Posts made by BigDub

This is something I also had made into a print. it is available if you are interested, message me for details.

ready for another one? well, here is one I recently parted with...it is a satisfying thing to have people actually want to add my paintings to their collections. Better than sitting in my studio collecting dust and not have anyone looking at them for long stretches of time!And- maybe this will cool you off a little

another addition. This is from Idaho at Redfish Lake. I personally took the reference photos and did this piece as a gift for our Niece and her husband about a year ago

@barliman2001 said in Community Band:

OK - I'm back from Bitburg, and have come back to life sufficiently to tell you about how it was this time.
Friday, 4 am: Get up, quick clean, load up the rather tiny car with three brass players, four cases and five instruments. Eight hour drive to Bitburg. Short lunch. Get music, change into informal band gear and play a two-hour gig sight reading. six hours of revelry and drinking afterwards.
Saturday: Play a 15-minute gig at the Opening of the Festival (new repertoire - all sight-reading). Help out the local band on baritone horn for their 15-min gig. Have free lunch and drinks. Play two-hour open air gig (again, not a single repeated piece). Have dinner and more drinks. Play from 8 pm until lights out at 10 (again, not a single repeated piece. Soprano player is asked whether he ever did the Penny Lane solo. Replies, no, but will try. Nails the solo perfectly, says, "I was too drunk to miss anything". More drinks until 2 pm.
Sunday, 10 am, the beer fountain opens up. Free beer for everyone for half an hour. Asked to help out local band on baritone, play a 90-minute gig with them, again sight-reading. After gig, asked to continue helping out at 2 pm. I'm a helpfu guy, so, yes. Coffee and superb rhubarb cake at local bakery. At 5 pm, play 90-minute gig with Coronation Brass (repiano cornet). 30 minutes for a quick shower and dress up in dinner jacket for Flag Ceremony. Assistant Principal already too drunk to attend. After Flag Ceremony, race back to open air stage to play from 8-10 pm. Several pieces played before!! Sop player asked to do Penny Lane again.
Drinks and revelry until 3 am.
Monday, 10-12 assistance to the local band on baritone. 2-4 pm Coronation Brass open air concert. Sop player asked to do Penny Lane again. Another round of drinks. Assistant Principal spills full bottle of red wine on white shirt and dinner jacket. Solo Horn player throws up and has hurriedly to leave the stage. First trombone changes to Eb Alto bone and plays Alto horn solo from "Malaguena". Colour Party of US Marines comes along (Bitburg has a US garrison), Bb bass player borrows officer's sword to behead a champagne bottle. Bottle crashes into thousands of splinters, champagne spilled all over Colour Party, sword has a clear dent and won't return to sheath. Rush over to Town Hall to play a one-hour gala concert there. Penny Lane as encore. Rush back to open air stage to play from 8 pm until "light too bad". Town has installed new lighting so that one COULD play all night. No pre-set programme, but pieces asked for by band members and audience. Penny Lane requested by two thirds of the band. Play until 11.30 pm, then Penny Lane as encore. Sop player celebrated as a hero, has twenty free beers shoved at him. Does not succumb (he's a Russian!). Clear up stage, dress in civvies, CELEBRATE. Beer fountain specially opened up just for Coronation Brass. Celebrate until breakfast.
Tuesday: After a late breakfast, pack up things, bundle into cars and return home (wherever that may be). For me, a twelve-hour drive home (many rests in between...)
See you next year, Bitburg!!

It was a day not without incident.

@SSmith1226 said in A little humour:

In order to keep this “semi-relevant” I should point out that featured subject of this video, Ramiro Gonzalez-Ganzales, AKA Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez, according to his Wikipedia Biography, was the son of a trumpet player. Now that we got that out of the way, he became a movie, television, and a cartoon voiceover actor after he was discovered by John Wayne when he appeared as a contestant on Groucho Marx’s show, “You Bet Your Life”. His career opened up acting careers and opportunities for many other actors of Mexican origin...
Here is the appearance that launched his career.

It was never a mistake who Groucho Marx put on his program. Without these oddball characters it would have been rather dull. He certainly played off them, though!

here is another one for you to look at. from my hometown of Griggstown, NJ

@djeffers78 said in Most bang for your buck!:

@administrator said in Most bang for your buck!:

I know how I feel:

If I want the tool now, I go to Harbor Freight. I pay for this later.

If I want a better tool a little later, I wait and go to Lowe's or Craigslist.

Either way, I pay later.

I’ve many Harbor Freight tools that have outlasted and outperformed many big name brands.

A very small core sample group, however. And you have either been very lucky or very careful with tools.....IMO

@Dr-GO said in Maynard was no disciplinarian ?:

@Kehaulani said in Maynard was no disciplinarian ?:

You're not well-mannered. It's called passive-aggressive.

Sometimes, musicians may become incontinent of urine, especially when playing high notes, loudly. I call that pissive-agressive.

It’s nice to have a qualified medical professional amongst us.

I had the good fortune to purchase my Getzen Eterna from a NY pro who really rarely played it. It was, and is still in pristine condition and is nearly 40 years old. So, in my case, a pro horn for $750 and not showing any quit.
There's my bang for the buck story.

I forgot one of his most profound quotes:
Baseball is 90% physical, and half mental.
And one more, when someone would ask him what time it was, he'd say, "you mean now?"

Wow. Those guys've got some moves, don’t they?
The bass player ( sorry ) looks like the Urangutan on Disney's Jungle Book.
That was unkind. I apologize.

@Dr-GO said in My First Complaint!:

I too like to keep piece with the neighbors. Now when I am rehearsing in my music room, no problem as it is in our lower level (below ground level) AND I have special soundproofing materials in the room's walls and ceiling (so I can play when my third shift working wife is sleeping.

If I should ever decide to play outside (usually with my outdoor speakers with my Sonos system) I insert a Harmon mute and play at the level of the speakers. I have never in the 5 years I have done this, had complaints from my neighbors.

AND when I go on vacations in hotels or cruise ships, I ALWAYS use my Yamaha silent mute (or a hand towel over my mouthpiece) and have NEVER had a complaint in all the decades I have practiced with these methods.

I didn’t even look to see who replied but recognized the practice room, Doc. But to whom do these foreign pieces of art belong? And where is your accordion? I would like an explanation......heh,heh, heh.

Some Other Yogi quotes.
When driving to Cooperstown with Whitey Ford and their wives after Whitey said he thought they were lost, Yogi said, “yeah, but we're making good time”
When asked how many slices he wanted his own small pizza to be cut into, 6 or 8, he said, better make it 6, I don't think I can eat 8 slices.
When playing the game 20 questions on the train, his first 2 questions were always: 1. is this person alive?
2. Is this person dead?
“ Nobody eats at that place anymore, it’s too crowded”
“ when you come to the fork in the road, take it”
“ Pair up in threes and do laps around the outfield”
“ it gets late out in left field early at that stadium”
In response to Mayor John Lindsey's wife telling Yogi he didn’t seem to be bothered by the heat at all: “ You don’t look so hot yourself” he said.

@Niner said in A little humour:

Yogi Berra explains Jazz.

Interviewer: Can you explain jazz?

Yogi: I can't, but I will. 90% of all jazz is half improvisation. The other half is the part people play while others are playing something they never played with anyone who played that part. So if you play the wrong part, its right. If you play the right part, it might be right if you play it wrong enough. But if you play it too right, it's wrong.

Interviewer: I don't understand.

Yogi: Anyone who understands jazz knows that you can't understand it. It's too complicated. That's what's so simple about it.

Interviewer: Do you understand it?

Yogi: No. That's why I can explain it. If I understood it, I wouldn't know anything about it.

Interviewer: Are there any great jazz players alive today?

Yogi: No. All the great jazz players alive today are dead. Except for the ones that are still alive. But so many of them are dead, that the ones that are still alive are dying to be like the ones that are dead. Some would kill for it.

Interviewer: What is syncopation?

Yogi: That's when the note that you should hear now happens either before or after you hear it. In jazz, you don't hear notes when they happen because that would be some other type of music. Other types of music can be jazz, but only if they're the same as something different from those other kinds.

Interviewer: Now I really don't understand.

Yogi: I haven't taught you enough for you to not understand jazz that well.

Once again, Yogi is credited with not saying anything about something he knew nothing about.

here's a bit of a change for me, in that it's a Historical scene of my home town. Around the turn of the century (20th) this was both a general store and post office. In my lifetime there was never a post office and this store was not there anymore. Another one opened a little down the road.

When I sing, vibrato is involuntary. To not have vibrato while singing takes a great deal of concentration. When I play trumpet it is almost always intentional and I have to make it happen in various ways.

@Kehaulani said in How do you feel about vibrato?:

Not really asking what one feels is logical, but authentic, original sources, i.e. texts, commentaries, etc. I could've been clearer.
No problem, Kehaulani, I understood and share your desire to really know some historical evidence as to when and how it began to be used.
In my effort to search it, some of those thoughts came to me as a result of things being mentioned about vibrato. They were mostly talking about singing. That brought up the idea to me that playing the trumpet can sometimes imitate the phrasing and expression of the vocalist. This includes vibrato, of course, which has also evolved over the years as to how much is appreciated and considered tasteful. I hear it when I watch old movies from way back.

@Kehaulani said in How do you feel about vibrato?:

When did vibrato become commonly used on trumpet?
Were earlier trumpets, in ensemble playing, vibratoless and then vibrato added later?
Did the technological advantages in trumpet construction have a concurrent influence on trumpet vibrato?

I believe the vibrato of the human voice was what trumpet players strove to emulate. Then came the process of trying to mimic it and the various techniques began to show themselves. This is only speculation on my part, but I think it might have some merit.

After a hard physical task a good vibrato can be quite a comfort.

I forgot to mention, that last Lighthouse Painting was from a photo by Ivan Hunter he kindly allowed me to use for reference. Thanks, Ivan!