Klarinet Archive - Posting 000800.txt from 1996/02

From: Teri Herel <EnsHerel@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Wine on stage [was Re: Recent messages from Clark Fobes &
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 00:41:32 -0500

In a message dated 96-02-26 14:31:35 EST, mbassman@-----.COM (Mitch
Bassman) writes:

>I have to tell you this story about a musical show I played in this past
>fall. (For those of you who have been following the doubling thread on
>the flute list, my part in this show called only for clarinet.) For some
>reason, more of the musicians than usual seemed to want to party every
>night. Beginning with the first show, the cellist organized a wine and
>cheese party for the nine-piece orchestra to be held *during intermission*
>at every show. Of course, the four wind players (clarinet, bassoon,
>trumpet, horn) had to be careful to finish the "intermission party" with
>a big swig of wine to rinse the crumbs out of our mouths. (Hmm, remember
>last year's thread about the ants?)
>
>Anyway, we all got in the habit of taking our last cup of wine (burgundy,
>not cabernet) back to the "pit" with us. In this theater, we weren't
>actually in a pit; we were seated on stage -- stage right in full view of
>the audience. No one seemed to mind.
>
>Most of felt that the second act always sounded better than the first.
>
>--Mitch Bassman

I played in a pit and sat next to a musician who usually drank coffee &
sucked on lollipops during rests, however one night he drank a bottle of
vodka and sucked on breath mints throughout the entire show. Gross. A
friend of mine played a gig with this same musician when he spilled his ever
present coffee INTO his saxophone. (He only spilled it into my shoes under
my chair one night. I kept my pegs and equipment as far away from him as
possible.) Interestingly enough, he didn't play any worse with the vodka
than without it.