Thursday, March 1, 2012

Fake Blood...and Blowin' Up A Storm with Attitude

I'm holding a loaded Mouth Organ, Mister

The Hat has been contemplating mortality again and what a constant surprise it is to discover you are no longer young, pretty and indestructible – or even pretty indestructible. Long periods on the dance floor or in front of the mirror are no longer an option. Even if you have not reached the Elasticated Trouser Watershed, I can offer you some help and advice. Forget the totally daft sponsored half-marathon, abseiling down the front of a Tall Building or giving up eating enjoyable food. This is the time when the Hat heartily recommends P.J.O'Rourke's book 'Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence and a Bad Haircut' for reassurance. He doesn't have the answers but, trust me, you will walk straight once more, regain hope and you will lose years laughing. So. I say to all those pretty and talented young blues guns out there, male and female, with the world at your feet and an ability to sing and play gigs till the sun rises - it ain't over till The Hat says so.....

The guitarist and song-writer Oli Brown is just 22. It is not for me to observe whether he is pretty and indestructible or not but he does have a stack of Blues Awards and is just about to put out his third album. He is clearly a substantial talent with a long career ahead of him. There are a good few others jostling at his shoulder. Noticing that it is the week of his 68th birthday, I am reminded that when he was also just 22, Roger Daltry from The Who was singing about My Generation and hoping that he would die before he got old. Well, it would seem that didn't work out according to plan and despite some colourful incidents with Keith Moon and Pete Townshend over many decades, thankfully, he has yet to f-f-f-fade away. Where would the world famous CSI band be without our Roger fronting them every week? O'Rourke and The Hat like that. Big Lungs, Attitude and Longevity

Although mainly known as a singer and frontman, Daltry is an accomplished blues harp player. Indeed, there are plenty of harp bandsman who have to thank him and Paul Jones amongst others for bringing the instrument into the British popular music front line and making it cool all those years ago. Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Rice Miller and Howlin' Wolf's performances and recordings had taken the harmonica around the world to blues afficiondos and the baton was picked up and taken to a wider audience by the likes of Charley Musselwhite, Sugar Blue, Junior Wells, Paul Butterfield and Southside Johnny and many other cross-over bands. Soon it was everywhere. Superstar Mickey Mouse played one and Some Guy in Space had a blast to Nasa. However, even though it is the world's most popular instrument, dating back to the 1800s – way ahead of the guitar or drums - it is spectacularly under-rated. You only have to listen to Paul Jones slipping occasionally into nerd mode about bullet mics, cross harps, chenggongs and straight major diatonics on his radio show to realise how seriously it is taken by blues artists.

Hopefully, Times Are Changing. These days, many modern bluesmen automatically include the harmonica in their sets and specialist harp workshops sell out regularly. Well travelled bluesman and harpist Eddie Martin tells The Hat that some corporates are now even using his workshops as a management training tool. I'm pretty sure you don't have to wear a tie but The Hat likes the image of rows of expensive suits blowin' up a storm. Whatever happened to log-rolling and paintball bonding? I'll leave you to check on YouTube and work out what the suited Larry Adler and his show-stopping Rhapsody in Blue would have made of that...

There are plenty of famous harmonica film moments of course, often accompanied by the click of a gun chamber, Men in Hats and a lot of Fake Blood. Thank you Morrricone and Tarantino. But forget the pretend stuff. There is nothing quite like standing in the front of a live gig and watching the real thing. Of the many electric off-the-wall moments at last year's Hebden Bridge Blues Festival, the appearances in the Marquee in The Park of Gerry Jablonski's Electric Blues Band and The Revelator Band were amongst the hottest. Is it so surprising that both had dynamic harp playing Musicians with Attitude standing centre-stage at the front of a distinguished line that reaches back to that porch in the deep South and beyond? Gerry can't join the party this year, but by popular demand the Revelator men are coming back in June. You don't have to be dressed up or even young and pretty. Just come along and blow up a storm.

Pip Pip!
The Man in The Hat