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From: Alec Drachman
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 17:20:28 -0500
Subject: Re: Xerox machines

Coolrays wrote:

>
> Many of you know that I still do Whammer Jammer nearly every time I'm out
> with my band. It's a dynamically perfect 2:30 of audience-pleasing
> get-down-to-it rock-n-roll. It can't be beat. I'd put it against any
> show-stopper I've ever heard. I do it just like the record everytime. I
> can't improve on it's perfection. A lot of thought went into making that
> song what it is and if I did it differently, it wouldn't be Whammer Jammer.
> It would just be another 12-bar boogie. Performing it that way is also my
> way of showing respect and a tribute to the original artist.

Ditto. You are correct. No matter what kind of creative, original, technical,
melodic harp parts I play, nothing brings down the house like a note-for-note
rendition of "Whammer Jammer". I can play (relatively) seamless overblows,
ripping fast two octave runs, original licks that I love and the only people
that notice are other harp players. After I play Whammer Jammer the rest of the
people notice - "hey, this guy's pretty good".

Back in my rock n' roll days my band would do Moody Blues and Eagles songs with
four part vocal harmonies, Hendrix songs with intricate guitar parts, bluesy
songs with fantastic organ playing, etc. and invariably the most popular song
of the night was ... drum roll please.... "Louie, Louie". I think this ties
into the previous thread about the difference between playing and performing.
What I (and probably most of you) want to hear is not the same as what the
general public wants to hear.

As I mentioned earlier, I generally do not play solo's note for note. I can
usually get a crowd to react to an improvised solo with a pretty good applause
but nothing brings down the house like "Whammer Jammer" note-for-note. About 2
years ago, I heard a guy play a pretty nice improvised rendition of this song
copping s_o_m_e of the original licks. The response was very luke warm. A
non-musician friend of mine commented that it "didn't sound right." He said I
did it much better. I tried to explain to him that this guy was original and
that some of the licks he played were actually much more difficult than the
original licks. He just shrugged - "you do it better."

Alec