One thing that won't be his legacy, or that of a few others, is how they impacted conversations around the harmonica. Ten years ago, people would threaten John Popper's life if he was brought up online. There was next to NO discussion around modern blues or non-blues harmonica music. There was little discussion around musicality. Opinions were even more closed-minded towards what it took to be good at the harmonica.
He was an enormous influence on the "next" generation of harmonica players whether he did so directly or not. ---------- Custom Harmonicas
Diggs got his feelings hurt,so he took his ball and went home. Your giving Chris way to much credit with the enforcer tag he had the biggest ego on the forum. he was much nicer to deal with one on one.
Last Edited by on Dec 19, 2012 2:18 PM
"Diggs got his feelings hurt,so he took his ball and went home" (shaef).
This is a highly inaccurate statement.
I've known Diggs for years, I just hung out with him the other night as he gave a free workshop to all harmonica players in Philly and followed that up with blowing everyone away with his playing. Most of all the heroes of people on this forum wouldn't tell you how buy a harmonica from a shop without charging you let alone teach you hard earned knowledge from Howard Levy, Cham-Ber Huang, and Robert Bonfiglio. I've taken lessons with tons of players and believe me he is one of the best in the world & definitely the best in & around Philly. He did not get his feelings hurt, nor if he did would he take his ball and go home.
I'm less surprised that he decided to remove himself from constant posting & sharing and more surprised at the people who continue to constantly share good music and give free information & hard earned knowledge while they continue to receive the cold shoulder & are taken for granted.
No, I am not. He spent a large part of his posting trying to put people in what he perceived to be their place. I am not judging the value of that or if he was successful or not, but he felt it important to call people out on stuff.
I would, though, argue that there are a few personalities around now that he would have gotten him booted as he would have loathed them. Again, not an assessment of that being right or wrong.
Chris definitely had a "dark side" to his personality. If he did not get the respect he felt he was due from an individual, he did lash out.
There are a few behind the scenes incidents with me that had to do with these types of situations, even including his Harmonica Summit, SPAH, Winslow's Gang of Diatonic Players and, curiously enough, World Harmonica Championships (he never entered, but had told me I never would have won had he also competed - kinda unreal dialogue).
Definitely a mixed bag, that Chris.... ---------- The Iceman
"Your giving Chris way to much credit with the enforcer tag he had the biggest ego on the forum."
"No, I am not."
I meant I am not giving him too much credit. He acted like an enforcer here...that doesn't mean he should've or had the right too...IMO, though, it kept some other personalities from lashing out.