I was in New York City for 2 days–Sunday and Monday–and I dropped in both nights at Lucille’s Bar and Grill at BB King’s in Times Square, NYC. 

On Sunday night I went to see my high school friend Michael Packer, who now fronts the Michael Packer Blues Band.  It was a good show, and I sat in with the band for two songs, using the regular harp player’s rig. 

On Monday night I played 3 sets with the Jon Paris band. It was a great night, with a lot of heavy players from the NY scene (Joe Cipriano on tenor sax, Joe Berger on guitar, etc.) stopping by to sit in. (Country Joe McDonald sat in for a couple of tunes, too–there’s a blast from the past.) I used the Fireball mic with V element through my Digitech RP200, and I used some of my more extreme sounds for the first time with this band, like my Blkvib patch that combines a Blackface Fender Twin amp model with a very deep, rapid electronic vibrato. The band generally raved about the sound of the harp. I had a great time, and I left around midnight, dripping with sweat.  Had a nice conversation with Jon too about some of our favorite guitarists, including Mick Taylor (whose departure from the Rolling Stones in my opinion ended the band’s greatest era) and Peter Green, whose guitar work on John Mayall’s “A Hard Road” is still one of my touchstones for style and soul. 

The Paris band rhythm section of Amy Madden and Steve Harvey were in great form on Monday night, by the way, and Jon was absolutely ripping.  A great night and a killer jam session.