Klarinet Archive - Posting 000161.txt from 2010/01

From: William Foss <billfoss47@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] 2010 Woodwind.Org Donation Drive update: day 4
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:44:16 -0500

I agree. Even though he states that woodwind.org is great, he will
not donate because of his poor state. If instead of taking umbrage at
my suggestion, he had taken the time to read and understand what I
actually wrote, he might have actually seen that I stated we all
should be able to afford "some sort of a donation" and Marks state
that any amount donated helps the total cause.

Additionally he is not the only musician to have ever had to sell
great instruments to pay child support and alimony (I have) - but for
most of us, life goes on.

It appears that he belongs back in his "lurking mode" and should not
give (to anyone or anything).

Bill Foss
U.S. Army Retired
USC Aiken, Retired Woodwind Professor
Director of Bands, Aiken Prep

On Jan 23, 2010, at 5:15 PM, Mike Vaccaro wrote:

> I think Ken Wolman should not give. A buck seems to much and he
> seems to unhappy. Sorry Ken life is so hard for you. Seriously.
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Ken Wolman" <rainermaria@-----.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 6:00 PM
> To: <klarinet@-----.org>
> Subject: Re: [kl] 2010 Woodwind.Org Donation Drive update: day 4
>
>> William Foss wrote:
>>> Come on all - unless you are a full time student we all should be
>>> able to afford some sort of donation to this invaluable service !
>>>
>>> Bill Foss
>>> U.S. Army Retired
>>> USC Aiken, Retired Woodwind Professor
>>> Director of Bands, Aiken Prep
>>
>> Dear Mr Foss (I don't know your retirement rank or I'd use
>> it)...you have drawn me out of lurking mode because of this note. I
>> have no interest in your anticipated pity or consolations. I have
>> less than no interest in beginning an argument with you, on or
>> offline.
>>
>> Let me explain to you, Sir, the reasons that I, who am *not* a full-
>> time student but a part-time English teacher who collects Social
>> Security and has to fork out lifetime alimony, cannot contributed
>> to a truly worthy endeavor. For do not misread me, I checked my
>> sense of humor at the door: Woodwind.Org is a magnificent project,
>> and if it depends on the generosity of many, Mark Charette deserves
>> kudos as its organizer and tutelary spirit.
>>
>> Now then. Let us see what I have had to give up in the name of
>> keeping myself marginally afloat, shall we? First there are the
>> musical instruments. I bought horns before I bought clothes. I
>> could not sell used pants.
>>
>> 1. A Selmer Paris Centered Tone Bb clarinet that was and remains in
>> memory the most perfect instrument I have ever found. I *inherited*
>> it in 1991 and had to sell it in 2002 because I was living below
>> the poverty line.
>>
>> 2. A Selmer Paris Series 9 that would have been as good as the CT
>> if I'd been able to afford a tear-down and reassembly. However, by
>> some miracle of financial chicanery I acquired a Backun barrel for
>> this instrument that made it sound new glorious. And let's not
>> forget the Chris Hill mouthpiece which of course I had to hock to a
>> former member of Klarinet. Every time I acquired what I foolishly
>> believed was a proper "set-up" for my musical longings, some
>> circumstance of life made me sell it for survival's sake.
>>
>> 3. Next to last try. A Buffet E-11.Wonderful. And then yet another
>> job gone, another instrument of necessity tossed into the great
>> mouth of eBay.
>>
>> 4. Now I have a LeBlanc Noblet 40 bought from...let's not say, but
>> it's lovely.
>>
>> What else, sir? What else has made me a bad candidate for a
>> donation guilt trip even if I'm not an F/T student? Five jobs lost
>> in one year. A suicide attempt. Incarceration on alimony arrears
>> gone to warrant. Those who keep tearing around one who can't move.
>> Hey, you can sing that.
>>
>> Five months of the right job followed by the beginning of the
>> current Crash followed by carving deli in the A&P followed by 21
>> nights of no more than 2 hours of sleep a night, interrupted by a
>> curious paralytic incident the docs thought was a stroke but was
>> only an accidental overdose of Seroquel. And then teaching. Awful
>> money but some degree of enjoyment.
>>
>> Moving out of New Jersey and occupying a ghetto garden apartment in
>> Bristol, PA as the aftermath of being assaulted for a *second* time
>> by my so-called "significant other" after 9.5 years of domestic
>> nothing. Her dog died so she slugged me. Makes a lot of sense. I
>> can and do forgive but I will never forget.
>>
>> Right, I have two adjunct composition jobs at opposite ends of
>> Jersey. If I can't get through the summer working in Walgreens,
>> shall I have to sell the LeBlanc as well? BTW: I'm not getting paid
>> for another month. I know how to make macaroni and cheese and cook
>> kielbasa.
>>
>> So now that you made a totally unwarranted assumption about how the
>> life of a 65 year old non-student is a retirement colony, you owe
>> me an apology in public and from honor, and you might wish to make
>> a contribution to Woodwind.org in my name.
>>
>> I've had to think here before I spoke (remember that one, Morrie?).
>> Learn the same thing. Never generalize.
>>
>> Ken Wolman
>>
>> --
>> ----------------------------
>> Ken Wolman
>>
>> http://awfulrowing.wordpress.com
>> http://opensalon.com/blog/kenneth_wolman
>> http://wearethecure.org/friends/cids-memory-p-394.html
>>
>>
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