Re: Earplugs for loud session?
Ringing ears is both bad and a warning. I already wear hearing aids, so I have to be very careful to protect my hearing. When I go to "blues night" at my local, I take off my hearing aids and install earplugs -- foam cones that expand in the entrance to the ear. The bar used to give these away, and now "sells" them for a dollar, actually a charitable donation. They're designed for one use. Similar hearing aids, that can be reused, are available at the drugstore for under ten dollars. They work fine, and do what they're supposed to, block out excessive volume while allowing music through. Pre-covid, I carried a pair of the drugstore earplugs around with me in case I ended up in a loud situation. I don't normally encourage people to use disposable products, but, in this case, I make an exception.
Now, if I can just get the younger singers to enunciate, I might have some idea what they're saying in those songs they laboured over -- not that I look to the blues for clear pronunciation; I mean in other musical genres.
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.
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