Posts made by SSmith1226

@administrator said in A little humour:

No BeeGees?

https://www.google.com/search?q=disco+bee&client=safari&prmd=sivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiKr6TyrY_jAhUFjVkKHeqeCyoQ_AUoAnoECAwQAg&biw=375&bih=635#imgrc=CS-cW2C_2yUv7M

@Kehaulani said in Community Band:

Shlivowitz. I love Shlivowitz!
Many good times with it - not that I remember.

A traditional Hawaiian beverage
When I was growing up I remember my grandfather from Czarist Russia, now Lithuania, drinking it. Also when I visited Romania and Poland I was exposed to it.

@barliman2001 said in Community Band:

@BigDub I'm in again for playing at the European Folklore Festival in Bitburg, Germany, with Welsh brass band Coronation Brass. ssmith1226 knows the routine, and has gone through that; but for every one else, I'll tell of the procedure.
Every year, a scratch band is formed for this event - mostly by word of mouth and b e-mail. Then, from the four corners of the earth, around 25 people gather in Bitburg on a Friday afternoon, have a drink or two together and get handed a folder of sheet music from the Great British Brass Band Repertoire, usually containing two or three big Championship Section test pieces of the past, a couple of marches and a selection from the musical cheeseboard. And then everyone is told to don their black tie outfits and be ready to play (i.e. perform in front of an eexpectant public) within the hour, for two to three hours, and then have a go at drinking the brewery cellars empty. Next morning, after breakfast, play three minor half-hour gigs, then a big two-hour event, then another all-night open air concert... and repeat until Monday evening. In all, from Friday to Monday, Coronation Brass manages to squeeze in more or less fifteen hours performance time.
No rehearsal, just sight reading.
And the crowds love it.

Quite a number of player manage to help out in other bands while Coronation Brass is officially resting...

Everything Barliman2001 said is absolutely true, although the part where he says “meeting for a drink or two” and “drinking the brewery cellars empty” are both exaggerations, specifically under-exaggerations. Specifically first the wine cellars are emptied, then following that at 10:00 AM the beer cellars are emptied for the first time, after additional afternoon performances the free Bitburg Brewery Beer Fountain opens, after the evening performances, the beer cellars empty again, and lastly some type of schnapps gets broken out that tastes like a cherry flavored “Shlivowitz” with double the punch.

Now in all fairness, Barliman2001 does not drink alcohol, so maybe that accounts for the under-exaggeration. For the most part, I don’t either and might normally average 1 beer per month. As a result of last summer’s festival in Bitburg, my liver is still recovering

I also want to thank Barliman2001 for his kind words about me being his “wingman”, playing second trumpet on the Vienna Klezmer Orchestra Tour and second cornet with the Coronation Brass Band. I learned a lot from him and can attest that he is a great player. I appreciate his “over exaggeration” of my abilities.

Photos top to bottom:
The infamous Bitburg Beer Fountain before official drainage
Barlman2001 showing his temporary British Citizenship and participating in Official Diplomatic Relations
Barliman2001 debating the Brexit thing
Barliman2001 and I at a Coronation Brass Band Performance
SSmith1226 taking on temporary British Citizenship
Barlimsn2001 and I at a Vienna Klezmer Orchestra Rehearsal pre tour

@Kehaulani said in Community Band:

I asked about Les because I worked with him in the past and the last I knew, he was conducting a Florida community band (a hurricane refugee from the Mississippi gulf coast).

At least two members of his “Kingdom of the Sun Concert Band” from Ocala were scheduled to participate (French Horn and Percussion).

I did not meet or see Les Muncaster. It is possible that he was at this convention, but literally all my time there was taken up in rehearsals and preparation.

Conductors in rehearsals and performance included Ivan Wansley, Jimmy Parker, Doug Phillips, John Southall, Don Snowden, Gary Green, and Alfred Watkins. All were superb conductors and very passionate in their analysis and instruction.

The participating musicians, ages 18 - 94 were in the top tier of their individual organizations. I’m not sure how I got assigned to playing the second trumpet part rather than third trumpet part, when you take into account the talent within the section, but it was a great experience playing with these conductors and the entire band of musicians of such high caliber.

@Kehaulani said in Community Band:

I think the schedule was dictated by the time constraints and the finances of the participants. In my experience, such a schedule is not common. I would add, though, that the choice of music for the program doesn't sound very wise to me. What was the program?

I had an interesting experience this week. Several months ago I got accepted to the Florida “All Star Community Band”. It is made up of around 110 musicians from around fifty or more community bands from all over the state who are recommended by their local band directors. Every few years this band forms and performs at the State of Florida Band Directors Conference. In general, each player in the band comes from the first or second seat in their home band’s section. Through attrition, not talent, I as a three and a half year comeback player, sit in the second seat of the first trumpet section of my home band. Most of the participsnts have extended experience and are great musicians. Each piece played is chosen and conducted by different “all star” conductors from around the state.
We all got together for the first time Monday afternoon and evening. Our rehearsal lasted over 5 hours.
At 8:15 am Tuesday we met again and rehearsed until 5:00 pm with a 1 hr lunch break.
Wednesday we met at 8:15 am again and rehearsed until 12 noon including a dress rehearsal from 11:00 to 12:00. At 3:30 we started our 1 hr concert. By the start of the concert, my lip was like a piece of wood. Fortunately I was one of four people assigned second cornet / trumpet, but never the less the pieces were quite challenging.
Out of curiosity, have any of you experienced such intense sessions culminating in a high profile, high level performance without major rest? If so, was this at an amateur level, or professional level. Is this what a professional band or orchestra goes through routinely, or is this an exception. I felt very sorry for the first trumpet players, but somehow they held up and did a great job. I certainly had my problems often times could be heard playing unison with the trombones, or blowing occlusal air balls.
Never the less it was a challenging but great experience. If given the opportunity, I would do it again.

As I sent the above post in, I was, and still am,
a passenger in a car on the Florida Turnpike around Miami. I looked up and directly in front of me was this truck. Notice that it says “& More”. Who in this world, in their right mind, would want more?

This is one I’ve seen before. Hopefully not here, and if so, hopefully not posted by me.

An aphorism is a statement of truth or opinion expressed in a concise and witty manner. The term is often applied to philosophical, moral and literary principles.

1. I read that 4,153,237 people got married last year. Not to cause any trouble, but shouldn't that be an even number?

2. l find it ironic that the colors red, white, and blue stand for freedom until they are flashing behind you.

3. When wearing a bikini, women reveal 90% of their body. Men are so polite they only look at the covered parts.

4. Relationships are a lot like algebra. Have you ever looked at your X and wondered Y?

5. America is a country which produces citizens who will cross the ocean to fight for democracy but won't cross the street to vote.

6. You know that tingly little feeling you get when you love someone? That's your common sense leaving your body.

7. My therapist says I have a preoccupation with vengeance. We'll see about that.

8. They say that money talks .. but all mine ever says is good-bye.

9. So you've put on a few pounds. You're not fat, you're just easier to see.

10. If you think nobody cares whether you're alive, try missing a couple of payments.

11. I have always wondered what the job application is like at Hooters. Do they just give you a bra and say, "Here, fill this out?"

12. I can't understand why women are OK that JC Penney has an older women's clothing line named, "Sag Harbor."

13. Denny's has a slogan, "If it's your birthday, the meal is on us." If you're in Denny's and it's your birthday, your life sucks!

14. The location of your mailbox shows you how far away from your house you can go in a robe before you start looking like a mental patient.

15. I think it's neat how Chinese people made a language entirely out of tattoos.

16. Money can't buy happiness, but it keeps the kids in touch!

17. The reason Mayberry was so peaceful and quiet was because nobody was married. Andy, Aunt Bea, Barney, Floyd, Howard, Goober, Gomer, Sam, Ernest T. Bass, Helen, Thelma Lou, Clara and, of course, Opie, were all single. The only married person was Otis, and he stayed drunk.

@Vulgano-Brother said in A little humour:

What's the definition of perfect pitch? When you throw a banjo in the bin and it lands on an accordion.

@J-Jericho said in A little humour:

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.

Come to think of it, the attempted radio theft was shortly after I moved from NYC to New Orleans, probably around 1976. It occurred in the parking lot of Charity Hospital of New Orleans.
The thieves were less sophisticated than the Manhattan thieves and definitely left the connectors attached to the car wiring. Their motives and needs were probably the same as you pointed out for the Manhattan group. You’re right, they probably didn’t have a knife since they tried to twist or tear the radio off, stretching the tape. They probably only had a gun and didn’t want to damage the radio with it.
I know that sounds harsh and judgmental, but my five years spent in New Orleans was primarily taken up by providing trauma surgical care to the “Knife and Gun Club” that was very active at that time. Human life was not valued by this “Club”.
On the other hand, the location of this attempted theft was fortuitous. I do remember using Medical Adhesive Tape, which I borrowed from the hospital, to reenforce the installation, and insulate the wire where I twisted stripped wires back together.

@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.

@BigDub said in A little humour:

Then there’s this........

Variation 2 & 3

@Vulgano-Brother said in A little humour:

Prequel
Imagine this: A knock on the door. The victim answers it. The President of the Condo Association says, “We have all taken a vote and want to offer you $150 for your Banjo.” The victim thinks about it and says, “No.”

Please excuse this post placed under “Humor”. It is about Father’s Day, and being posted on the day itself, I felt that the discussion would be very limited and short lived. Never the less I wanted to share my thoughts with the group. Being a comeback of three years I have done virtually no posting in the technical sections of trumpet playing, so I am posting these thoughts in the section that I have the highest comfort level in.
It’s Father’s Day today in the United States, which caused me to reflect on the past 40 years of my life. During this time I have lived in the Florida Keys, a 112 mile long chain of beautiful tropical islands interconnected with roads and bridges south of the Florida Peninsula. I raised my family there, and now my children, who are well into their own independent lives, are raising their children. Over the last 40 years I have witnessed many touching situations. The following is one of the most memorable and touching experiences I have had in the Keys involving a father and his children, outside of my own family. It’s about a friend of mine, Doug P....r who was born in the Keys, as were generations before him dating back to the mid 19th century, when they came over by boat from the Bahamas. Doug was a true “Conch”.
Doug P.....r lived all his life in the Florida Keys and was on his deathbed. He knew the end was near. His nurse, his wife, his daughter and two sons, were with him. He asked for two witnesses to be present and a camcorder be in place to record his last wishes. This is where I came into the story as a witness. When all was ready he began to speak:
“My son, Bernie, I want you to take the Ocean Reef houses.”
“My daughter Sybil, I want you to take the offices over the Marathon Government Center.”
“My son, Jamie, I want you to take the apartments between Mile Marker 100 and Tavernier.”
“Sarah, my dear wife, please take all the residential buildings on the bayside on Blackwater Sound.”
The nurses and witnesses were literally blown away, as none of us realized that this wonderful man, the consummate father and husband, who lived his whole life so modestly had such extensive holdings. As Doug slipped quietly away, the nurse said, “Mrs. P....r, your husband must have been such a hard working man to have accumulated all this property.
Sarah, his wife, replied, “The asshole had a paper route.”

@SSmith1226 said in pet peeves:

@Dr-GO said in pet peeves:

@SSmith1226 said in pet peeves:

I will ruminate over that.

For that, you get my udder respect.

That is very kind of you. Your words make me feel like I am teetering on the verge of something big.

And here it is from Harvard Medical School, which brings us in a full circle to where we started: