Some things are actually worth the $$

"Everybody's gonna be happy, which means you and me my love."

Whilst playing a gig on St. Paddy's day at the Pig 'N Whistle in Hollywood I had quite an annoying snafu. I started strong and had the audience eating out of the palm of my hand (or so I like to think) for the first three songs. And then all hell broke loose.

My fourth song, Miles Away, requires a harmonica...so I got out the holder and placed my Dmaj harp inside. I started playing the song when to my surprise, halfway through the harp part in the intro the holder fell down around my chest. "Mildly" annoyed, I picked up said holder, re-tightened it and started again only to have its insubordination continue. Flustered and now with the harmonica far too close to my mouth for fear of it falling a third time, my guitar strap slipped off of my shoulder launching Signor Ibanez downward where I dramatically caught him inches from the perilous depths below. Now, those of you who know me well know that I can have a slight bit of a temper...and though I'd like to say that it was under control at this point, I can't quite do that. To the contrary, I picked up my guitar, put it back on my shoulder, ripped off the harp holder (with harmonica in tow) and threw it onto the ground behind me finishing the song with frustrated (yet beautiful) whistling instead.

Now, as you can imagine, this is an occurance that I would like to avoid in the future. So I did today what I should have done a long time ago...I bought a new harmonica holder. Goodbye $5 Harmony Music Center holder. Heeeelllllo $15 Hohner holder. That's right kids, for the mere price of $15 you too can get a harmonica holder that is well worth at least $50. This thing is amazing. I can actually sing without the damn thing right in my face. I should have bought this thing months ago. All those cramped singing styles for nothing. They could have easily been avoided for under 20 bucks. I guess it pays to buy a harmonica holder made by a company that actually makes harmonicas.

So, there's a lesson here for all you aspiring singer-songwriters out there. Forget about frugality when it comes to mouth harps. For the sake of all mankind, please spend the extra 10 bucks and get yourself a decent holder. Don't be one of those assholes who throws his harp on the ground mid-song mid-concert.

Believe me. It could happen to you.

P.S. Because I think it's a cool idea, I'm going to steal from my friend Dr. Zillgitt and start each blog from here-on-in with a line from the song that I'm currently listening to. Hence the quotation at the top.