Jim McLean

BackyardBrand

Chicago, IL

125

281 Following 125 Followers

I think We, The People and It, The Harmonica, are all better off coming down off our thrones. Only then can we connect and be of use. My playable FlashHarp® Harmonica USB embodies this notion and each is a little piece of my soul.

Of course, how you use FlashHarp is up to you...

• Live and breathe your love of music
• Make it your main flash drive
• Learn from its play-along song lessons
• Give as a gift with a special memory inside

🎵 Rob Paparozzi Riff:: www.etsy.com/shop/BackyardBrand/About
🎵 1 of its 10 videos: www.etsy.com/shop/HarmonicaUSB/About
🎬 What HGTV¹ says: www.etsy.com/shop/USBHarmonica/About

Patented FlashHarp is:
• Personalizable www.etsy.me/2xzMhcM
• Necklace-Makable www.etsy.me/2yhOZT1
• Handmade by me in 🇺🇸 of custom U.S.-made & imported parts
• Handpacked in excelsior for shipment anywhere
• In the key of "C" (and available with full-sized Plug 'n Play companion www.etsy.me/2i4rKGm )

♫▬▬▬▬ B•B ▬▬▬▬♫
Gotta' run? Remember:
There's two "h"s in FlashHarp.com (it redirects here).
Store: backyardbrand.etsy.com
♫▬▬▬▬ B•B ▬▬▬▬♫

• Feedback: "Wow!" "Freaking cool!" "Genius!" "Love it!" That sure beats the demoralizing cracks harmonica beginners usually get. ( youtu.be/xpyxJVsGZyA )
• www.etsy.com/shop/BackyardBrand/reviews

• Also playable in the key of "G" (if played "crossharp²"). FAQ#9 tells the difference between straight- and crossharp. www.etsy.me/2fNnV42

• USB-equipped to keep you carrying (and playing).

• Born of the same spirit of innovation all great harmonica pioneers plug-into

♫▬▬▬▬ B•B ▬▬▬▬♫
Visit The Big Backyard of BackyardBrand and zoom-in on Riverside a few years ago...³
🔭 bit.ly/vPqaY2 🔭
See the guy in his backyard trying to fit his life's work in a harmonica box? That's me experiencing my "Eureka!" moment—I'd just found a way to do two things at once:

B) Make the harmonica something EVERYONE can enjoy again

B) Free it from those who take it and themselves WAY too seriously

BackyardBrand.etsy.com
♫▬▬▬▬ B•B ▬▬▬▬♫



1
More Press about FlashHarp...
GIZMODO: gizmodo.com/5397374/instructions-on-playing-the-flashharp-harmonica-usb-drive-come-included
DUDEIWANTTHAT: dudeiwantthat.com/gear/music/4gb-flash-drive-harmonica.asp

2
My short historical fiction, Champion Book, fills-in the critical missing piece in crossharp's origin story (I repeat for historians: THIS IS FICTION!): www.etsy.com/listing/273512590 I can preload Champion Book for you onto a FlashHarp. Just ask.

3
The scene of my Eureka! moment is Riverside, Illinois⁴ which PBS calls "one of 10 Towns That Changed America" (see 16:01 min. @: http://interactive.wttw.com/ten/towns ). Riverside sits at the crossroads of the three key out-routes that carried the harmonica south to the Seat of the Blues and west to cowboy country—namely, U.S. Highways 41 and 66 and the then Santa Fe rail line. The Village shares its home-state status with Abe Lincoln, the harmonica-playing president who, by declaring the enslaved "thenceforeward, and forever— free," clarified the real meaning of our pending Civil War. ¶Zoom-ahead now past the South's rampant ruin and envision a minstrel troupe of former-slave performers. See what's in one of their hands? Yes! a harmonica! And what's that musician doing with that harmonica? Yes! —Exercising the freedom to innovate a whole new way of playing, one with an empowering tone so authoritative it gives voice to a heretofore voiceless people. Let’s call this suddenly-free style, “crossharp.” Further, let's remember, this soulful voice is the essence of The Blues. ¶From these rural jug-band roots, crossharp (aka, “blues harmonica”) spreads into urban settings in not-so-hot pursuit of a solo career. Deford Bailey and Sonny Terry arise to become instrumental in this transfer. In the cities, Little Walter Jacobs, Sonny Boy Williamson and Howlin' Wolf electrify it. Sonny Boy Williamson II mentors James Cotton, and so on. ¶And soon, the little ax jumps the tracks. Instead of coming from mainly black chops, somehow now crossharp's sources become young, white musicians. Paul Butterfield, Charlie Musselwhite, John Mayall and Mick Jagger hear in Chess Records a sound they'll feed like a raging river into the juggernaut of Rock. ¶Country & Western "feels" crossharp, too, as Charlie McCoy and Jimmie Fadden prove. ¶By the early 70's, the whole harmonica-playing world is caught-up in the sound of crossharp. ¶All cool now (behind the scenes, anyway) crossharp starts copping a 'tude. Which we all know is a lot like a flat tire: You can't get any farther until you change it. ¶Enter Howard Levy. Mr. Levy is given—and very graciously receives—credit for inventing “overblowing,” a technique that fills-in the missing notes to make the devilishly diminutive diatonic as big as a chromatic. ¶The Internet magnifies this large scale change and, on youtube, the black-mentor masters fade further to black as the likes of Jason Ricci find their way to arise as SPAH's Harmonica Players of the Year. Meanwhile, the mic'd-up mantle passes to digital disciples like Adam Gussow, David Barrett and more. FlashHarp is born and you, with your own story still to fill, find your way here. ¶Congratulations, my friend (can I get an "Amen?")! You are now officially—according to me, anyway—up to speed on the nine lives the harmonica has lived so far (on U.S. soil). ¶I encourage you to determine where the tale goes from here. ¶Now: Get crackin'!

4
As the U.S.'s first planned suburb, Riverside is a National Historic Landmark Village. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, also designer of New York City's Central Park. Here's what life's like here, today: vimeo.com/75615729



©James McLean U.S. Pat. Nos. D602,940 & D624,550; FlashHarp is a registered trademark of FlashHarp Music; Registered Copyright No. PAu- 3-577-937 All IP vigorously enforced.