Posts made by J. Jericho

When my Claude Gordon Benge and my tuner and all my music were stolen, along with a cooler with food, they were in the back of the car hidden under a blanket (we were traveling, and there was no room in the trunk). The thieves used a coat hanger to open the door, left the hanger on the floor of the car under the passenger seat, and relocked the car when they left.

We were among many at the police station with others who had had similar experiences, other than the part about the thieves locking the car afterward. The police said that in their experience the trumpet was probably on its way to another part of the country and that it probably wouldn't turn up locally. It has not been found, and it has been decades since the theft.

Yes, there are many variations on abstract painting which succeed as art and not as garbage, but like any artistic endeavor, there is a whole range of competence and lack thereof. One would not look at abstraction, however slight, and declare it to be photographic, but to be offended at such a compliment reveals a lack of character and ability IMO. A lot of art consists of sycophants stroking fragile egos over what, from any rational perspective, is crap, not art.

Read the seller's feedback. You might be surprised.

It occurred to me that if the thieves can't sell your horn, they might toss it in a dumpster to distance themselves from loot that is hotter than they anticipated.

@Newell-Post I know that awful feeling myself. I posted your FB page on TromboneChat.com and TheMouthpiece.com .

@Bob-Pixley said in Community Band:

I've never understood why directors punish the musicians with rehearsals right before a performance. Surely they realize they are tiring the musicians to the point that the last rehearsal is the best performance, not the concert.

You have described perfectly a Big Band concert when I was in college. The director had us come in early so we could run through some spots he wasn't satisfied with. Then we went through the entire concert. Then we went through the entire concert again. Then a short break, followed by showtime! Everyone was a bit fatigued, and I was the featured soloist out in front of the band for one of the charts. I was not at my best, and the audience could hear it. After the number I took my bow and trotted back to the trumpet section so I could get there before the applause died down.

@BigDub said in Artist on BOARD:

There are elite artists who would not take kindly to a remark like, "your paintings look like photographs".

Those would be the ones that mass produce "starving artist" travesties. I wouldn't use the term "elite"; "hack" seems more appropriate.

@GeorgeB said in Artist on BOARD:

@BigDub
At first glance I could have sworn I was looking at a photograph.

My reaction exactly.

Very interesting and entertaining comparison. Thank you for taking the time to make this video.

My reactions*:

Arban's - The contrasts were the most noticeable here.

#1 - Nice, typical trumpet sound
#2 - Fuller, cleaner than #1
#3 - Slightly nasal sound
#4 - Nice, typical trumpet sound, very much like #1
#5 - Darker, similar to #2, but not quite as clear a tone

Joy Spring

#1 - Nice, typical trumpet sound
#2 - Slightly fuller, cleaner than #1
#3 - Nice, typical trumpet sound, similar to #1
#4 - Nice, typical trumpet sound, similar to #1 and #3, although you seemed on the verge of cracking a few notes
#5 - Compact sound, reminiscent of Clifford Brown. Guess which term you used to describe the Blessing Super Artist you demo'd?

Phil Collins' Hanging Long Enough

#1 - Bright
#2 - Bright, slightly fuller
#3 - Brighter, seemingly easy to play
#4 - As bright as #3
#5 - Slightly tinny, shrill; it looked like you used more effort to play this one.

• As usual, the $0.02 fee is waived for my opinion.

What makes for great valves? Speed and reliability, a feeling of lightness, spring resistance appropriate to your fingers, not too stiff and not too soft.

Now where did I put that can of worms?... Oh, yeah, here it is! Let's open it, shall we?

In thinking about this subject, I reviewed in my mind which valves felt better to me, since they all met the qualifications I mentioned above, and I came up with something the "perfect" valves have in common: Monel. While all the horns I played with traditional nickel plate worked fine - no complaints - all the ones coated with Monel felt even more effortless than the nickel ones. And while the line between the two is exceedingly fine, it nevertheless is absolute in my experience.

My question is: How can that be, if the valve oil prevents valve contact with the bores? I don't know if the valve clearance tolerances, which I'm sure varied at least a little from horn to horn, make a difference. With horns placed in my hand in a blind test, the nickel valves felt somehow heavier and cruder than the Monel valves, and yet they all functioned identically.

Comments? Questions?

@Newell-Post Is this a valid link? I get an Error 404 message.

Repositioning the tubing inside and out is an alternative, but I wonder if it really makes a difference in the way it plays compared to the design we are more accustomed to. Other factors affect the way an instrument plays. For Wiss to attribute the openness to the valve block design may or may not be accurate. It may contrubute; it may not. It looks to me like the Wiss trumpet would be awkward to hold for the left hand, with the tubing pressing against the palm.

@SSmith1226 I went to Nawlins once, after my wife twisted my arm to do so. It was exactly as I had expected and anticipated. I won't be back. They do have fantastic barbecue, though.

Now that I think about it, cutting the wires gives the thief both parts of the connectors. That makes it easier to reinstall in another vehicle. That still doesn't explain the duct tape. Perhaps the thief didn't want to get caught with a knife.

@SSmith1226 said in A little humour:

@J-Jericho said in A little humour:

An oldie, but it gives me a chance/excuse to comment:

Q. What is the shortest period of time ever measured?
A. The period of time between the traffic light changing to green and the driver behind you blowing their horn in New York City (a.k.a. a New York second).

My uncle (since deceased) never had this problem, as he would always launch before the light changed to green.

He lived in Brooklyn, not far at all from John Gotti's home. He and my aunt lived in a co-op, and he had to park his car on the street. Well, one day his car wouldn't start. He checked to see what was wrong, and the battery was gone. He replaced the battery, and the next time he went to his car, it was gone. Apparently the thieves didn't want starting problems, so they made sure my uncle's car had a new battery before they stole it.

I lived in Manhattan between 1970 and 1974. I would park my car between E23rd Street and the East River. After I lost my first battery I put a cable hood lock on the car. On a couple of occasions I found the hood unlatched but the cable saved my battery from being stolen.
After my car radio disappeared I replaced it with a RadioShack radio that I installed myself under the dash with duct tape. The geniuses who tried to steal the radio cut all my wires to the radio rather then pull the connectors apart, as they were designed to do, but didn’t have the technical ability to figure out how to cut the many layers of duct tape that I used to secure the radio under the dash board. I never could understand how the original thieves were sophisticated enough to remove the factory installed radio but the follow up thieves couldn’t figure out how to cut the duct tape or uncouple the connectors. I guess they were amateurs.

Maybe they had the shakes from withdrawal from whatever drugs they were addicted to and coudn't concentrate.

An oldie, but it gives me a chance/excuse to comment:

Q. What is the shortest period of time ever measured?
A. The period of time between the traffic light changing to green and the driver behind you blowing their horn in New York City (a.k.a. a New York second).

My uncle (since deceased) never had this problem, as he would always launch before the light changed to green.

He lived in Brooklyn, not far at all from John Gotti's home. He and my aunt lived in a co-op, and he had to park his car on the street. Well, one day his car wouldn't start. He checked to see what was wrong, and the battery was gone. He replaced the battery, and the next time he went to his car, it was gone. Apparently the thieves didn't want starting problems, so they made sure my uncle's car had a new battery before they stole it.