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Going for the Gold: SPAH 2009 PDF Print E-mail
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Monday, 17 November 2008 12:57

by Bud Gardner

SPAH is on a mission. The SPAH Board of Directors and the Harmonicoots of Roseville, CA, host club for SPAH’s 46th Anniversary Convention, invite each and every harmonica soul all across America and around the world to come to the 2009 SPAH Convention at the Radisson Hotel, scheduled for Aug. 11-15, 2009, in Sacramento, California, the land where gold was discovered. Here is a golden opportunity for you to stake your claim on an adventure of a lifetime.

Why an adventure of a lifetime? Because when the five-member SPAH Team—Tom Stryker, Elizabeth Atkison, L.J. Atkison, Paul Davies, and Joe Fey—visited Sacramento last November to select a hotel for the 2009 SPAH Convention, three of the members had never been to California. No doubt, that’s probably true for hundreds of other folks out there in harmonica land.

Too expensive to travel to California, you say. Hey, we Californians travel to the SPAH Conventions in the Midwest each year. The distance is the same both ways. Look at it this way: SPAH is on the move, and you can be a major part of that. President Tom Stryker and the Board of Directors are dedicated to fulfilling the ultimate promise of SPAH: striving to preserve and advance harmonica now and in the future. What better way to do that than to take the SPAH movement to the west coast? In short, to open up the West.

Preservation? Imagine what can happen when a huge number of long-time SPAH members flock to the Golden State to continue this great movement. SPAH needs all of us to attend our conventions to fulfill its mission.

Advancement? Imagine adding a couple hundred new members to SPAH. Don’t laugh. It’s possible. One out of eight Americans lives in California, many of whom have never heard of SPAH. That’s about to change. And don’t lose sight of this: The harmonica is extremely popular in the Asian world. Some 3,000 harmonica players will take part in the Pacific Rim Harmonica Contest in China on Nov. 1, 2008. Think about it: For them, coming to Sacramento is less expensive than traveling to the Midwest or East. That’s what Mr. Lee, head of Korea’s harmonica association, told us in Milwaukee last year.

The Harmonicoots and SPAH leaders urge you to decide now to attend the 2009 Convention and to start by putting aside some money each month for this trip. See this as an investment in yourself and the SPAH mission. It’s time for you to come to the Golden State and enjoy a “Harmonica Festival.” That’s the term President Tom Stryker coined when he first saw the Radisson Hotel, displaying its early-California-style architecture. Just off Highway #160 and strategically located close to downtown Sacramento, the Arden Way Shopping Mall, and only thirteen miles from the Sacramento Airport, the Radisson is tailor-made for a SPAH Convention.

The Radisson Hotel features the finest accommodations with 50,000 square feet of meeting space in a luxury setting. This unique hotel boasts the largest ballroom in northern California with a permanent indoor stage along with an outdoor stage, sizable rooms for vendors, comfortable guest rooms, offering complimentary high speed internet access, and an ideal space for our SPAH registration, Young at Harp, Sacramento Convention and Visitors’ Bureau, and other convention services. In addition, there are numerous nooks with comfortable chairs to stakeout impromptu jam sessions.

For your dining pleasure, the Radisson is sure to please. You can enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner in the Basil-by-the Lake restaurant, featuring fresh seafood, prime meats, pasta and other delicious dishes while taking in a panoramic view of a private lake. If you’re on the go, grab a pastry, sandwich, salad or cup of gourmet coffee at the Java Coast snack bar.

After hours, unwind in the Crocodiles, the Radisson’s bar, with appetizers, light meals, beverages and entertainment. No doubt about it, with a comfortable lounge room and  spacious dance area, this will be the 2009 SPAH hangout for jam sessions and nighttime fun.

For relaxation, enjoy the lakeside pool or whirlpool. For exercise, venture to the Fitness Center, or rent a bicycle for sight-seeing. Or how about renting an on-site paddle boat to meander around the lake?

For more information, check out the Radisson Hotel Sacramento on the Internet: www.radissonsac.com.

The Harmonicoots are honored to be the host club for the 2009 Convention. And we welcome the opportunity to work with the SPAH Convention Committee, headed by Elizabeth Atkison, to make the 46th the greatest convention in SPAH history. We will do our part, and we ask you to decide now to do your part—to come join us to help keep SPAH’s promise alive.

SPAH is all about fulfilling its destiny, building lifelong friendships, and making music. As Anthony Storr writes in Music and the Mind, “Great music both arouses our emotions and also provides a framework within which our passions ‘enjoy themselves,’ as Nietzsche put it. Music exalts life, enhances life, and gives meaning… For those who love it, it remains as a fixed point of reference in an unpredictable world.”

It’s obvious our unpredictable world can use our help.

It’s time we all rally around the SPAH mission and make every effort to support the new direction Tom Stryker and the Board are taking. Come to Sacramento next August to help preserve and advance our harmonica movement. Watch for the 2009 convention registration materials on the www.SPAH.org website and in future issues of HH.

Come join us to open up the West, make music and take SPAH roaring into the future. Who knows, playing the harmonica just might become an Olympic event. Come join us to open up the West.

 
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