Blues purism



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I come from an operatic and classical background. Both of my parents =
sang opera professionally in New York back in the thirties, and then =
went overseas to sing for the troops in post-war Japan and Okinawa. I =
was PUMPED with the classics as a youth. To be honest, I can't say I =
enjoyed ANY opera (I likened it to "showing off"), but did like Bach, =
Brahms, Beethoven, Grieg, Bizet, and Berlioz, amongst others.=20
My grandma bought me a ukelele when I was about ten, and I learned to =
play "I'm Mr. Blue,,,ooowaooowaoooo,,," pretty well.=20
When I first heard the theme to "Peter Gunn" I fell in love with the =
string bass, but was too small at that point, so I took cello lessons =
for the next four years or so. I joined the Peter Meremblum Jr. =
Symphony, on the suggestion of my cello teacher, Mrs. Rita Tas, and =
old-country (European) teacher who thought I'd be thrilled to death if =
when I did well, she rewarded me with 3x5 cards of famous composers. =
Sorry Mrs. Tas,,it was too late, I'd already heard "El Watusi", by Ray =
Baretto, "Finger Poppin' Time" by Hank Ballard, "Function at the =
Junction" by Shorty Long, and other such radio classics "with a beat". I =
took every opportunity to try to play my cello like a jazz bass, doing =
the "Peter Gunn" theme to people's amusement and surprise.

Then, along came the Stones, the Beatles, John Mayall and the =
Bluesbreakers, Canned Heat, etc...

I picked up the guitar and the harmonica, and headed for Santa Monica =
Beach. In my crowd of odd and unusual friends, I WAS the entertainment. =
That was 1968, more or less. I went through so many Marine Bands, =
learned not to soak'em unless I wanted sore lips, tried cutting off the =
swollen wood, finding out what a mistake that was once the comb shrunk =
back to size, and learned to take'm apart with a pocket knife to gently =
fix and adjust a stuck reed. (I'm thinkin' I really should learn the =
whole nine-yards of harmonica repair soon, since I'm a kind of fix-it =
guy by nature, and it may help bring in some extra dough in my recent =
"retirement" phase.)

I also spent a couple of years attending Cal-State Northridge, where I'd =
play harp or guitar between classes on campus, and go to listen to their =
vinyl collection of the old blues harp masters when I could. I got =
pretty good, and even was invited to audition for a record company =
downtown LA, but that never panned out, since I tried getting sincerely =
high on the bus on the way there, and only made myself extremely nervous =
and paranoid, to the point of semi-paralysis, when I was finally asked =
to play. Screw drugs. Real life is better.

Then I joined a cult. They did a sweep of Santa Monica Beach one day, =
and I got caught up in a religious and spiritual oddyssey which lasted =
for many years. During that time, music became a "tool of the devil" to =
me, apart from traditional or modern-style hymn singing.

It's only been in recent years that I've returned to my "roots" in =
music. You just can't escape what you've been raised with, what's just a =
part of you.=20

I have to thank the harp-l co-ordinators and posters for helping me to =
improve my chops on blues harp, helping me to develop my embuchoure =
(sp?), expand my air passage, and learn to use diaphragm vibrato to =
beneficially effect my playing. I've been onstage a bit here and there, =
and never had any complaints. It even sounds good to me,,hehe,,

But, ahem,,

Why is there the tendency to disallow anything but "pure blues", =
whatever that is defined as? This ain't the Nazi party, dammit.

Okay,,that was rather undiplomatic,,

But heck,,that's what I mean. I can't help but love good music. I've =
even learned to enjoy hearing a great aria sung by some guy in Italian, =
or French, even if it IS kinda like "showing off",,hehe,,  I actually =
like hearing well-performed music of every type, as long as it hasn't =
had the life packaged and "produced" right out of it.

I love the blues. I love all kinds of blues. Tell the truth, I even see =
opera as a form of blues, if you can see it that way. Some guy pouring =
out his heart to sing "Vesti la Giubba", from "Pagliacci" sure sounds =
like blues to me. His pain is my pain, brudda.

Getting back to "harp content",,,

Thanks again, to all the posters to harp-l, AND to the wonderful and =
generous people that enable this board to exist.=20

Bob Laughlin

p.s.,,

I promise I won't post any more personal crap in the near future. It's =
late.








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