Posts made by barliman2001

@tjcombo said in Martin Committee Club:

@LaTrompeta (sadly?) my only test blow of a Committee left me cold. I know that it's not a good idea to judge a horn by a short blow of one example, but my favourite horns all had something to like from the first tootle. Unfortunately the prices of even "renovator's delight" Committees now makes it unlikely that I'll get to live with one for long enough to try again.

I have no experience of Committees - but I second that view that a horn should say "I want you" at the first blow. I just had that experience with a Courtois Balanced (1956 vintage). It went straight to my heart. And more than once now I've had a pure Courtois gig bag - the Bb Balanced, the C and the flugel... The Balanced has good valves, but is in questionable shape as to optics - the previous owner obviously loved it and played it for many, many years. And as soon as all the New Year and ball season gigs are over, the Courtois will have a short holiday with Votruba's for a full refit including replating. It's only the second of my horns that deserves that.

@SSmith1226

A reporter is doing an item about the longevity of inmates in a home. The first guy he meets looks like sixty, but exclaims, proudly, "Young man, last week I had my eighty-fifth birthday!" - "And how did you do it, sir?" - "No alcohol my whole life, no tobacco, and only had one little flirtation with a girl." Impressed, the reporter accosts another inmate who looks slightly older than the first: "And you, sir?" - "Don't waste your time with that riotous youngster! I'm ninety-nine. No alcohol, only vegan food, no tobacco, and no women at all. And just look at me!" - "Congratulations, sir," says the reporter and approaches a most decrepit-looking senior in the lounge. "And you, sir, did you use the same recipe as your neighbours ?" - "Me? No fear! I drank whatever there was to drink, I smoked heavily, and no girl was safe from me. And I had lovely steaks with chips, and won every eating contest on the calendar..." - "Oh really, sir? And may I ask your age?" - "Me? I'm twenty-nine and the ward nurse!"

@ButchA said in SEASON'S GREETINGS:

I made my "toxic rum balls" if anyone wants one! LOL...

Edit:
<disclaimer>
I am not responsible for any DUI's or anything like that. Do not drive, do not operate machinery, after you have a few of these!!!
</disclaimer>

That sounds like the Scotsmans Breakfast. It consists of one large steak, a Border Collie and a bottle of whiskey.

The Collie gets the steak.

@Bertie said in Christmas Services:

Oh, I wanted a week free, but I got last minute gig for New year's eve lutheran church service in Munich (3 trumpets + 3 trombones). And now I have to practice . My son was born a week ago, so you know... not much sleep anyway

CONGRATULATIONS!

Ok, change of topic. A guy is drinking in a bar with his friends and seems pretty miserable. "What's the matter, Jake?" one friend asks. "Normally, you're the life and soul of the party, and tonight you're like a mouse eaten by a snake..." - "It's my mother-in-law," he says. "She's changed her will and totally disinherited us, just because I looked at her." - "That's pretty nasty, for such a minor thing." - "Well, it happened as we were saying Grace at lunch, and I looked at her when we reached, 'and deliver us from Evil'..."

At this point, maybe we should open a sub-thread "Parrot jokes"...

An elderly lady wants to buy a parrot (never-ending story...). She is shown a parrot and asks of the bird, "Now, you pretty bird, can you talk?" - "Now, you old hag, can you fly?" is the parrot's reply.

Parrots... A guy walks into a pet shop and wants to buy a parrot. A talking one. The salesman fetches one, saying, "This one is a great parrot for poetry." - "Why has he got those two strings on his feet?" - "It's like this: If you pull the left string, he quotes Shakespeare. And if you pull the right string, he recites Wordsworth." - "And what if I pull both strings together?" The parrot intervenes, "Then I fall off, you idiot!"

Brilliant idea - in the US. In Europe, that piece unfortunately is played out due to being used as a TV fanfare, cropping up every time a show is broadcast over the all-European network.

@Dr-GO said in Christmas Services:

Finished my Christmas Performance at the Lutheran Church just a few hours ago, the last service ending about 12:15 AM! Two Services were played. One at 7 pm, the other started at 10:30 pm.

The organ/trumpet combo was just perfect. The organist arranged I play each hymn with the lyrical line the first verse, sit out the second verse (choir only sings) the descant vocal line for the third verse, and the trumpet descant part (the piccolo lines) for the forth verse. That REALLY was a nice way to present the parts as ending with the descant piccolo line really made the ending ring out in the church.

That's Christmas Service as it should be.

A Christmas thought:
What would a crib be without Jews, Arabs and Foreigners? -
Just an ox and an ass.

"Please, sir," an old lady asks of the Cemetery Official, "where can I find grave 458, row 19?" - "Strewth! Sneaking away like that and not finding home again!"

A couple were celebrating their Silver Wedding, and a friend asked them for their recipe for their married happiness.
"Oh, it's quite simple," the husband said. "Once a week, we have a romantic candlelight dinner, followed by a hot night in a luxury hotel."
"Sounds good, " the friend said. "And when do you find the time for that?" -
"Mine's every Thursday," the wife said, "and his every Sunday."

@GeorgeB said in Christmas Services:

@barliman2001
Now that was one really interesting situation. Playing in the cold is definitely no fun. But I'm sure you did well, sir.

As to playing in the cold - one Austrian oompah band a few years back bought several score of hand warmers (working with burning coal sticks inside) to zip tie to the valve blocks of instruments to avoid freezing (which is liable to happen at below zero temperatures). On one occasion, before a Christmas market gig, these hand warmers were lit and issued. Most of the guys directly zip tied them to the instruments and just carried the unwrapped instruments to the gig ( a few hundred yards down the road). One of the flugel players did not yet bother to fumble with the zip ties but just tossed the hand warmer into his gig bag. Half-way down to the gig, his bag was giving off smoke signals... the hand warmer had come undone and spilt the burningcoal inside, setting the lining on fire... when the guy investigated and opened up the bag, he was welcomed by a raging flame. The local fire brigade had a busy fifteen minutes putting the blazing bag out, and the insurance later refused to pay for the burnt-up flugel (an almost new gold-plated Votruba Professional worth around € 5,000) due to "culpable negligence".

@GeorgeB said in Christmas Services:

@barliman2001
Now that was one really interesting situation. Playing in the cold is definitely no fun. But I'm sure you did well, sir.

We did miserably. No doubt about it.

OK, first interim report. Played a Midnight Christmas service last night, as additional trumpet for a group consisting of a Lutheran parson and his seven daughters. The church we played in is rarely used - Christmas, Easter, and the occasional wedding - so the heating in the church had only been switched on an hour previous. No snow yet, but bloody cold. No rehearsal - just a list of numbers from the Lutheran Hymn book and its official Trombone Choir Arrangement book. The group - the parson, on a vintage Yamaha rotary. Daughter One on a rather decrepit Amati French horn. Daughter Two on a Cerveny rotary tenor horn, Daughter Three on a ramshackle Jupiter student bone, Daughter Four on an ancient Conn bellfront euphonium. Daughters Five and Six on no-name rotary baritone horns, and Daughter Seven, the youngest and smallest (age 13 and a half) on an enormous 1890s vintage Bb tuba. And, of course, the parson's wife on a pair of timps with half the tuning screws broken off.
We tuned up about 15 minutes before service. Then, there was a long wait because quite a few dignitaries had turned up (vice mayor, fire chief, police chief, President of the Lions Club, President of the Lutheran Women's League, the Catholic Priest with the President of the Parish Council) and were saying a few words as Christmas greetings. First tune was played an exact 40 minutes after tune-up, in a freezing church... we sounded like a fire truck with asthma. The cooling of the instruments had worked havoc with the tuning, and a few of the daughters just were unable to provide enough air for their instruments... In total, we played nine tunes and decided not to continue carolling after the service (as had been planned), as the tuba and one of the baritones had seized up due to cold...

Well, the Getzen Eterna picc escaped me, and Trent has agreed to find me one of his ACB Doubler piccs, so as soon as he accepts my money, I'll try it out and report.

Well, I think a Festivus song would not be in the spirit of the festival... unless you take all your grievances and make them into one long rap. Or you could use this...

@ACB said in Which picc?:

@barliman2001 Sorry for the delay I just got back from the Midwest Show and saw this note. This was not a confirmed sale (as you mention about transferring funds we did not have payment for this order... if we had a confirmed payment we would have held the horn) and we then had someone purchase it at a show. Unfortunately for us we have been burned so many times about people ordering an instrument and not paying losing out on other sales. Our company policy is that all horns are available until a fully confirmed payment has been made.

We offered an alternative option and obviously you are disappointed. I do see your side and would like to see if there's anything I can do to make this happen. Feel free to email us again and perhaps we can get you another demo. I will see if that's possible.

Respectfully,

Trent

Hi Trent,

hope I am not annoying you by taking up this thread again. But I feel that I judged your offer of the ACB Doubler picc hastily. I've just come across your 2017 video comparing the Scherzer with the ACB Doubler, and that has me convinced. Taking into account that obviously at the time, you were less at home with rotaries than with pistons, and that playing a Scherzer with the same mouthpiece as the ACB Doubler will have the Scherzer in difficulties because rotary piccs (and the Scherzer in particular) want something very special in mouthpieces, like a Breslmair G1, the sound of the ACB Doubler was really amazing. So I'm taking up your offer of the ACB Doubler picc, and I have put one into my online cart. Thank you.

@ACB said in Which picc?:

@barliman2001 Sorry for the delay I just got back from the Midwest Show and saw this note. This was not a confirmed sale (as you mention about transferring funds we did not have payment for this order... if we had a confirmed payment we would have held the horn) and we then had someone purchase it at a show. Unfortunately for us we have been burned so many times about people ordering an instrument and not paying losing out on other sales. Our company policy is that all horns are available until a fully confirmed payment has been made.

We offered an alternative option and obviously you are disappointed. I do see your side and would like to see if there's anything I can do to make this happen. Feel free to email us again and perhaps we can get you another demo. I will see if that's possible.

Respectfully,

Trent

Well, seems there are differences in the US and Europe what is considered "an agreed sale". It's difficult enough buying from the States, what with some sellers not even considering non-US customers. But that's just how the world is, and we'll leave it at that. All the best, and have a Merry Christmas.