Klarinet Archive - Posting 000072.txt from 2002/01

From: AnneLenoir@-----.net (Anne Lenoir)
Subj: [kl] New Years Eve gigs & Murphy's Law. No Bite Marks
Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2002 14:00:20 -0500

I was curious to hear if any of you played on New Years Eve, and what
your gig was like for you.
Don and I took off for the Officer's Club at Peterson Field, and
they made us wait until a military escort arrived, a new policy since
Sept 11. Once we got there, I couldn't find my microphone, which I
usually keep in my alto sax case. During our recent move to Manitou
Springs, I misplaced it after a benefit concert when I didn't play sax.
We found another mic, one grade above a megaphone, in the bottom of our
junk box.
The day before the gig, I had painstakingly prepared 4 disks with
an hour or more of suitable material on each disk. No "Jethro Tull" or
"Doors".
After I found that all the disks worked, I went to check out my
reeds, and noticed that I could not find my reed case. I still can't
find it. Anybody out there want to offer me a good deal or a gift of a
reed case? When I was in NYC after Thanksgiving, I played a gig with
Kelly Abraham at the UN, on a reed with a teensy chip. Kelly, if you're
out there, remember my reed with the chip? Anyhow, I did find that reed,
and somehow it had become like petrified wood, and somehow worked for
the gig, even sounded good, don't ask me how.
Right before we started, Don came up to me with a worried, puzzled
look, and said "I can't understand why all those Germans over there want
to hear Vietnamese Waltzes?" We were still eating our 6-course
prime-rib dinner at the time. I said, "Honey, I think they want to hear
a Vienneze waltze". I knew the "Waltz of the Blue Danube" for memory
from watching the movie "2001- A Space Odessy". So we skipped desert and
went backstage and learned a "Boom-chuck-chuck" version of the "Blue
Danube" by ear. When we finally started, with Don singing some lovely
BING CROSBYESH arrangements of holiday music, the Germans left us alone,
but wouldn't you know, they just had to hear their "Vietnamese" waltz
right away.
They were very helpful with gesturing, to let us know the exact tempo
they wanted for dancing. Somehow we were able to get through the first 4
sections and back to the main melody without falling apart. Dan Leeson
and Tony Pay would have cracked up. Then they wanted polkas, which
weren't on the first disk, so Don got to tell jokes while I loaded up
"variety dance" disk.
I won't bore you to death with the rest of the evening, but it went
very well, and we got paid $950 for our 6-hour effort, and they want us
back next year. I hope by then that we will have our Brazillian band,
"Blue Bossa", booked in Maniout Springs. The manager of the Officer's
Club said "Annie, you look very nice tonight. How come you're not
wearing your combat boots?" I really couldn't answer him, because I
couldn't remember wearing combat boots last year. I had thought that I
had worn a long dress with beautiful lace-up Victorian boots, but they
hurt my feet and I threw them away. They would have been very popular in
Manitou Springs.
In reference to clarinet playing, I will say that most of my
arrangments are not difficult, and during the New Years Eve gig, I
concentrated as hard as I could on playing with a good clarinet tone,
opening up a bit, and not biting. I got a little "embochure relief" from
the flute and alto-sax.
The next day my embochure muscles were a little bit tired, but no
bite-marks. ANNIE

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