What an amazing month this has been and there's still a couple weeks to go. We've tried to make each party better than the last one but it's sure going to be a challenge to outdo what happened this year. I shut down all traffic to the party barn for about 15 minutes to record the Sgro Brothers playing to guarantee that there would be no talking during the video I'm making for this years Virtual SPAH convention. Then we opened the doors to our guests and the Sgro's performed for another half hour or so. George Miklas accompanied them on bass guitar along with their long time drummer Ken VanEtting. To the delight of the partygoers and me too, Ken setup and displayed his awesome harmonica collection in Bruce's barn. The Sardo Brothers had everyone jamming and having a good time from the moment they got here.. George Miklas and his son Kaleb set up their Harmonica Gallery store and vended the party.
We had ordered some new audio equipment to accommodate having 2 stages and provide a direct audio feed from the mixer to the camera. It worked out unbelievably well considering that it didn't arrive until Thursday the day the party started.
Bruce and I do not enter the competition but I imagine the all of the contestants were a bit unnerved at having George and the Sgro Brothers as judges. The first guests arrived from Long Beach California on the 3rd, Linette and I celebrated our wedding anniversary on the 12th and the last guest to leave was from from Hawaii and he left on Tuesday the 13th.
Freddy Alexander from Aurora, Colorado is our new 2021 Ohio State Harmonica Champion.
On Thursday Bruce and I drove to Nashville for the 2021 Summer NAMM show. Great show but a whole lot smaller than the one they have in Anaheim, CA. The highlight for me was having dinner and conversations with the Sardo brothers and 2001 Rock and Roll Hall of Famer guitarist James Burton.
Sadly our 17 year old cat Gretel died yesterday.
