tag/tuba
2010.06.02
--via xoxoxobruce... (who found it here) you know you don't see many sousaphones with the bell pointing up, though I'm not sure why not.
2010.11.06
I would like to add that is about the first realisticly drawn sousaphone I've seen in this kind of thing.
2010.11.07
2011.03.30
--via xoBruce. I guess that's a good warning for any hobos who might be asleep on the tracks!
2013.07.29
(Someone else's photo, but my horn!)
2013.10.13
Honk! Parade went well.
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2013.10.27
2014.07.21
I swear I should consider moving to JP one of these years.
Also, later, I grabbed Leigh's percussion wearable, and my cousin Bill took a shot:
2014.08.18
2014.10.31
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This year my tuba gets a costume too:
2014.11.16
2015.05.03
2015.07.10
2015.08.07
2015.10.11
(that yellow strip is a cheat sheet to "Seven Nation Army" I put on a long time ago....)
2015.11.07
2015.12.11
2015.12.13
2016.02.08
The 1991 Homecoming Game, by the looks of it.
2016.02.18
Good for anyone who has a fetish for badly lit vintage shots of the Henry Ford Museum.
2016.03.18
2016.04.30
(I was having a water bottle crisis where it somehow flooded by hip pack... I gotta stop carrying stuff during gigs :-) (local copy of video)
2016.05.02
Heh, Liz Ryan who throws together a marching group for Boston Pride asked me to record a little bassline I made up last year, to supplement the cadence the percussionists were doing.
It's meant to be easy on my jaw, 'cause it's kind of a long parade!
From "The Book of Honk", the School of Honk bass section:
2016.05.09
2016.05.15
2016.05.22
2016.06.12
Open Photo Gallery
It started raining but we still punctuated the event with "Thrift Shop"
Boogyin' down, nice to see Arlington making its own Porchfest:
With Charlo:
And backing our head honcho Kevin:
2016.06.21
By Nobuko Ichikawa. I'm not soloing (I think Carlos on the metal clarinet is), just dancing, but still, I love how expressive my posture and hands are... it's more cluttered than my previous profile-able tuba shot but has more energy, and I like that it's my own horn ("Beauty") not a School of Honk one I was borrowing for kicks.
2016.06.23
via
2016.06.30
2016.07.30
After JP Honk played Figment, I got myself framed by artist Franklin Marval
2016.09.01
2016.09.03
here I am front and center, both as we calmly played along with "Hall of the Mountain King" and then when we went into full on honkin' mode
2016.10.10
Photo by Candace Esslinger - this was the clear Saturday before the Drenched Sunday
2016.10.11
2016.10.16
I love the sky in the first one.
2016.12.29
Open Photo Gallery
Anyway, not too late to chip in for the Horns-o-Plenty fundraiser gettin' horns on hand for anyone who wants to join in. Bonus Skeletuba image from Andrew Huang:
2017.02.22
--photos by Andrew Huang
2017.02.26
Open Photo Gallery
2017.02.27
2017.03.29
(Click for a larger version - that's me and my tuba on the right, nice visual balance to the french horn, and showing the name of our metaband BABAM!)
Here's the photo from the web article
2017.03.31
that's my horn Scheiny on the right
2017.04.18
(The Ride 'Em Cowboy is my favorite from this batch - usually the tuba is riding me, nice to turn that around, though the "hero shot" might be even better than Franklin Marvel's Take at Figment.
Open Photo Gallery
Last years bass sectional photo was a little better, come to think of it:
2017.04.23
2017.04.25
2017.05.07
2017.06.10
2017.06.11
I LOVE the Boston Pride ParadeI LOVE the Boston Pride Parade. It shows our Commonwealth and our country at its best.
Posted by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren on Sunday, June 11, 2017
2017.07.08
2017.07.10
Open Photo Gallery
@School of Honk's performance, photo by Tom H
Imma tryin' to help Ezequiel use his tuba powers only for good... but also thanks to Robert for locating a good size sousaphone for him!
2017.08.09
A tuba player holds a weighty object and breathes deeply.
2017.08.13
photo by Jason Victor Rosenman
2017.08.20
I can't say enough that the folks playing in the protest band today were HEROES, going (nearly) nonstop for a good 4 hours, elevating and uplifting the entire event, sounding like a million bucks. Anyone who knows any of these Honkers, feel free to pass along my heartfelt thanks.
Posted by Sarah Darling on Saturday, August 19, 2017
These people are doing it right.
Violence allows Nazis to pretend to be victims.
Tubas just make them look like the dumbfucks they are.
2017.08.23
2017.08.27
2017.09.18
2017.09.21
Open Photo Gallery
2017.10.22
Open Photo Gallery
never let the sousaphone player alone with his horn and the rest of the champagne, tho (photo by Candace)
2017.11.12
2017.11.26
2018.02.20
2018.02.23
The Harvard Crimson did a short article on BABAM
2018.02.24
2018.04.18
--An old shot, but not sure it ever got on the site. A relatively rare tuba shot from the last few years in that I'm not playing Scheiny - trying out one of the School of Honk's polka dot horns.
2018.06.09
2018.06.14
2018.06.25
Had I know I'd'a worn a better T-shirt than Rick and Morty.
2018.07.08
Photo by Jonathan Richmond
More photos here (on FB, but works even in an incognito window)
2018.07.11
from a playlist of six videos from new member Sam
2018.08.03
Very flattering lens. Also last night we were reminded my car can fit TWO tubas...
On my devblog, the crushing equalizing of modern social mediums.
The Best TV Episodes of the past century. I liked the UI of this, with nicely sized clips starting as they scroll into view.
I always love lists of hard to translate words - this one has some especially important-to-that-culture ones.
2018.08.12
2018.08.18
Marie and my mom's old trombone!
2018.08.19
2018.09.28
photo by Jason Victor Rosenman, on PARKing Day
2018.10.09
HONK portrait by Steve Jewett
PRONK portrait by Daniela G
2018.10.29
--Shot at yesterday's rally for Transgender rights - If you live in MA Vote Yes on 3, please. If you know + like or love a TG person, or you don't but you're willing to believe the world is more complex than you mighta guessed, it's the humane thing to do.
2018.10.31
Open Photo Gallery
Marching with City Life / Vida Urbana to protest ghoulish landlord shenanigans--
Soldiers in reanimated skeleton armies would probably have to use sign language.
A few weeks ago at the Maker's Fair at the Boston Children's Museum:
2018.11.07
2018.11.17
2018.11.18
We did "Space Cadet", "Mercy Mercy Mercy", and then a "Little Light of Mine" singalong:
Same close-in:
Here friends made up a photocake:
Open Photo Gallery
I think the cake photo is a crop of this one:
But her "Anna Nicole Smith" costume photo was in the running:
2018.12.06
"Al Cass FAST" was my favorite valve oil even back in Cleveland - the rocketship and the way it proudly displayed its hometown really appealed to me, along with the"ODORLESS / WEATHER CONSCIOUS / DOES NOT SEPARATE" copy on the bottle, from an era when products sold themselves as much as facts as feelings. According to Wikipedia
[Al Cass] was the manufacturer and creator of the "FAST" valve/slide/key oil combination for brass instruments, which has been considered the industry standard since inception. It was developed after 18 months of R&D at the request and final approval of Dizzy Gillespie.which is super hip.
2018.12.07
BABAM Takes Music To The Streets from Julia Maruca on Vimeo.
2018.12.23
--Grinchy, wealthy universities have a change of heart and start making PILOT payments in City Hall Christmas fable
2018.12.31
2019.04.09
2019.04.26
2019.05.19
2019.09.16
photo from Now+There's twitter feed that has some good photos. Also, see Donna Dodson's video of the band.
Oh and earlier that day I posted this, with my usual selfie joke "feeling cute, might delete later" which is two half-lies.
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2019.09.21
2019.10.14
Open Photo Gallery
I liked the more serious look as I model my outfit...
There was a brigade of massive aliens that danced with School of Honk, including this terrific giant ape...
After our set JP Honk met its twin band, Unity Street Band from Syracuse NY - same color scheme and some overlap in music! We joined forces for the parade.
Plezi Rara at the PRONK ampitheater where JP Ponk played in the afternoon... they got some nice light!
Fun with the new iPhone's night stuff (I'm also really digging its wideangle lens...)
2019.10.20
Today I am marching in solidarity with the spooky skeletons that are inside us all, waiting to get out. #justwait
2019.10.26
Not sure who took the second, but they say it's #nofilter - lovely foliage and vibrant band outfits...
2019.11.22
2019.12.02
2020.03.27
Near-work photo from a more relaxed time, by Lloyd Park
(It's funny, at first I captioned this as 'from a simpler time', but the beauty of then was that it was more complex, but in enjoyable ways.)
2020.07.16
2020.09.12
I play the tuba. It's a rather pleasant way I have of passing time. In this world there are few instruments in which the very playing of the said instrument is in itself a physical endeavor. The tuba is one of them. "I am a tuba player," states my philosophy, "therefore I can do anything." I consider the tuba the penultimate instrument. First God created the tuba, then with the material remaining He/She created the other instruments. The ultimate instrument, of course, is the kazoo. But the the tuba is a close second.
I started playing brass in third grade. I started on a baritone, which is like a premature tuba. I look back with fond memories on the days when I could only play two notes, F and G, and those not very well. Then things became "sorta interesting," to quote myself again. Well, actually, not all that interesting. Sigh.
Most of my musical training has been at school or at the Salvation Amy. The Salvation Army is a church, besides being a public service operation. So for three whole years, I happily, badly tooted away. Then, fate stepped in.
A trumpet player in my sixth grade band decided to switch from high pressure, high competition, world of trumpeteering to laid back, no competition land of Baritoneering. This upset me. I've always liked being the only player of an instrument in at least one of the bands I'm in. It's an ego kick to see your name as the only name listed under the heading "baritones." So when this trumpet player switched, a thought popped into my head. 'Right now, no one is playing TUBA! I can switch and voila, I'm a one man section again!'
So the powers-that-be of the Glens Falls Middle School music program (Mr. Antolini) locked me in a practice room with the scales of both instruments and told me to "learn 'em". So I did. My tooting continued, just as bad (if not worse) but in a lower octave.
Then I moved from Glens Falls (as immortalized in 'The Last of the Mohicans' and home of Glens Falls Middle School), New York to Cleveland Heights, Ohio. There I went to Monticello Middle School. Mrs. Beale, the music director there, was a major influence on my Tubaing. She taught me quite a lot about style and technique. I also continued playing in the Salvation Army corps band.
Around Christmas time of my second and last year at Monticello, I was informed about an event called Tuba Christmas by Mrs. Beale. I decided to try it out. 250+ tubas, euphoniums, and baritones gathered together in a large music hall and played, appropriately enough, Christmas carols. It was such a pure, mellow sound. It was enough to drive a man insane, so consider what it did to me!
Euclid, Ohio became my next home. I then joined the NEOSA (North Eastern Ohio Salvation Army) Divisional Youth Band. A trip to Mexico with the Youth Band highlighted my freshman year. Mexico was an experience that completely blew my mind. The people there had nothing like we have in the States, yet their spirit and appreciation was completely overwhelming. I also managed not to get Montezuma's Revenge.
One experience that I have neglected to mention is playing for the Salvation Army Christmas Kettle effort. This involves playing eighteen Christmas carols over and over for hours on end as your lips begin to stick to your metal mouthpiece and you pray that your valves will remain moving throughout the day. I returned to the lighter weight baritone for this chilly thrill. It is not easy to perfect your vibrato as your teeth chatter uncontrollably.
Of course there is always the wonder of Euclid High Marching Band. Marching across the field, playing as loudly as you can against eighty of everything else is not a favorable environment to hear the bass line, trying to remember where to march next, all while carrying a BIG white fiberglass tuba (sousaphone really) is not my idea of a Good Thing. Eventually football season ends, though, and symphonic band begins. Real music at last! Music that you can sit down for! Yippeeee!
Somewhere in this I became a fairly decent Tubaist. I'm not sure where, I'm not sure when, but it happened. So I'll continue making up bass lines (which is fun) and marching in marching band (which is not fun) and Life shall Trudge on.
Some thoughts, 30 years later:
- "and those not very well" construction is a bit of a lift from Douglas Adams' Restaurant at the End of the Universe
- The bit on Mexico is probably a little racist and a lot condescending
- Interesting that I'm so down on marching band... in retrospect I liked the music I played in it much more than the symphonic stuff, though marching band was pretty grueling...
2020.10.24
2020.10.26
Photos by Stewart Ting Chong
2020.12.04
Man, it looks so much better when I'm dancing a little than just standing stiff.
2021.01.05
Pretty pleased with how it all came out!
2021.01.14
2021.05.07
(via Andrew Huang)
2021.05.25
Open Photo Gallery
2021.07.20
I have other shots with a similar bell decoration, but usually with blue tape. (Tape-on-bell is more classic than my current use of covers, but of course hard to change between bands.)
2021.09.17
Based on the bottom photo here which remains one of my favorites though it's not a look I go for very often now. In retrospect i should have touched up Alien Bill's pupil to make it bigger.
2021.10.04
In a sense, we work backward, either consciously or unconsciously, creating work that fits the venue available to us. That holds true for the other arts as well: pictures are created that fit and look good on white walls in galleries just as music is written that sounds good either in a dance club or a symphony hall (but probably not in both). In a sense, the space, the platform, and the software "makes" the art, the music, or whatever. After something succeeds, more venues of a similar size and shape are built to accommodate more production of the same. After a while the form of the work that predominates in these spaces is taken for granted--*of course* we mainly hear symphonies in symphony halls.I've thought about this passage, or at least this book as the source of similar sentiment, often over the years, and was surprised to see I hadn't placed it in my common place blog before.
Currently I'm using it to bolster a defence of bands I'm in; I'm getting some heat from one of its members that it's not taking the music seriously enough.
But I think the idea that music is shaped by the space is mirrored by how it's also shaped by who shows up. My HONK! music tends towards the motley. Not just activist bands, but open community bands who will try to work with people at all levels and from all backgrounds - and, which might be the sticking point, doesn't necessarily demand a lot of time "woodshedding". (Maybe this reflects my own laziness about practicing. I've always coasted on tuba parts being less technical and my own constantly being in about 4 bands at once, and so I'm maybe too reluctant to tell people they need to hunker down.)
So we have a mix of people who maybe just had music-as-an-elective in high school and college and are getting back to it, or even some people who just started with ear training School of Honk, against, like, lapsed escapees from Berklee. We draw music influence and sometimes charts from lots of places (probably especially other HONK bands...) in the NOLA street tradition and trad jazz and maybe a little klezmer and African and Central/South American and Caribbean - like in a way it reflects a beautiful patchwork society. I mean not as much as we'd like at times- achieving diversity and looking like the less-gentrified parts of neighborhoods we're in is a challenge. Like if you're trying to frame most music as being of a culture, our is more loosely knit than many other traditions that come from a specific community - like, progressive liberals, often white, who live in small atomic families, often are living far from where they grew up, and who dig on bringing in lots of musical influences to their playing.
I've always thought that musical performance is usually leaning either towards connecting with crowds or impressing other musicians. The best can of course do both, but in a world of part-time musicians, I think it's ok to focus on the former more than the latter. "3 chord wonder" punk bands could rock the hell out of their venues! And while that's not who we are or what we do, I think it's a good reminder that even simpler music can be emotionally resonate.
I'm always going to worry that I'm not being harsh enough with the band, that maybe it could benefit from more tough love on demanding practice, more careful tuning, work on intonation, emphasis on dynamic, and thoughtful design of percussion. And my fundamental inability to judge critically (something that's really fundamental to my temperament, but that's a different story) is some of why I usually shy from an official role of "leader" - along my usual preference for consensus over top-down authority. (Also, I used to hold the idea that HONK bands - like my high school marching band - must always shun music stands, but have come to learn to split our repertoire into stuff we can march around with and pieces we will be stationary for, I think a decent compromise)
And we've lost a few of the "escapees from serious musical pursuit" players who get frustrated with the group, see its level as more of a ceiling than a floor. It's a bummer when that happens, because it's usually a loss acoustically and pedagogically , and of course I get filled with second-guessing. But still, I'm pretty happy with what my bands are able to do and the community they bring to my life and the chance to have musical fun for myself and others.
2021.10.07
2021.10.09
HAPPY HONK! One of my fellow tubists reminds me I have to keep up my dancing game.
2021.10.26
(I am switching to using a smaller number of bigger bead throws, at least while using my spare tuba)
2021.11.01
via Vanessa Mourao (photo by her husband), at the School of Honk Birthday celebration at the Powderhouse in Somerville
2021.11.04
2021.11.24
I wrote up about a microreview of Pixelmator Pro on my devblog - just kind of goofing / recrecreating an effect I've seen around:
Fractals as a way of thinking about grief
I dunno, maybe it's too loose with the metaphor?
Like I've had similar thoughts that maybe life has that fractal aspect, in the sense of there's more detail the more you go in. But "detail" isn't enough, it has to have that self-similarity. So I dunno.
JEREMY ROBARD: Hi, I'm Jeremy Robard! Entrepreneur, VIP and founder of the revolutionary program "Think your way to success". It's a 3 step program that's been changing lives and my income for the last 2 years! 5 Years ago, I was a nobody, just like you! After my "Think Your Way To Success" program, I spend the entire weekend in my Jacuzzi, or engaging in the exciting sport of domino toppling! Hey! If you can think it, you can do it! One of my award winning courses is sure to be perfect for you. The first course, I call "Think - Hold That Thought - Complete", because that's what you do. Step 2 is known as "Learn - Start - Doing", where I explain the mysteries of starting. Or take the new accelerator course, which will have you laughing at ugly strangers, "Motivate, Demonstrate, Then Motivate Again". Just listen to these, endorsements and remember these people volunteered, they aren't being paid much.Just played GTA:VC (again) now that it's on Switch. It was my first GTA, and has a sweet spot between the over-simplicity of 3 (namely by having copters and motorcycles) and the huge scope of San Andreas.
MALE #1: I've been on the "Think - Hold That Thought - Complete" program and I have to say, I'm going to start my career in being a well-paid, rich person!
MALE #2: Yeah! I've been thinking my way to success for a while, now. It's some good stuff!
JEREMY ROBARD: Call now, and sign up for my "Think Your Way To Success" program. And if you want to think really fast, try my "Crank It Out" program. Call 1-866-434-SELF. Hey! Don't just do it, think about it!
This spot stuck with me this play through, especially since these days I'm thinking about "thoughts vs feelings" as motivational force, and "Don't just do it, think about it!" seems like great advice. (What's weird about this ad are the course titles... I don't know, they seem sort of plausible and not very jokey, especially given GTA's usual hamfisted parody standards.)
2021.12.20
(askew banner and weird playing-with-left-hand so I can signal with right and all)
2022.03.21
Open Photo Gallery
2022.05.07
Not sure those last ones are me at my band best but still. Good to be able to swap layers, either JP Honk Purple or School of Honk dots on top. My alabaster legs though...
2022.05.16
2022.07.22
In June 1943, The United States Army Band was ordered overseas to provide musical support; first in North Africa and then in battle-weary Europe, not returning to U.S. soil until June 1945.
Here you can see John L. Latwas (tuba) and Henry Weichler (piccolo) sitting in a slit trench. When The U.S. Army Band was shipped out for deployment in WWII, there were ten Soldiers who were in the original 1922 formation of the band, all of whom were WWI veterans (including Latwas).
#ArmyHistory
2022.08.28
Open Photo Gallery
2022.08.29
Remember that you're a thought machine.
2022.09.27
2022.10.09
Open Photo Gallery
Lantern Making and Staging for 5 parades...
Askew view of our drums at our Kenney Park premier...
Kenney Park again,
photo by Kellie Fournier
I also joined in with School of Honk...
Wide view from the bass section...
HONKfests tend to have after party where folks from different bands eat, rest, shmooze, and jam together...
Banda Rim Bam Bum (from Santiago, Chile) was one of the featured traveling bands... (along with Young Fellaz Brass Band from New Orleams) - they play accompanied by this deathly figure, blowing bubbles from a handheld bubblegun...
2022.10.10
Open Photo Gallery
They had a booth with poets taking commissions...
Nice fall day for a parade!
I miss the photogenic waterfront but the park made a nice performance space...
I caught Second Line Brass Band doing a neighborhood walk before the main parade... reminded me of the old Salvation Army shtick of heading out with a band.
Is there something behind me?
"Farto"? "Farlo"? I guess the former is better decoration for the portalots.
So glad Eze's older brother Gio could make it - we were really low on trumpets for our After Party set.
I like this shots blending my horn's purple lights and the green rows of the entryway...
2022.10.16
Open Photo Gallery
Nelson and Matt...
Guest conductor Sophie...
Declan, Cathleen, Kirk
Look closely and you'll see the famous Rubin Brothers along with the band...
Officiant Cathleen running the ring ceremony with a bit of trombone business from Eze...
Toasts...
...and Dancing
All at scenic Jamaica Pond!
2022.10.22
Open Photo Gallery
2022.12.11
2022.12.24
JP Honk via JP Gazette
2023.03.18
2023.04.23
2023.05.10
At that point the band was very much of an offshoot of the vibrant Dunster Rd community, and was strongly anchored on Jonathan on keyboard (rolling around on the back of a big tricycle) and Bryan on Guitar. I think you can hear (and see on the left just a small part) of the percussion rack of pots and pans we used to roll around for audience participation..... there was also a "big shared skirt" thing, a big thing stretchy cloth that like 3-4 people could wear as a skirt together
Over the years the band has remolded itself as more of a classic New Orleans style street band, keeping up the community and activist vibe, and last year we were a full on "back of the t-shirt band" for HONK!fest, which I think reflects the work we've put into shaping it as a place for joy and (usually) harmony.
On the one hand, wow, ten years! On the other hand it's like wait, I've only been doing this mostly in my 40s?? Ah well here's to many more years honkin'!
2023.05.11
Open Photo Gallery
2023.07.11
It's based on an outfit I don't wear much anymore (the "infamous sexy cop onesie" - with boots instead of my signature sandals)
(here's the same image but with a big amount of padding so I can center in circle based avatars)
Here are the photos I've been tending to use for profiles. That's the same Alien Bill I drew as a high schooler that I have as a tattoo - but only some people know who Alien Bill is, or why. The other shot I'm a little sick of its McKayla Maroney-ish smile, and frankly my side beard is more gray than that now.
2023.07.20
2023.09.19
Just the other day I realized that two of the main problems with them might cancel each other out: they break and they are tough to untangle. But that might just mean: they can be repaired! Re-tangling a broken loop at the end by twisting the beads around each other seems like it might be weirdly stronger than a lot of the basic connections? I'll have to make some experiments to see how they survive under real-world conditions, but still...
2023.10.31
I was a little worried lights might have distracted from the skeleton vibe but i think the result was pretty awesome
Also just for convenience here is an animation of how the setup can look:
2023.11.03
2024.01.07
2024.01.19
2024.03.30
Open Photo Gallery
2024.04.13
2024.05.08
Open Photo Gallery
2024.05.20
2024.08.08
2024.08.27
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2024.09.06
2024.09.07
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2024.10.30
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