Tuba Thefts

[Jackmannii]

Obviously, this is the only possible theme music for the thread.

[TubaDiva]

@Lord_Feldon

The serial number doesn’t do much good unless there’s some central registry where it can be checked and the buyer of the discount tuba is motivated to do that.

There is a sort of registry; different listservs and message boards and customer databases are trying to keep track of instruments and serial numbers. Not so easy to do; there’s no central clearinghouse that has everything but there’s lots of places to look. There’s an increasingly wider pool of historians who help collate these lists too, so we’re getting closer on standardizing this process.

Keep in mind we’re talking about a LOT of instruments over a whole lot of years.

[TubaDiva]

@China_Guy

2nd Amenders and NRA may come out to oppose any database as a slippery slope for a firearm registry.

First they came for the guns … but I didn’t mind. I said I was not a gun owner.

And next they came for the accordions, and I was glad, because accordions.

And then they came for the tubas. And I remembered where I hid my guns.

https://mashable.com/2015/02/16/war-tubas-radar-wwi/#ajQubqCPcPqM

your humble TubaDiva
I kid accordion players. Some of you are badasses.

William Tell Overture

[TubaDiva]

@Jackmannii

Obviously, this is the only possible theme music for the thread.

Ha! Great!

OOH! Bonzo Dog!

I love this most of all! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DUEAG5eO6c

[WordMan]

@TubaDiva

Hey man, how you doing? We haven’t talked in ages!

Thanks, you said mostly everything I would have.

For those who didn’t see the article, the “hook” it hangs on is the missing sousaphone of Preservation Hall Jazz Band bassist/sousaphonist Ben Jaffe. They were packing up from a gig the other night and someone stole it right out of the car. The horn is VERY distinctive and unmistakable. Ben is really attached to it and wants it back, he’s hopeful for a reunion.

Missing: Preservation Hall's iconic tuba

This has been a problem for a while. These days Banda is probably the main cause of it, though the increasing popularity of Honk!-style street bands and Tuba Gooding Jr. may have something to do with it as well.

Worthwhile tubas and sousaphones are expensive instruments. You can easily drop thousands of dollars on a pro level horn.

But this is by no means a new thing. Like crews that steal cars to put them in shipping containers and take them to other parts of the world, this is often what happens to tubas that go missing. Tuba great Don Butterfield told me once he knew someone that had a tuba stolen from them on the East Coast and it wound up in Rio. Boston Brass pro Sam Pilafian once had a horn stolen from him at LaGuardia Airport when a gang hijacked an entire truckload of luggage. None of it ever surfaced anywhere again. In the 60s Walter Sear would import boatloads – literally – of horns from the Mahillon factory in Belgium; many of those shipments were hijacked off the docks.

As for me, yes, I have been a victim of crime. There used to be a music store in NYC that was notorious for selling stolen instruments. My practice room on West 53rd St. was burglarized on a Saturday night; on Monday morning, before I could even file a police report, the horn was sold out of that shop on West 48th. The horn surfaced about two years later; the guy that originally sold it to me walked into a rehearsal and sat next to this guy and Ray said to himself, “That looks … familiar.” The police lost my report and I was not successful in getting it back.

Yes, most all horns have serial numbers, though I have seen the occasional ancient horn that had no numbers at all.

Because the world is now a smaller place and people are more proactive and talking about this kind of thing, the odds of retrieving a stolen instrument are probably better than they’ve ever been. We are not the exception; you can read any number of listservs and message boards where people talk about stolen instruments, especially those axes owned by famous people. Google “Beano” sometime.

If you see Ben’s horn, let him know, woudja? And you have my express permission to beat the brakes off the guy what took it.

Your humble TubaDiva

I have been waiting for your post in this thread. This is fascinating and so sorry for the theft Beck when 48th was Music Row. Thanks for sharing all that. This is a great thread.

[Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil]

I don’t know about tubas but stealing cellos is not unheard of.

[DesertDog]

Dave Silverman has a flaming tuba (sousaphone, really) that he brings to Burning Man. Gives hot tuba a whole new meaning.

[TubaDiva]

@Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil

I don’t know about tubas but stealing cellos is not unheard of.

Yep. They probably returned it after they discovered they could not sell it anywhere.

Dixieland guy Red Lejr had much the same problem a few years ago. He was on tour in Amsterdam and someone swiped his sousaphone off the stage. The police found it later … in the canal.

Suncoast 2009 - Red Lehr's Powerhouse Five - Tiger Rag

[TubaDiva]

@DesertDog

Dave Silverman has a flaming tuba (sousaphone, really) that he brings to Burning Man. Gives hot tuba a whole new meaning.

David Silverman is famous for his flaming work!

This is also him here, right? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd_gvR06j6s

He ain’t the only one. EVERYBODY’s getting into the act!

Unicycling Darth Vader upgrades to Flaming Bagpipes - Keep Portland Weird - The Unipiper *Official*

[Jumpbass]

@Sicks_Ate

Unless that particular instrument isn’t keeping up with some changes in DCI rules, they’re probably actually pitched in B flat. I’m not sure any corps use G bugles any more now that they’re not required.

But then again, I’ve been out of the loop a while and only gather information from the periphery.

I’m also a drummer, so WTF do I know

It’s been a very long time since I was involved with any of that stuff, too, so I’ll consider my ignorance fought. Thank you.

[Jumpbass]

Hi TubaDiva!

Funny you should mention the Honk! style bands. I’ve gotten involved with one lately. We’re having growing pains, but I think we’re getting on track. (No, I haven’t stolen a sousaphone for it, though I need one. I’ve been using a horn borrowed from the high school band I teach. School horn- yikes.)

I’ve been writing arrangements for the street band. We may do Squib Cakes with me on the bari sax/ bass part. More air!

[TubaDiva]

@Jumpbass

Hi TubaDiva!

Funny you should mention the Honk! style bands. I’ve gotten involved with one lately. We’re having growing pains, but I think we’re getting on track. (No, I haven’t stolen a sousaphone for it, though I need one. I’ve been using a horn borrowed from the high school band I teach. School horn- yikes.)

I’ve been writing arrangements for the street band. We may do Squib Cakes with me on the bari sax/ bass part. More air!

That is SO cool! Music like that would get me out in the street (though these days I’d be dragging my torn meniscus behind me.)

You’ve seen the websites of some of the other Honk! bands, no? Some of them share charts. (I suspect that’s so when you all meet up at Honk! festivals bands can play together, though the parts aren’t hard to figure out on the hoof, especially if you’ve ever played any street gigs or Balkan band music.)

For those that wonder what we’re talking about Honk! is a festival of anarchist and activist and just for fun street bands, held at various locations around the country. Started in Boston. Here’s a clip of a performance:

Honk! bands can be highly political or just "marching and chowder societies," or anything in between. Atlanta's own Seed and Feed Marching Abominable (of which I am ancient alumnus) is a participant.

You GO, Jumpbass! Keep us posted on what you're up to out there on the Left Coast!

Love always,

your humble TubaDiva

[TubaDiva]

@Jumpbass

It’s been a very long time since I was involved with any of that stuff, too, so I’ll consider my ignorance fought. Thank you.

These days contras are pitched in Bb, though with the continuing rise of tuba players that go to C tubas while still in high school that will probably change over time.

Used to be contras were just big bass bugles with no valves; now they’re four valved instruments. They’re essentially now full tubas converted for marching so that you can play holding them on your shoulder.

(I have done this exactly once. There’s a reason drum corps people are under 21.)

[TubaDiva]

@Jumpbass

Hi TubaDiva!

Funny you should mention the Honk! style bands. I’ve gotten involved with one lately. We’re having growing pains, but I think we’re getting on track. (No, I haven’t stolen a sousaphone for it, though I need one. I’ve been using a horn borrowed from the high school band I teach. School horn- yikes.)

I’ve been writing arrangements for the street band. We may do Squib Cakes with me on the bari sax/ bass part. More air!

AND I should mention one of our own plays in a Honk! band … paging Ukulele Ike!

[Sicks_Ate]

@TubaDiva

These days contras are pitched in Bb, though with the continuing rise of tuba players that go to C tubas while still in high school that will probably change over time.

Used to be contras were just big bass bugles with no valves; now they’re four valved instruments. They’re essentially now full tubas converted for marching so that you can play holding them on your shoulder.

(I have done this exactly once. There’s a reason drum corps people are under 21.)

I wonder how many drum corps former members or fans we have around here. I might start a thread this weekend.

[Musicat]

Hey, TubaDiva! It’s crowded in here. What say you and I blow this joint?

[DSYoungEsq]

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad that our humble TubaDiva took my bait. I’ve missed seeing you post!!!

I’m not shocked to learn there’s a trend here, given the size of the instrument and its cost. I wonder if piccolos get stolen at the same rate?

[Ukulele_Ike]

Tubadiva:. Doesn’t Ben Jaffe of Preservation Hall play a helicon?

https://www.google.com/search?q=helicon&rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS620US620&hl=en-US&prmd=ivsn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjj66fe_eDZAhXFulMKHXlTCbsQ_AUIESgB&biw=1024&bih=653#imgrc=vYkuDov4L2M2HM:

I haven’t seen this band since the ‘70s, but he certainly played a helicon then. Did he switch up to sousaphone?

[Ukulele_Ike]

@TubaDiva

AND I should mention one of our own plays in a Honk! band … paging Ukulele Ike!

Yo, thank you!

Yes, played for several years with the Rude Mechanical Orchestra of Brooklyn (see A Midsummer Night’s Dream), in the 2004 NYC street protests against the Shrub and the Republican Convention, in several Mermaid Parades in Coney Island, battles of the bands against the Hungry March Band, general leftist madness gatherings, etc.

Depending on what sort of sound was needed, I showed up with either a flute, a trumpet or cornet, a tenor sax, or a tuba. Mainly trumpet, because LOUD was what was needed — as many trumpets and trombones as we could get. And we already had a fine brass bassist/sousaphone man called “Joe Tuba.”

[TubaDiva]

@Ukulele_Ike

Tubadiva:. Doesn’t Ben Jaffe of Preservation Hall play a helicon?

helicon - Google Search

I haven’t seen this band since the ‘70s, but he certainly played a helicon then. Did he switch up to sousaphone?

Lost it in Katrina.

Wait, if it was i the 70s chances are it was his old man, Allen Jaffe that you saw (although other tuba players have sat in/subbed, like Tuba Fats and Walter Payton, God rest them both).

I’ve only ever see Ben with a doghouse bass or a sousaphone.