Hello to all ~ I hope you’re all well. And I thought I’d let you know how my Carnegie Hall appearance went… 

Very well would be the short answer!  Although I knew that I would be leading the finale – singing and playing What A Wonderful World – I didn’t know where in the show my solo slot would be until Saturday afternoon when I showed up at the venue for all the stuff that needs to happen before a show. Turned out I would be closing out the evening.

I played Miserlou on guitar, and then The Black Gunners and Elephants Dance (with a new middle section) on Big Mama (my great-grandfather’s 1909 harp guitar – now 116 years old). After those tunes, I brought Jason Ji back onstage, along with the string quartet, for the finale.

Many of the members of the stage crew at CH were intrigued by Big Mama. That’s not surprising, of course. People are often intrigued when they see a harp guitar for the first time. Although I’ve been working for decades now towards harp guitarists taking over the world, we’re not there yet. While definitely making strides, it’s slow going – world domination doesn’t happen overnight!  What I already knew going in was that I wouldn’t be the first person with a harp guitar to have played CH. A band leader back in the early 20th century named James Reese Europe had a group called the Clef Club which had a couple of harp guitarists in it. I was about to add a link here to my friend Gregg Miner’s blog post about the Clef Club when he just (literally a few minutes ago) published this brand new post:

https://www.harpguitars.net/2025/03/24/harp-guitars-at-carnegie-hall/ 

That link will give you some photos from Saturday, as well as a sense of the whole show.  

It was great fun for me. It won’t surprise you to hear that getting a standing ovation at Carnegie Hall is a wonderful thing for a musician to experience. I now know that firsthand. It’s a wonderful thing indeed!

I didn’t really get to know Gonky (mom’s grandfather whose harp guitar I wound up with in the late 1980s), because he died in 1968 and I’d only ever met him briefly a couple of times. Nonetheless, as a few people have said to me since the show, he’d probably have been quite tickled to know that his instrument had been played on such a storied stage as Carnegie Hall, and by his great-grandson, no less.  

There were a number of other wonderful things about the evening as well. That my son Will, and daughter-in-law Erin, came from California to be there with Nancy and I was wonderful. One of Nancy’s dearest friends came to the show from New Hampshire – for her 70th birthday – was great! A bunch of other friends (old and new), neighbors, and family members were able to be there, and that was wonderful too!  

Here’s another thing that happened that was truly soul-satisfying: As I walked out of Carnegie Hall to go back to the hotel, I found Will waiting there to help me carry stuff. There were a couple of other guys waiting there as well, waiting to talk to me. One was a black veteran who wanted to thank me for The Black Gunners. If you don’t recall what that tune is about, go find your copy of my CD Still On The Line. The full explanation is there. A very abbreviated version would be that the composition is an homage to the black sailors (and by extension) to all the black and other marginalized members of the armed forces who, when push came to shove, courageously jumped into the breach. As I told the audience on Saturday night, for one example of that, do a quick search for “Doris Miller” and you will see what I am referring to. The Black Gunners came from a very specific set of circumstances that are really quite fascinating. That’s all laid out in the liner notes of the CD I mentioned above. 

For me, the bottom line of that encounter with the black veteran was a sign that I had succeeded in doing what I set out to do with that composition. First, to honor those who had been marginalized, and second, in so doing, to hopefully provide a small bit of healing to a very damaged world. A very tiny bandaid indeed, a barely perceptible one perhaps, but it was most assuredly perceived that night. And that means the world to me. 

I was told ahead of time that the show would be recorded and that I would get a copy of it for private use. However, a few hours before showtime I was informed by the person who was doing the recording for Jason Ji (who had arranged this show) that there wasn’t enough computer memory available to record everything so I had to choose just one tune. I opted for the finale (What A Wonderful World) that I played with Jason and the terrific string quartet (made up of Danny, Annie, Reed and Cedric). I haven’t received that yet. However, Nancy recorded it with her phone (as did a few others). I will share the version recorded from the mixing board when I get it. Nancy will likely post her version on FB. 

Best to all, Stephen