Musical Conductor comedy sketch
Bass blog contributor Benjy sent me a link to this hilarious conductor sketch from Comedy Shuffle on BBC. The “conductor’s” mannerisms perfectly capture those of so many U.K. conductors I’ve worked with. What a great idea for a sketch!
[From YouTube - Musical Conductor comedy sketch - Comedy Shuffle - BBC]
World’s greatest wine rack
Bass blog contributor Benjy recently forwarded this pic of an ultra-cool wine rack. OK–it might have cello pegs, but the body is 100% bass.
Benjy writes:
If this were standing next to my bass, the choice of open strings or open bottles would be difficult! But then, why not both?
Sounds good to me!
“The Soloist” –the story and Hollywood film of the life of a forgotten bassist.
This is a guest post by double bassist Jean-Yves Bénichou.
A few months ago, the Internet allowed me to reconnect after 30 years with my old friend and classmate, Joe Russo. We both studied with Homer Mensch at Yale University in 1975, unaware of future that lay ahead of us. Luck did smile upon us, enough to give us a reasonable head start to seek enriching careers as bassists. However, destiny had another itinerary planned, not as fortunate, for one of Joe’s long lost friends, Nathaniel Anthony Ayers. This former 1972 Mensch student from Julliard had ended up living in the streets of Los Angeles for a number of years, sometimes playing on a 2 stringed violin, with all of his worldly possessions packed into a shopping cart. He was recently rediscovered by Steve Lopez, a well known columnist for the L. A. Times, who decided to write a book about this miraculous encounter that changed both of their lives. April 24th marks the official release date of “The Soloist”, a film on Nathaniel’s life, starring Jamie Foxx as Nathaniel Ayers, and Robert Downey Jr. as Steven Lopez, and shall be playing in a theater near you…..
Zwölftonwerbung – Twelve tone commercial
Double bassist Benjy sent me a link to this uproariously funny (to a music geek, at least) video promoting all the “familiar favorites” written by the warm and cuddly trio of composers from the second Viennese school of composition: Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, and Anton Webern. What timeless ditties these three tunesmiths wove!
Argument set to Beethoven’s 5th Symphony
DBB.org regular contributor Benjy sent me a link to this very fun video featuring Sid Caesar and Nanette Fabray pantomiming an argument with the first movement of Beethoven’s 5th symphony as a soundtrack. Sid Ceaser was a live sketch comedy pioneer in the 1950s with his sitcoms Your Show of Shows and Ceaser’s Hour.
Check out more contributions from Benjy on the DBB.org articles page–we wrote a great article about auditioning for the Strasbourg Philharmonic at age 54 after being a member of this orchestra for the past 22 years.
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