Check it out - these shots are of me (Mark) hangin' out with a couple of the greatest blues harp players playing today. The first is Kim Wilson of Fabulous Thunderbirds fame, who in recent years has released several great CDs of mostly covers of classic blues gems. He is known as a "traditional" Chicago style blues harp player, and let me tell you - he is one of the best - if not the best - that is out there today. The show he put on the night this was taken (6/22/00), was incredible. He's a true bluesman with a great vocal style and mesmerizing to watch perform. This shot was taken at the Whiskey Junction in Minneapolis and unfortunately, a bit out of focus. However, the first person who can correctly identify the two people pictured on my tee shirt will win a blues harp compilation CD. Winner will be announced on the site, so if you want a free CD, get your guess in! Members of The Bings and their immediate families are illegible. Don't be shy now, enter your guess here.

The other great player is Carlos del Junco (that's pronounced "del Hunco" by the way). He is from Toronto, Canada. Carlos is an extremely accomplished award-winning player. Rather than attempt to inadequately describe Carlos and his music, the best way to learn about him is to go to his very excellent web site - carlosdeljunco.com. I will say here that he is not a strictly traditional player and that he is pushing the boundaries of the state of the instrument by incorporating overblows into his playing. That refers to a harmonica playing technique that was not used back in the days when harmonica blues was becoming popular (50's, 60's). Another mark of Carlos' playing is the effective use of tape echo. He is simply one of the very best diatonic harmonica players ever. He really stands out. You can listen to (and order!) his music on his web site. The first photo was taken while he was here in Minneapolis for the Global Harmonica Summit 2000 where he gave a seminar which I attended. I'm teaching him how to pretend like we are playing harp while really just posing for the camera. The second photo is Carlos performing at the Whiskey Junction on June 21 2000.