Rick Estrin DVD Review

Harp great Rick Estrin (Rick Estrin & The Nightcats) has come out with a harp tutorial DVD called "Rick Estrin Reveals Secrets, Subtleties and Tricks of the Blues Harmonica". I think I just broke the world record for most "Rick Estrins" in one sentence. Regardless, Rick comes right out and states that this is not a typical "how to play the harp" video. It's more a graduate course on how to take what you've learned and fit it into a musical mosaic. Think of a race car driver who can turn fast laps in practice and now needs to learn how to drive in traffic. At that it's brilliant. It's also got the best explanation, with examples, of playing on, behind and ahead of the beat that I've ever heard. By best I mean the only one that I've been able to understand. For the theoretical sonic landscape opened up with that little bit of knowledge alone it is well worth the price of $29.99. The same lick or run played behind the beat has a completely different feel than when it is played on the beat. When you mix it up during the course of a song by playing behind, on and ahead of the beat at various points (what Rick calls "messing with the time") you have an aural feast. By "messing with the time" you go from playing just licks to, again as Rick says, "telling a story". When I practice regularly I would categorize myself, generously, as an intermediate player, so my opinion has limited value. But I couldn't possibly rate this DVD any more highly than I do. On a scale of 1-5 Sonny Boys, 5 being best, I give it a 5 plus. Like Rick says, "This is some important shit".

MF's Rule #1: On The Subject of Ladies of Low Moral Fiber

I’m going to periodically be posting something I’m calling “MF’s Rules for Living a More Fully Actualized Existence”. Not because it will be helpful to anyone but because I like to spew pseudo-wisdom. Rule #1: Avoid Ladies Of Ill-Repute. I knew a guy in the service who went UA from Okinawa to chase down a stress relief professional that he'd fallen in love with in South Korea. She'd gotten tipped off through the kimchi telegraph that he was a comin' and was able to avoid him by moving from camp to camp, one step ahead of him. The MPs caught up to him after two weeks of unsuccessful stalking and sent him back to the Rock where he lost a stripe and did two weeks in Correctional Custody, which is kind of like Brig Lite. As soon as he got out he made a mad dash back to Seoul to find his roving honey-wa. Last I heard he was in the Brig stateside awaiting the "Big Chicken Dinner", or Bad Conduct Discharge. This was a smart, well liked, level headed guy who threw it all away over a purveyor of pleasure. I think there's a blues song in there somewhere. Regardless, adhere to the Righteous Path and only date girls that your mother would approve of! It's too late for most of the rest of us.

Anybody Here Packin' Heat?

I've been reading Moanin' At Midnight, the biography of Howlin' Wolf. I'll probably write a short review when I've finished but this couldn't wait. One of Wolf's drummers, the legendary Sam Lay (who quit Wolf to join Paul Butterfield) packed a piece at gigs for a short time in 1961 to ward off jealous boyfriends and husbands of the wimmins that members of the band were defiling. Well, during a show in Chicago Lay, in the midst of a frenetic percussive outburst, inadvertently shot off one of his testicles. Unless he had the Roscoe jammed into the elastic band of his Fruit-of-the-Looms I'm not sure how this could happen. And this coming over 100 years after Jedediah Holster invented the carrying device that saved thousands of cowboys from blasting their packages off whilst roaming the range. Anyway, I haven't done the research but I feel confident declaring that Sam Lay is the only musician to ever shoot his junk off while performing.

Addendum: I've confirmed that this incident took place in 1966 and not 1961 as implied in the book (or as improperly inferred by me). Also, someone who claims to know Lay says that he (Lay) denies blowing off a rock. He says that the bullet hit him in the thigh. Without medical records or visual evidence to the contrary I will assume that the authors and editors vetted this piece of information before publication.