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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
NYE gig and cold
NYE gig and cold
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LittleJoeSamson
456 posts
Jan 01, 2011
12:42 PM
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Mixed feelings concerning last night. First, I felt a slight throat tingle, and so picked up some sugar ginger. Boy, does that help. I don't know if I would have been able to front for the entire four hours and close to 30 songs. It also provided for an interesting range and tonal phrasings. I was able to do some of those growly Howlin' Wolf stylings without difficulty.
The venue owner is a total flake. He calls up around noon saying to bring a PA. The place HAS it's own PA already set up. I inquire, and he has a small room in back that he wants to have "singer/songwriters" to also perform. Well enough...out of the way of the band playing, but he should have made his own arrangements for that.
OK, I call up the bass player, and he has a basic PA system that he agrees to drag along.
We get set up, and it appears to be a rather light audience. It did seem to be the case all over town, though, at other places. So many of the Cal Poly students go home over the holidays that would otherwise attend.
Well, we get going, and what I like is the mix and the dynamics. We hit a groove about at the third song and it just took off from there. Even tho it was a fairly light crowd, the dance floor was packed. Had some swing dancers, and they could really strut their stuff !
Then, we did a version of "Five Long Years" that I really wish had been recorded. It was one of those magical moments where everything worked. I sincerely believe that it to be the best performance I have heard in my memory...better than Clapton, right up there with Kim Wilson, alot better than Buddy Guy. I won't compare to Eddie Boyd, as the instrumentation is so different. i did some of my tricks, and the guitar player ( the superb Gary Drysdale ) turned to me at song's end, and said, "Man, I was looking around for the B-3 !
We decided to do the Denver version of Auld Lang Syne at 11:00, as the audience satrted thinning out. I had our sax man do it as a solo on Soprano. Very tasty ! Then, we did the longer version of "Minnie the Moocher", that impressed everyone... with me hamming it up ala Cab Calloway with the crazy scatting.
Had some musician friends stop in late that i haven't seen in about two years. They were taken with my rig and sound....how the harmonica was certainly loud enough to cut thru the mix, but that the tone was incredible. They mentioned many of the common complaints that other musicians often remark about harp : too loud, too much high pitched squealing, dentist drill feedback. These are session players mainly, and they asked for my info for when they next record.
We'll se if there are dividends down the road. The major domo of the local Blues society was there, and we talked some. She remarked of the extent of my Blues repertoire. I replied that I had many more, over 150 songs.
One of the things I know is that, for their dances, they have opening bands that don't exactly fir the Blues genre. They're popular bads, for sure; but they play more party songs, rock covers, and Zappa-esque low funk.
Good...just not Blues.
Today, I've got to rest. Maybe watch some football and nurse this cold.
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NiteCrawler .
75 posts
Jan 01, 2011
12:57 PM
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Sounds like a great nite for you,glad you got through it with the cold,I played yrs back with a 103 temp,sore throat and all that jazz,its a bitch when you,ve gotta perform under the weather,but when it goes off well its a god-send.Luckily the place had given us a motel room that was attached to the venue and I got to lay down between sets.BTW, what rig were you playing through?
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LittleJoeSamson
458 posts
Jan 01, 2011
1:23 PM
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Hey NC. I set up my Blackheart Handsome Devil PB off to the side just to the left of the drummer that was in the corner. I faced it sideways. I used the Roland Micro as amodeling amp for effects and patched that into the BH. Set it on the Blackface mode, tone @ 9:00, mid level delay. Used the cheap karaoke mic, then miced the cab to the PA. Had the floor monitor right in front of me.
I did a recording session once where I had an awful case of the flu. I thought I was totally out of it, but the other players felt I was being tasteful and inventive and complimented the final product.
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