Welcome To The Blues, My Son!

I'm Mike and I'm a wannabe. I first fell in love with sound of the blues harp when, chemically altered, I stumble/wandered into The White House in Laguna Beach Ca. in 1981. I'd been following a sound for several blocks. A sonic wailing that was reverberating through the night and seemed to encompass simultaneously, pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow, hope and despair, love and hate. I felt this on an intuitive level more than an intellectual one. I was twenty-two and the Truth that my hormone ravaged mind grasped onto was this: Anybody who can recreate this sound can get laid whenever he wants. Strong stuff indeed.

For the next three hours I did an uber-pathetic version of The White Boy Dance amidst other sweaty undulating forms as The James Harman Band introduced me to The Blues. The next day I bought a Hohner Marine Band and my journey began. It ended two days later when I realized that there was work involved. The Sound was elusive.

Fast-forward twenty-five years: I'm at a birthday party where Chuck E. Weiss and the Goddam Liars are playing. Jimmie Wood (Imperial Crowns, Jim Belushi and the Sacred Hearts) joins on harp for a couple of numbers and a neural pathway is created that takes me back to The White House and that sweaty night. The next day I order a Lee Oskar C harp and my journey began anew. When it arrives three days later I'm instantly reminded that, oh yeah, this is hard. Regardless, I'm going to do it this time. I'm a young man no more and my interest in getting laid is, uh, less consuming, so I've got the time, the focus and the energy to see this through. Welcome to The Blues!