At 58 I finally catch a break
 

This guy moves back home from L.A. because his wife is sick, comes into a local club and catches me playing in a local band. Later he contacts me and wants to put me in as full time bassist. The idea of playing over seas jobs is a little intimidating, but I think this may be my last and best shot. Although he is big outside the states, we are looking to do U.S. dates more because of his need to stay closer to home because of his wifes illness. He also wants my drummer to come on board. That works for me as Sam and I are kinda joined at the hip as a rhythm section. I also love trios, I work my ass off all night but it is as basic a you can get. I also like the 3 way split, because he is not paying us as sidemen but full members. Studio in January. It sure will be nice to play big venues again. Since moving to this small town in W. PA from Clearwater FL I have been playing in 3 local bands and in little clubs to three drunks in bib overalls and a girl with one arm.


"Rich Harper, born and raised in Ellwood City PA, learned to play blues guitar the traditional way by primarily being self-taught listening to and learning from the recordings of artists like Eric Clapton, B. B. King, Rory Gallagher, Freddy King, Duane Allman, and so on. Rich developed his own slide style using the same Coricidin medicine bottle as Duane Allman. After paying his "blues dues" in small blue collar towns throughout Pennsylvania, Rich moved to Los Angeles to gather like minded musicians and formed the Rich Harper Blues Band. With the success of their debut CD, "Don't Think Just Play", the Rich Harper Blues Band was not only selected as one of Amazon.com's prestigious "Emerging New Blues Artists", but Taxim Records, a German label, joined the group's growing list of blues fans by placing another cut, "She's On Her Way Up", on their compilation album titled "More Disaster City Blues". It wasn't long before the band’s name was popping up in blues magazines everywhere and blues societies were urging their members to check out the exciting new group who were carving out a unique niche for themselves in the blues world. By the time the band released their second CD, "Bottled Up Blues", Europe had jumped on board by making the band the #1 selling artists in Switzerland on Amazon's charts. Radio stations worldwide welcomed the new CD with open arms and this time one of the cuts, "As She Moved In (My Guitar Moved Out)", topped Rolling Stone Magazine's "MP3 & More Blues Chart" at #1. The international blues scene stood up, did a double take, and these talented artists haven't stopped since. Since then, the band has toured the world, including their adoptive countries of Scandinavia, and such exotic locales as Asia and Australia. They were also humbled and extremely honored to be part of a group that entertained the troops in Iraq in 2004. Rich's tours of 2009 will include Taiwan & Thailand (February), Norway, Denmark & Sweden (May) & Taiwan, Japan, China, Singapore & Australia (Pacific Rim - October)."


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1238161874.jpg

http://www.richharper.com
http://cdbaby.com/all/richharper
http://www.myspace.com/richharperband
http://www.isound.com/rich_harper_band
http://www.airplaydirect.com/RichHarperBand
http://www.mp3.com.au/richharperband

Good for you!
-Chris

your packing as I type right..
Groupies at 58..better late than never..
congrat's..

Rika

Hell with groupies....now roadies....bring em!

That is so great to hear...let me know if you get within three hours or so and I'll come see you guys play.

All the best, Dave.

ROCK ON

Congratulations!

Thanks Paul. I not getting overly excited yet. The rehearsals so far have been great. Just 3 old white guys playing black music. working on domestic jobs is tough in this economy, so U.S. booking is light so far. The overseas jobs are hot though. I just may have to renew my passport yet. He has been doing a "Chuck Berry" with over seas jobs, hiring locals as it is really expensive to ship the band. I'm OK with that but it would be nice to play warmer locations in the winter. I'm contacting all my old pals in FL for every blues festival in the state between Nov. and April.

For Blues you gotta come to Chicago.

Large Bluefest in June. Lots of Blue Clubs in the City.

Awesome.

Congrats.

Congrats. Have you guys tried to book for the Long Beach Blues Festival?

I think Rich has played that from when he and the old band were in Los Ganjales. Maybe a return would work. Any leads would be appreciated as I am doing the U.S. booking.

Congrats. Please let me know if you're going to be within a few hours of Seattle. I LOVE blues. LOVE.

I thought that was Willie photoshopped in from his early years.

Awesome! Congrats! Are you one of the trio pictured? We need to have a reference for when fame and fortune removes you from this board. ;)

he does kinda resemble a younger Willie don't he.

You guys are family, that will never happen. I'm the cat in the hat.

Congrats! Blues Festival in Chicago would be an awesome venue. Keep us posted. Hey Ruf-Porsche, I think you just gave away your location.:D;) hehehe

Chicago WOULD be cool. I mean Memphis and Chicago they are the meccas. maybe a night at Legends. I could die after that and not care. Well Ok recording at Sun or Chess...then I could die.

"Rich's tours of 2009 will include Taiwan & Thailand (February), Norway, Denmark & Sweden (May) & Taiwan, Japan, China, Singapore & Australia (Pacific Rim - October)."

Wow, some schedule. A big world out there...

Congrats!!

Check out http://www.lowellfolkfestival.org/

Lots of blues every year, largest free folk festival in the US... and I live at the epicenter. Come on up :)

That's awesome! I'm not as connected to the blues scene as I once was, but I used to serve on the board of our local blues society and assist with our small (2000 attendee) local festival. Although many of the "blues clubs" have simply dried up in recent years, lemme know if you guys want to come south, and maybe I can help, or at least buy some bib overalls, show up, and get drunk (kidding...those daze are over) :). Good luck!!!

Excellent. Blues is my favorite genre and the blues circuit in the U.S. is huge... likewise with blues festivals. We have five of decent size that I know of in little ol' South Carolina.

Five.

I really like the stuff on the Facebook page.

Does he book his own dates, or does he have someone else do it? No, I'm not an agent... just curious.

At any rate, have him contact Double Door Inn in Charlotte, NC... fantastic little rough-around-the-edges venue that most everybody plays these days. Huge crowds turn out on the weekends for people like The Nighthawks, Michael Burks, Tab Benoit, Jimmy Thackery, Tom Principato, Eddie Clearwater, etc.

http://www.doubledoorinn.com/

Thanks for all the cheers boys. I'm lookin' at it calmly. As I said rehearsals have gone well and the chemistry is good because of Sam. Rich and I clicked pretty fast. Rich is a rootsy guy that checked his ego a long time ago. He has an agent but in L.A. of course, and he handles the overseas stuff. so for the moment I am handling the U.S. bookings for a while. I've done it before but it's PITA. I would rather just show up and play. Also he is big abroad, but has not been involved a lot in the scene here in the states so I'm going slowly. I hope it will be a fun ride. If I were 21 I would be crapping myself, but I'm 58, been a bassist for 43 years and did promotions for a major label in my younger days. so...... I've seen it, and I'm pretty grounded about the realities of being a full time player. Like not being home on New Years eve for 25 years.

Great News!!! I'm happy for you, good luck and success!

You cats look very cool; impressive!

If you show up drunk in bib overalls, don't forget to bring the one armed girl too.

This could be a great way to meet some of ya'll.

"Pelican Tour 2009" hmmmmmmmm .......Shaun could do shirts.............

Very cool, have a ball...make some memories!

Cool! Now you'll have an excuse to change strings...maybe I'll run across you at some of the blues/jazz fests we play at.

That might change my tone too much :-) I will at least boil em up and give the old Bird a good cleaning. Bout time for it's 50,000 note check up.

That would be great if we crossed paths. You get a vibe from some here that just says "yeah I could hang with him". You're one of them.

Hey I remember one of our members did a free tickets for 911 rides tour.. ( hint hint)..

Have Fun and congrats!!! Hope to catch a show if you guys travel south!!!http://forums.pelicanparts.com/suppo...ys/drummer.gif http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/clap.gif

Good for you T-bird!

http://www.suncoastblues.org/

http://www.floridasbeach.com/events/?type=4

http://blues.about.com/od/bluescruisesfestivals/a/Clearwater2009.htm

Thanks Jeremy. Good leads. I hope to see ya'll soon if these happen.

Congrats dude! Its never to late for dreams to happen.

and just so you know - 58 is the new 35...

What's the latest? You're in Norway playing the Alta Soul and Blues Festival now, right?

Rich is in Norway. Sam and I are doing the U.S dates only for now. Cheeper for Rich to hire locals and do a "Chuck Berry" when he is overseas. Maybe next year in the economy turns around I will go with him. Sam will stay home at his day job. Thanks for askin'. Rich should be home next week and we will get back to work on the local shows.

if you find yourself upstate NY...rochester area...give me a holler

Where in US NY?

rochester