Friday, October 31, 2014

Broadcasting a Happy Birthday to My Old Employer

Happy 45th birthday to my former employer, KNTU, which signed on for the first time on Halloween, 1969. And for a number of years, its studios were located in what was considered by some to be a haunted house. I wrote a ghost story many years ago on the subject for this blog, so check it out if you haven't yet done so.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Kids Have the Darnedest Things Happen to Their Horns

This was a first for me: As a kid picked up his alto to prepare to play an étude, his thumb rest just broke clean in half! It split in two on either side of the large screw, with both sides falling on the floor.

But the kid was still able to play, resting his thumb up against the bottom of the chromatic F# key guard. (I told him that if he felt it rubbing up against the metal too much, he could tape his thumb up like a conga player might do.)