Danny G's 2008 Harmonica Lovers Family Reunion

[Danny G]

We cooked 75 pounds of chicken and 125 pounds of sausage and went through nearly 800 cans of beer.
People brought covered dishes from as far away as "Bootiful Pennsylvania"
Ingo (The Viking King"who's idea of roughing it is "no room service) and his wife Sandra came down from the Great White North.
Doris Gumble ("Moe") traded in her $2 raffle ticket and went home with a new SCT 128 Tremolo Harmonica donated by Suzuki.
We're hoping that Suzuki can spare Os Leguizama for a few days this year.
Marv Monroe was in such a hurry to get here that Smokey the Bear gave him a "Fast Driving Award".

We had a great time at the campground last year,we counted over 200 people.
Unfortunately, my purchasing the park isn't going as planned and is tied up in court.
This year were taking what's becoming a Harmonica Lovers Family Reunion and moving it back to my house.
I've reserved a 30' x 50' tent from Beloit Fire and Rescue for the weekend starting Friday July 11th.

This years guests will include singer, guitar player and composer "Grizzly" (Dave) Warner, a friend who doesn't play harmonica but recently performed at the seasons opening festival at Nelson Ledges. Wally and Val Peterman. We have talked with a couple well know blues players this year, but no confirmations yet.

I'd like to attract more diatonic players to the party.
I'm going to give my Astatic model JT-30 microphone to the short harp player the audience votes as their favorite.

We have room for a bunch of tent campers.
(email me if you'd like to camp out so I can keep track and limit space if necessary)

To those of you who have been regulars, Linette and I hope you can make it again this year.
To everyone else, you're invited. No admission. Bring a lawn chair. Covered dishes welcome but not required.

Friday July 11th and Saturday July 12th (we'll run you off if you stay past Tuesday)

21746 North Benton West Road
North Benton, Ohio

DannyG@AllianceLink.com

[A.J.Fedor]

Funny you mentioned that! Louie and I were just talking about a cool ride on our bikes.

Barbara and I will be there with bells on. (Lord willing)  My son Louie (not a harmonica player - just bass and drums) wants to come again and Gabe (really bad (as in awful) harmonica player, but great lead and bass guitar guy, videographer and website builder) should be there too. So that should make at least three extra motorcycles in your yard 

Age

[Chuck F]

Danny,

If at all possible, I would like to attend your Harmonica Reunion this year.  Using map Quest, I noticed it is 578 miles from my house to yours, so I won't be pulling the fifth wheel at today's gas prices.  I could only find one motel in North Benton ( Elm Motel).  Can you provide a list of motels within a reasonable driving distance from your house along with their phone numbers?  I would really appreciate it.

chuck

[Danny G]

Chuck:
I don't really have parking for motorhomes or campers. Maybe a couple of pop ups.
There are motels and hotels in Alliance (7 miles south of my place)
There are motels to the North in Streetsborro (where Ingo stayed last year) and maybe Ravenna (closer)
There are motels to the East of us in Canfield.
I'll do a little research and post a list.
Danny

[Ingo]

Chuck:
I don't really have parking for motorhomes or campers. Maybe a couple of pop ups.
There are motels and hotels in Alliance (7 miles south of my place)
There are motels to the North in Streetsborro (where Ingo stayed last year) and maybe Ravenna (closer)
There are motels to the East of us in Canfield.
I'll do a little research and post a list.
Danny

Ahhh, Danny's and Linette's Picnic. A MUST do as far as I'm concerned. Somebody brought a big basket of yellow banana peppers last year. I fancy myself an expert on these things and pronounced that they were 'sweet' banana peppers. Weeeeel. there may have been one or two sweet peppers in that huge basket and with my unerring luck I picked one of those for testing. There were a lot of burning tongues and running eyes, not the least me, but they all got eaten (mostly by me I think) 
Us northerners (such word?), we have such a great time in the deep south
meeting old friends and new friends.
It's Sandra's idea of slow room service being 'rouhing it'. not moi. I can sleep on a plank with just a mosquito net over me and be comfy, but heck I do like comfort as well which we had in Streetsboro...just be careful with smokey. Almost got a fast driving award as well as Marv Monroe did. The trooper was kind enough to let me off with a warning when he saw that 'furrin' license plate. I was really flying because I took the wrong turn and was afraid they would roll up the sidewalks in Streetsboro before we got back. Hey Streetsboro is about 15+ miles, but a very nice and modern place with a very good selection of motels and resrtaurants. They get my vote anyway.
Already looking forward to going, I am!

Ingo

[billy d simon]

Always enjoyable, Dan and Linette's party.

Their families are a big asset as well. This family are great

hosts and will make you fill welcomed. Looking forward to what will

be a fun time.

Billy D Simon

[Atsuko]

.......... from as far away as "Bootiful Pennsylvania"

We have room for a bunch of tent campers.
(email me if you'd like to camp out so I can keep track and limit space if necessary)

DannyG@AllianceLink.com

Hi Danny,

It's so nice of you and your family to throw this wonderful picnic party again. I would love to come to see all of those nice people only if I can find someone to do carpooling with me from "Bootiful Pennsylvania" 

Although Yahoo map says 6 hours, I have no idea why it took me over 9 hours last year with 90mph (   ) driving in some sections.

I'm also very tempting to put up my tiny tent to enjoy Ohio night air.  I'll start looking for carpool companions soon.

Atsuko

[George Miklas]

Danny,

July 11 and 12 eh?  Do you have space for a travel trailer?

George

[Scotty]

Always enjoyable, Dan and Linette's party.

Their families are a big asset as well. This family are great

hosts and will make you fill welcomed. Looking forward to what will

be a fun time.

Billy D Simon

  ...is the "fill welcomed" a direct reference to how much food Danny and Linnette provide... or a freudian slip? 

good one.

Elizabeth (a/k/a Scotty)

[billy d simon]

No, just an early AM post without being completely
aware of my poor spelling. But who knows.
Billy D Simon

[Scotty]

No, just an early AM post without being completely
aware of my poor spelling. But who knows.
Billy D Simon

LOL...an honest man.  You could have dissembled.  I was basing it on this quote of Danny's: 

"We cooked 75 pounds of chicken and 125 pounds of sausage and went through nearly 800 cans of beer.
People brought covered dishes from as far away as "Bootiful Pennsylvania"

...and was so sure you were being 'punny'.

Elizabeth (a/k/a Scotty)

[Atsuko]

No, just an early AM post without being completely
aware of my poor spelling. But who knows.
Billy D Simon

LOL...an honest man.  You could have dissembled.  I was basing it on this quote of Danny's: 

"We cooked 75 pounds of chicken and 125 pounds of sausage and went through nearly 800 cans of beer.
People brought covered dishes from as far away as "Bootiful Pennsylvania"

...and was so sure you were being 'punny'.

Elizabeth (a/k/a Scotty)

Hi Scotty,

I've been living in this "Bootiful Pennsylvania" for the last 1&1/2 years. This space, I feel, was created just for me and nobody else is living on it.    In other words, I feel I'm the owner of this wonderful, pretty, gorgeous space of "Bootiful Pennsylvania"   

Atsuko

[Danny G]

George:
 We have a little over 5 acres, I have enough room for tent camping and a few pop-ups, I'll have a couple very clean porta potties available. I'll make room for you.

Atsuko:
I've been in touch with Sue Smith. She said she's going to try to make it.

Elizabeth:
We'd love to see you make it too.

Billy D:
Please bring the keyboard you bought after last years party. Sue also said she'd be happy to do some accompanying for people who would like that.

We're looking forward to seeing all of you again. I'll make a special effort to disguise the hot peppers.
Linette came up with this AWSOME recipe for Carolina pulled pork. It will be on the menu.

Age
I'm planning on new gravel in the driveway soon. it should be pretty well packed by July but you guys be careful on those motorcycles.

Thanks for all of the nice comments.

[George Miklas]

George:
 We have a little over 5 acres, I have enough room for tent camping and a few pop-ups, I'll have a couple very clean porta potties available. I'll make room for you.

Danny,

I'll talk to my wife about adding the Harmonica Lovers Family Reunion to the front end of a 14-day trip we have planned (13-27).

George

[Atsuko]

Atsuko:
I've been in touch with Sue Smith. She said she's going to try to make it.

Thanks Danny. Yes, Sue told me about the possibility of putting her tent up besides me at the picnic if we can make it.

One of my favorite GSHF buddies ( Guess who??  ) said that he might be able to carpool with me providing that his football coaching schedule (now you know who  ) works out with the picnic dates. I'll decide after I hear from him sometime In June.

By the way, is my favorite base player, Al Data, coming again? I was late last year and missed to say hello to him.

Atsuko

[billy d simon]

Blngo and ingo.

billy d simon

[ElkRiverHarmonicas]

Where is that anyway? It might not be that far from me in WV, but I'm not sure what it's close to. I don't know a lot of places in Ohio, I'm mostly familiar with domestic geography.

[Danny G]

Dave:
take 77 North to Rt 62 East (Canton, Ohio)
follow 62 East till it dead ends (Alliance, Ohio)
turn left on Rt 183 North
in about 4 miles you'll come to Lowe Road.
Turn Right on Lowe.
The next road is North Benton West Road
I'm 2 1/2 miles on the North side of the road.
Look for the baloons on the mailbox, or listen for the sounds of harmonicas.
It's about 140 miles from Parkersburg.

[Scotty]

Hi Scotty,

I've been living in this "Bootiful Pennsylvania" for the last 1&1/2 years. This space, I feel, was created just for me and nobody else is living on it.    In other words, I feel I'm the owner of this wonderful, pretty, gorgeous space of "Bootiful Pennsylvania"   

Atsuko

[/quote]
I LOVE this post of yours, Atsuko....and think you're quite right.  Lovely Pennsylvania WAS created just for you  What a great attitude you have ...about everything.  I had such fun hanging with you at GSHC...just wish you could have stayed longer.  Next time, perhaps?  And we'll play our Super 64's together, lol..and confound all the experts

I have just too many close friends/family's upcoming babies/wedding/celebrations to be able to travel much in the near future...and will probably have to forego Danny & Linnette's party

Maybe next year...

I haven't yet told you that "I" won a prize of harmonicas at the Buckeye Sat. Night Banquet this time.  Only they were a set of tremolos: C & C#. I believe the kind of instruments one stacks on top of one another to play...but have no real idea, since they were a donation from Mrs. Eichler and everything's written in an oriental language (which I cannot read). But it reminded me of your GSHC prize.  We are both quite lucky.

Elizabeth (a/k/a Scotty)

[ElkRiverHarmonicas]

Elizabeth, I saw those at her table at Buckeye. I had no clue what they were, since there wasn't a spat of English or German... something I could read... on either one.  They looked pretty cool, though. Whatever it was, I had never seen it before.

[Grizzly]

Jia-yi He plays stacked tremolos, sometimes four or more at a time. A C and a C# (sold as a set by Huang) emulates what we play on a chromatic, but with two combs and no button. Adding others, I think some minors, gives not only the whole chromatic scale, but some chords as well. He plays some pretty amazing pieces, including classical, with stacked tremolos.

He's also fabulous on chromatic.

Tom

[Ingo]

Jia-yi He plays stacked tremolos, he is also fabulous on chromatic


Tom

Tom:
Absolutely...saw He at GSHC last November. No questioning his technical brilliance, BUT (and hey, this is just how I feel) his interpretations left me cold. It was like listening to a synthesiser playing, but the soul of the composer was not transferred to the listener. Any song can be played a myriad of ways, but to my mind only the ones that convey what the composer was trying to convey are legit, but yes I know...who's to say what is except for one person...the composer, right? or maybe not? If something really 'speaks' to you, is that the composer reaching you? Is that the performer conveying what the composer wanted to convey?

                       
                    "Jia-yi He plays stacked tremolos"

Just like Cham-Ber Huang used to do with four stacked tremolos playing Czardas by Monti...and while playing the 'fast' part moving the harps around. That used to blow my mind! Jia-yi

                          "He is also fabulous on chromatic"

Jia-Yi He is also fabulous on chromatic as was of course Huang. When Cham-Ber was a child in China there were no chromatics, so he was a virtuoso on tremolos before becoming one on the chromatic. Reminds me that I really missed a golden opertunity to get a piece of history for next to nothing. A few years ago Cham-Ber offered to slidemeistes for just five dollars  a vinyl recording of him and  Danish accordionist Mogens Ellegaard, with whom he toured.(There were two brilliant accordionists in Denmark in the 1950 to 1970 era, the other was Lars Bjarne, but I do believe that it was Ellegaard that toured with Cham-Ber.) Did anyone on SM take advantage of the offer?
             
              Ingo

[Atsuko]

I LOVE this post of yours, Atsuko....and think you're quite right.  Lovely Pennsylvania WAS created just for you  

.. "I" won a prize of harmonicas at the Buckeye Sat. Night Banquet this time.  ...but have no real idea, since .....everything's written in an oriental language (which I cannot read). But it reminded me of your GSHC prize.  We are both quite lucky.

Elizabeth (a/k/a Scotty)

Hi Scotty,

As usual, you are very sweet. But oh no, I didn't mean this lovely Pennsylvania was created just for me; I wanted to say that the word "Bootiful Pennsylvania" was created just for me by either Danny, AJ, or possibly by me sometime ago and I'm dwelling on it.

Congratulations on your winning a harmonica. If you scan the document written in Asian language and send it to me over the internet, I might be able to translate it for you. Sorry that you can't make to Danny's party (My attendance is also on the air as of now). Remember that I still owe you $10 and a breakfast?  Hope to clear this debt sometime soon.

Atsuko

[Scotty]

Jia-yi He plays stacked tremolos, sometimes four or more at a time. A C and a C# (sold as a set by Huang) emulates what we play on a chromatic, but with two combs and no button. Adding others, I think some minors, gives not only the whole chromatic scale, but some chords as well. He plays some pretty amazing pieces, including classical, with stacked tremolos.

He's also fabulous on chromatic.

Tom

Yes, and I was wondering if those I won were a precursor to Huang's...or a Chinese version? I'll take a look at the Huang's online and see if they're similar...and maybe have someone try to identify mine for me.  I've heard Jia-yi play ..both at SPAH and at last November's GSHC, both in rehearsal (where he had the audience captivated) and for the Saturday night show.  At the rehearsal (with Isaac ben Ayala - the pianist)....he had those of us staying to listen (a full house, in fact)..so enthralled by his sweetness, personality and techniques...no one wanted to leave for dinner....many of us whispering back and forth just shaking our heads in disbelief by his brilliance.  I'm not a classical music fan, particularly...yet couldn't tear MYself away. Tells you something.
 
I doubt I have the dexterity to attempt with my two anything close to how he plays, let alone what he did with his 4 stacked tremolos (I actually thought he used 6 during the Sat. night performance but the video lists 4).  It was all such fun and had the audience thoroughly enjoying those additional numbers (especially Csardas) he played with John Savas and David Denkers (from the Long Island Harmonica Club).  I know some were videotaped and can be seen in the music/video files here on Slidemeister.

Elizabeth (a/k/a Scotty)

[Scotty]

I LOVE this post of yours, Atsuko....and think you're quite right.  Lovely Pennsylvania WAS created just for you  

.. "I" won a prize of harmonicas at the Buckeye Sat. Night Banquet this time.  ...but have no real idea, since .....everything's written in an oriental language (which I cannot read). But it reminded me of your GSHC prize.  We are both quite lucky.

Elizabeth (a/k/a Scotty)

Hi Scotty,

As usual, you are very sweet. But oh no, I didn't mean this lovely Pennsylvania was created just for me; I wanted to say that the word "Bootiful Pennsylvania" was created just for me by either Danny, AJ, or possibly by me sometime ago and I'm dwelling on it.

Congratulations on your winning a harmonica. If you scan the document written in Asian language and send it to me over the internet, I might be able to translate it for you. Sorry that you can't make to Danny's party (My attendance is also on the air as of now). Remember that I still owe you $10 and a breakfast?  Hope to clear this debt sometime soon.

Atsuko

Hi Atsuko,

Lol...I misunderstood...but still, I know how much you love where you live, so it still fits.   Hope you're enjoying the beginnings of Spring and all the lovely flowers.  We're still having too many cold nights and days up here, but hopefully soon it will be truly 'Spring'.

I don't have a working scanner at the moment (got a 'new' computer with Vista (still not too happy with it)...and my previous scanner isn't compatible.  Haven't had time yet to get another.

What I will do as soon as the current rush of busy-ness is over, is search the internet for the same series of characters (on a harmonica)..and then send that to you ...to see if you can translate it for me. 

I might just take you up on that breakfast one of these days, but you do NOT owe me for mailing.  It was my pleasure

Elizabeth (a/k/a Scotty)

[ElkRiverHarmonicas]

I don't have a working scanner at the moment (got a 'new' computer with Vista (still not too happy with it)...and my previous scanner isn't compatible.  Haven't had time yet to get another.

What I will do as soon as the current rush of busy-ness is over, is search the internet for the same series of characters (on a harmonica)..and then send that to you ...to see if you can translate it for me. 

Liz, wouldn't it be easier to send her a picture of it?

[Scotty]

I don't have a working scanner at the moment (got a 'new' computer with Vista (still not too happy with it)...and my previous scanner isn't compatible.  Haven't had time yet to get another.

What I will do as soon as the current rush of busy-ness is over, is search the internet for the same series of characters (on a harmonica)..and then send that to you ...to see if you can translate it for me. 

Liz, wouldn't it be easier to send her a picture of it?

Short answer?  no. 

(I don't have a decent camera, the cheapies I have don't take good closeups and my 'good' Nikon is old and needs work (I was lucky to salvage 1 out of 4 of my Grand Canyon photos).  It's on my 'to-do' list....

Elizabeth (a/k/a Scotty)

[Scotty]

"Elizabeth:
We'd love to see you make it too".

Wish I could, Danny.  And I'm so appreciative that you and Linnette would make me welcome.  You're both sweethearts, and I'd love to see the property.

This year looks to be 'not so good' again...but just maybe next Summer might be the beginnings for me getting in a lot more vacation and travelling..finally.

Hope you're both going to SPAH?  ...'meet me in St. Louis'?

Elizabeth (a/k/a Scotty)

[ElkRiverHarmonicas]

Elizabeth, then why don't you take a thin piece of paper, make a rubbing of it like you would a tombstone or something and mail it to her?

Dave

[Scotty]

Elizabeth, then why don't you take a thin piece of paper, make a rubbing of it like you would a tombstone or something and mail it to her?

Dave

hey, that's a great idea, Dave.  I might just try it.  Sometimes the simplest ideas are the ones we don't think of, lol...(Been a long time since I did a 'rubbing').

Much appreciated.

Elizabeth (a/k/a Scotty)