HOOKAH AND WHO? GLASS HARP

Glass Harp | Hookaville | Garrettsville, OH | 8.2.02

Frank Zappa once released a live album called The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life. The title, of course, was a commentary on the ill-fated 1988 tour that would ultimately be his last in a rock context.

If Glass Harp was to issue an album under the same moniker, the joke might not get as much mileage. It’s a fact that Glass Harp is known to a great degree amongst music-loving baby boomers in Northeast Ohio. It’s not too much of a stretch to say that they are widely known in the rock collector’s set as well (long out of print vinyl and CDs are constantly going at a premium in shops and online auctions). If all that weren’t enough, you could walk into any guitar shop on the planet and immediately strike up a conversation about Glass Harp’s world-class axeman Phil Keaggy with the guy behind the counter.

The aforementioned facts were unknown to nearly all in attendance on this night. This is completely understandable, given that Glass Harp was about to play at the outset of a weekend festival centered around none other than ekoostik hookah, one of the premier jambands in the United States. The thousands gathered for the weekend were there for the sole purpose of camping, swimming, socializing, and of course, dancing to the rhythms of their beloved Hookah. What they did not expect was to be drawn to the stage three hours before Hookah, only to find three guys resembling their dads setting the stage on fire.

So, how then did NLQP owner Evan Kelley have the foresight to choose a band that nobody knew (yet left being a fan of) for the coveted opening slot for Hookah? The history books might lead us to some answers...

Long before anyone used the term "jamband," Glass Harp was a textbook example of the genre. In their relentless gigging in clubs, universities and ballrooms around the Midwest, they honed a style all their own - a stunning three-part harmony built against a wall of hyper-amplified psychedelic rock. You would never see the same set, let alone the same song performed alike from night to night. The interplay between Phil Keaggy (guitar), Daniel Pecchio (bass) and John Sferra (drums) was that of a group that had played together for some time, yet they were all either their late teens or early twenties.

It was around this time that one of the more intriguing urban legends in music originated. It has been said that on a Tonight Show appearance in 1969, guest host Flip Wilson asked Jimi Hendrix what it was like to be the greatest guitar player of all time. Hendrix’s response? "I don’t know, ask Phil Keaggy." Whether or not this is actually what was said, we might never know (NBC Television did not begin videotaping the Tonight Show until 1972, thereby leaving no recorded evidence of this particular show). But it does demonstrate the high regard in which Keaggy was thought of at the time, as well as all these years later (over time, this rumor has only become more common and exaggerated).

Glass Harp’s reputation of being an incredible live act quickly led them to a recording contract with Decca Records. Now backed by a label, their touring became significantly more high profile, taking them to places such as The Fillmore (both N.Y. and San Francisco), Winterland Ballroom (San Francisco), Ludlow’s Garage (Cincinnati), Grande Ballroom (Detroit), Central Park (New York) Electric Factory (Philadelphia), Orpheum Theater (Boston), Whiskey A-Go-Go (Los Angeles) and New York’s prestigious Carnegie Hall, in a concert that was recorded and released some 30 years later. If Glass Harp wasn’t headlining one night, they’d be opening for the biggest acts of the time (Yes, Moody Blues, Humble Pie, Uriah Heep, Stevie Wonder, Grand Funk Railroad, Kinks, Boz Scaggs, Ted Nugent, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Alice Cooper to name a few). They were also one of the first bands to be filmed in concert for broadcast on PBS, which has in time become a highly successful concept.

The members of Glass Harp had always remained good friends, and stayed in contact with one another through the years following their amicable 1972 split. Between 1980 and 2000, they had gotten together for several one-off reunion shows to great acclaim. However, it was the idea of a recording with Glass Harp backed by the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra that was the band’s "official" comeback. Their 2001 album Strings Attached: Live With the YSO sold well amongst the bands old fans and guitar enthusiasts everywhere, and signaled that interest was as high ever for Glass Harp.

The Summer Hookah weekend was already boiling over with some of the best jam bands around, including (of course) ekoostik hookah, Yonder Mountain String Band, Toast, Either Orchestra and the Derek Trucks Band. Adding Glass Harp to a completely uninitiated crowd seemed to be icing on an already tasty cake.

After a smoking set from Columbus’s Toast, Glass Harp took the stage at a still-swelteringly hot 6:00pm. A sparsely populated crowd at the beginning soon turned into hundreds of surprised and enthusiastic spectators, eager to find out just who the heck they were watching.

Taking the audience through a 90 minute set of their classic material, as well as a handful of newer songs, Glass Harp showed everyone in attendance the reasons why many credit them as an original jam band. Extended versions of old favorites like “Never Is a Long Time,” “Children’s Fantasy” and “Can You See Me” segued in and around covers (“Presence of the Lord”), as well as newer material (“Sign Came Thru A Window”). The crowd’s reaction to the bands extended, creative and technically challenging takes was one of sheer amazement, which spilled over into the backstage areas where the other bands and crews emerged to see what all the fuss was about.

Carefully placed ears backstage overheard the members of ekoostik hookah rapping with Glass Harp about future collaborations and exchanging CDs, with both bands expressing their admiration of one another. Although Keaggy’s problematic sciatic nerve (a condition shared by both Keaggy and hookah’s Steve Sweeney) kept him from taking hookah up on an invitation to jam onstage, the two guitar players were able to trade plenty of licks and stories while hanging out backstage

With all the respect and admiration between every band on this day, the audience and musicians left with a definite feeling of “we should do it again sometime!” It’s easy to see why Glass Harp’s foray into the current scene is just the start of a great rediscovery, as well as the continuing journey of three guys from Youngstown picking up where they left off all those years ago.