King of Swing grand finale!
Just to say a big good luck to the three "King of Swing" finalists performing at this year's blowout- George, Steve and Steven- Have a great time and blow blow blow!
Hey - congratulations to all three and especially the "fan favourite' Steven Troch. I can hardly wait to see the video. It must have been a magical night for George Bisharat, Steven Troch and Steve Molitor. Great stuff guys!!
What a night to remember, I bet!
Looking forward to the videos.
I'd like to share my impressions about the harmonica blow out. I want to thank David so much for giving us this opportunity. It was inspiring. I feel really grateful and lucky for the opportunity, especially as there were many other fine submissions in the competition, equally deserving.
I immensely enjoyed playing with such a fantastic band. June Core is such a sensitive drummer. He picked up on every dynamic change I did instantly. I've never encountered anything like that before. Charlie Baty and RW are amazing of course. I absorbed a lot sitting back stage with the musicians and legendary harp players. Everyone encouraged us. Charlie and David both gave me good advice about feeling the tempo with your body before counting off. You don't want to pick a tempo that's too fast. I enjoyed chatting with Charlie about classical music also. It turns out we're both Fritz Kreisler fans. Curtis Salgado was especially encouraging and supportive - a great guy. I was blown away by his singing and harp playing. It was a revelation.
At the rehearsal, my ending wasn't working with the band. As a suggestion Curtis hummed a simple and effective ending. I used that and it worked fine. Curtis could tell I was a little nervous about performing and told me "don't worry about the audience. They want you to do good." And he was right. The audience was very supportive of our efforts. Many folks came up to us afterwards and congratulated us. I knew Little Walter's nephew was in the audience, but I was blown away when a man came up to me afterwards and said "Hi, I'm Little Walter's nephew, and I really enjoyed your playing." And a pretty woman asked for my autograph. Can't beat that!
George and Steven were wonderful. I really enjoyed their performances. I felt a real camaraderie with them. Steven and I stayed in the same hotel and talked about our love for this wonderful music after the show. Love for the music really crosses races, borders and nationalities. Congratulations Steven!
The entire experience was wonderful, and inspires me to keep on blowing and practicing hard! Again, thanks to David for giving us this opportunity.
Steve
Sorry I missed it. I was there that night but had tickets only for the first show. Yoshi's will let first-show audience members stay for the second show if there's room, but the line for the second show was around the block! - Major house for the Blowout and for you finalists!
Spent a little time talking to David before the first show; he was excited about giving this opportunity to the finalists. Spent some time backstage between shows - Charlie genial as always, hanging with a teenage player he's mentoring, Billy Boy humble and self-effacing. Curtis was open about sharing how he does that super long blow not (circular breathing). Billy, Charlie Baty, and Rusty all great to talk with; didn't have an opportunity to interact with Mark or Sugar Ray.
But still, I didn't get to hear the finalists. Hope it was fun and fulifilling; looking forward to the video.
Hey Steve - thanks for the write up. I was thrilled by the quality of performances as per David's video of the rehearsal and can hardly wait to see the performances. It us great to hear you personal impressions of the experience. Judging from what I heard on the site and int he video, I'm sure it won't be your last performance!! Congratulations again.
Congrats guys and thanks Steve for your report. Nice work, i almost feel i was there!
(edit): and wow, i just saw the videos...fantastic!
Yes, good luck to everyone - should be a great event!