What’s in a Name?

Sunday December 26th, 1999 @ 8:44 PM

Filed under: Everything, Tales Told Well

I’m going to start off the New Year by changing the name of Carlzharptalk. I began the harptalk a little over a year ago with one member on my list: Chris Vincent, then of New Jersey, now of New Orleans. Chris is a blues man with a voice that just knocks me out. You can listen to it by going to www.iuma.com and looking in the blues category for him. He is nominated for the New Orleans newcomer of the year in the music scene down there.

As of today, there are 337 subscribers to Carlzharptalk and my surveys tell me that each subscription has a readership average of 2.5 because many of you print out and pass it on to friends and fans without computers. The harptalk is also regularly published in several blues newsletters and other publications, so who knows how many get hold of it time to time.

To put it in humble perspective, our local Laramie, Wyoming newspaper, goes out to ten thousand subscribers and a total readership of around twenty-five thousand. So, any cub reporter at our local paper has at least twenty-five times the readership that I do. However, do to the worldwide nature of the web, I do get read in all fifty states and many countries, some of the latter I didn’t even know existed before I started getting e-mail from them. All in all, it is a rewarding and gratifying project, and I enjoy writing to you all very much.

In this past year, the most circulated harptalk was “Yondering”, which was picked up and reprinted by a number of publications and even went through the state department in Montana. I received the most feedback by far, on an article called “The Slaying of a Doppelganger.” I still get e-mail on that one. The most people dropped off the list after a piece called “A moment in the Sun”, about sit-ins. The general comment was: “If you can’t say anything good about people, don’t say anything…” I assume these were people who were guilty of the sit-in sins I listed. I received the kindest and dearest e-mails after a harptalk carrying the abysmal title of “letter #4″ which was about the late Clara Smith and an adoring fan.

Andy “Maddog” Miller received fan mail and sympathy mail from well over half of the entire list while he was in the hospital. It did a lot to accelerate his recovery. He remains humbled and amazed at the amount of mail and encouragement he received.

My new year’s resolution for Carlzharptalk is to reach one thousand subscribers by 2001 in a minimum of 100 countries. It is interesting to note that as the list grows, the percentage of readers who have never listened to Blinddog Smokin’ increases.

Now, why the name change? I get a lot of e-mail from harp players who sign up expecting to get tips on how to play the harmonica. They are very disappointed by my storytelling style. They not only drop off, but usually fire an angry letter at me for misleading them. Perhaps they have a point. I originally entitled the newsletter, Carlzharptalk, because I intended to send it mostly to harp players I knew, and musicians who could appreciate the general lessons. It evolved into something else. Something much better I think.

It is sad that a harp player doesn’t think he can learn anything from these articles, but unfortunately, too many wannabee musicians think all there is to the music business is learning technique on an instrument. In reality, that is only the ante that let’s you in the game. The heart and soul of that game is the stuff of which I write.

So I think from now on, my musical essays and wanderings shall be called, “Tales Told Well.” Most of my contributions end up being a Tale of one kind or another, mostly from my experiences and observations in life. I am claiming to tell them well, because I so admire good and honest storytelling, and I so dislike poor storytelling and prevarication passed off as true adventure.

I come from a family of storytellers. My brother, David, is one of the best. He teaches third graders in Nevada. One day the principal came by and found my brother lying on his back on the classroom floor pointing at the ceiling. All his kids were following his example. Shocked, the principal entered the room and asked what was going on. My brother put his finger to his lips and shushed the principal. “We are in writing class.” He whispered. “And right now we’re learning to write about things first person from the perspective of an ant…”

That just beats a boring textbook lesson all to hell in my opinion, and Fallon, Nevada, is probably going to produce some good storytellers in years to come. Of course the kids love that kind of instruction, as do the parents, but as you might guess, my brother is not too popular with the textbook type teachers who work around him.

My first entry for next years “Tales Told Well” involves a six generation family, a gaggle of old ladies, me, a dwarf, and a gang of Australian bikers, all on a train in the outback. It is entitled: “The Last Night on the Ghan”, and it will demonstrate that if love is the universal language, then music is its voice.

Look for Blinddog Smokin’s new CD soon. We finished recording and mixing in Denver last week. It has ten original songs and a cover of James Peterson’s “Who Shot John”. I believe it to be our best effort so far, but you be the judge. Andy showed up at the mixing, wobbling around on a cane, so he is improving. He still doesn’t look very strong, but it’s much better than lying on his back all day and night.

Blinddog Smokin’ is back in their tour bus and might be coming to your town this new year, and we hope to find you all well and happy.

Posted by Carl