Two days before the feast of Our Lady of Retail that is known as Black Friday there is, what I like to call Blue Wednesday. For the past 22 years people seeking musical freedom from the tyranny of mediocrity make their pilgrimage to Long Beach, California. There they find an annual event called The Battle of the Blues Harps (“BBH”). The publisher of Southland Blues Magazine, Dan Jacobson, produces this event that is held each year at the Best Western Golden Sails Hotel.

The Golden Sails sits very near the campus of California State University at Long Beach which for years hosted one of the most prestigious Blues Festivals in the world. These days Dan’s BBH functions as kind of a LBBF reunion of fans and musicians. With the LBBF having been dissolved this year, the BBH was important in that it brought the local Blues family together the day before many of us would sit down to break bread and wind with our relatives.

The Golden Sails, with its That 70’s Show motif, is the perfect spot for a gathering of folks most of whom looked like they graduated from high school in that decade. The event, which played host to an estimated 400 patrons, looked like a high school class reunion, except people were having fun and no one had to slow dance to Chicago’s Color My World. Instead the Grecian Formula drenched crowd were treated to a Chicago style Blues harp extravaganza with a West Coast flavor.

Doug MacLeod opened the show and served as the M.C. for the evening. Before the night was over he would bring to the stage local harp players Darrell Mansfield, Johnny Maestro, and Larry “Big House” David. They would be backed by Mike “Pink” Arguello‘s ever changing ensemble of musicians he calls 2000 Lbs of Blues. 
About  500 pounds of which, on this night, were accounted for by the great guitar players, Gino Matteo and Kirk Fletcher. 2000 Lbs would also back up two very special players, veteran James Harman and relative newcomer Billy Watson.

Billy Watson is in my view an emerging star with tremendous chops, great original material and a unique persona in which he presents his material. The San Diego based musician is a breath of fresh air in this sometimes stodgy genre. His sense of humor is unrivaled unless you have spent time in the presence of James Harman. Watson, like Harman, understands that entertaining elements of this music in no way take away from its artistic merit.

Harman, I believe is taken somewhat for granted here in Southern California. For decades the Alabama native has led top flight bands and mentored some of the finest musicians to grace the west coast scene. I can’t think of anyone who has had such an original voice in the Blues over the past 30 years. He has made consistently great records, full of marvelous original material that covers a range of subject matter as complex and comedic as life itself. Harman does it all with a worldly wit born of a thousand juke joints and a million miles.

Harman who made his 20^th appearance at the BBH yielded the stage to Kim Wilson making his very first appearance at this event. Wilson is the most celebrated harp player of his generation and one of the most recognizable figures on the Blues music scene. Wilson was joined by long time band mates and stars in their own right, Bassist Larry Taylor, Drummer Richard Innes and the enigmatic Junior Watson.

If this was an actual battle of the Blues harps, Wilson would have been the prohibitive betting favorite.  Most people in the house would take Wilson and the points. On this night, Wilson had no problem covering the spread.
With respect to all the great musicians that graced the stage this past Wednesday, the Wilson, Watson, Taylor, Innes combo represented the best of the best. Rod Piazza closed the show.  He has played on every one of the BBH shows going back to 1988. 

If you like Hohners with your holidays the Battle of the Blues Harps is the place to be.

- David Mac (Class of '75, tippin' the scales at 250)