2007年VOA标准英语-Blues Harmonica Blowout Tour Features Harp Supe

By Doug Levine
Washington
05 January 2007

Bluesman Mark Hummel hasn't taken a vacation in years. He's too busy touring and making records. As VOA's Doug Levine tells us, Hummel's also the founder² and bandleader of the internationally acclaimed³ Blues¹ Harmonica Blowout series.

 
Blues Harmonica Blowout on the road
If being a top-notch recording⁴ artist for the past 25 years wasn't enough, singer, songwriter and harmonica master Mark Hummel spends much of the year touring with some of the best blues harmonica players in the business.

While the tour's official name is the Blues Harmonica Blowout, club owners from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Fresno, California, advertise it as the "Superstars Of The Blues Harp⁵." Hummel says he had no idea that it would become such a blockbuster event when he launched the series in Northern California 15 years ago.

 
Mark Hummel

"It started as just one in Berkeley, the very first one," he said. "And then, the second year I might have done two, and the third year I did maybe four, and the year after that six of them. And when I say more of them I mean I would spread them out around California."

"In the last eight years it's been a lot of real big names," he added. "People like James Cotton, Charlie Musselwhite, Kim Wilson, Snooky Pryor, Sam Meyers, Cary Bell, Cephus and Wiggins, Lazy Lester, Lee Oskar, Jerry Portnoy, all kinds of people."

 
Ain't Easy No More
Despite its demands, the Blues Harmonica Blowout hasn't slowed down Mark Hummel's solo output. In fact, at the height of one of his busiest Blowouts, he released a new CD, "Ain't Easy No More," with his group The Blues Survivors⁶. One song on the album is dedicated⁷ to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the city of New Orleans.

"It affected⁸ me big time because I've played New Orleans for 20 years and I have a lot of friends there and I love it," he said. "It's a great town. I've always done a lot of New Orleans songs materially in my show, and so yeah, it affected me big time."

The Blues Harmonica Blowout is already off to a busy start in 2007, with stops in 10 cities in California before heading to the East Coast during the month of March.

1 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

2 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

3 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

4 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

5 harp   

n.竖琴；天琴座

参考例句：

• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
• He played an Irish melody on the harp.他用竖琴演奏了一首爱尔兰曲调。

6 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

7 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

8 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。