[Harp-L] Re: New Era of SPAH conventions

[Michael Easton <diachrome@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Right Mick,
It's not that we are looking to move it to the East Coast but we  
players and SPAH members would like to
have a crack at it once every 10 years or so.

We are talking about a lot of players up an down the East Coast of the  
US.
New England and the Mid Atlantic states  has a high concentration of  
players
likely because we have a high concentration of population and places  
to play.

We aren't divided by canyons, amber waves of grain, deserts or plains.

We shouldn't be ignored but In the end it's the clubs in our region  
that need to step up to the plate.
SPAH can't force them to host an event beyond their own. We need to  
become members of these clubs and
help promote a larger sense of community within the clubs. A voice  
within the clubs may speak louder then a voice outside.

The internet is making us a connected  community.  There are 2 new  
clubs that formed
in Philly and Northern Md. in the past year or 2.   I wouldn't have  
known about them if it weren't for the emails they've sent
to me.  They may not have the festival  experience or numbers yet to
host a big event.  Maybe they can network with the older clubs to  
provide volunteers. The experience will help them
when they decide to make the leap at hosting conventions.

  I'm thinking about joining the Md. club since it is only a little  
over an hour drive south from here.
The Philly club is 2 hours east.

It might take baby steps to bring SPAH here  but the ball is in our  
court to make it so.

Mike


On Jul 25, 2009, at 1:10 PM, harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Message: 8
> Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:14:37 -0500
> From: Mick Zaklan <mzaklan@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Harp-L] Re: New Era of SPAH conventions
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Message-ID:
> 	<88bfaf130907250914w77b06254hcd31f322834aca41@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
>   I figured the placement of the SPAH convention outside of the  
> Midwest
> would definitely open a can of worms and apparently it has.  As a
> Midwesterner; I can't complain because, with the exception of the  
> Dallas
> convention, I've always been between 2-6 hours by car away from a SPAH
> convention.  It usually only costs me a tank or two of gasoline to  
> arrive
> and depart from the location.
>   I'm looking forward to seeing a bunch of new players that haven't
> attended the convention before because of distance.  In theory, I'm  
> guessing
> that we'll even see a few more players from Japan and China this  
> year.  I
> would expect that if a convention was held on the East Coast, we  
> would see a
> few more European players.  I understand the logic of a Midwest  
> location,
> but maybe it's time to truly take the convention on the road and  
> draw from a
> different pool of players and spectators.  Concentrating on the "A"  
> in SPAH
> as opposed to just the "P".  A future convention on the East Coast,  
> down
> South, New Orleans, or even in Canada wouldn't bother me in the  
> least.  We
> Midwesterners have had a monopoly on this thing long enough.
>
> Mick Zaklan

Michael Easton
www.harmonicarepair.com