What's your favorite random piece of musical trivia?

Cafe Society
261

First of all, don’t curse at me, even in acronym. As VC03 just pointed out, for sound musical theory reasons it is not very believable. I could make up music trivia all day that sounded really cool and write it on the Internet, but this is the Straight Dope. We are allowed to ask for a cite and not be cursed at.

I provided a cite for my bit of rock trivia. ( which was a good thing too, because ya gotta admit, Jimi Hendrix in a Prog Rock group does indeed strain one’s belief… )

So. I ask again, politely. Cite please?

In December, 1952 Reader’s Digest wrote an article about Toscanini. This is the title and author:" Arturo Toscanini Records the Ninth at 85 Years Old (Arturo Toscanini Records Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony) by John M. Conly."

However, this cite, if scrolled down to the bolded name Alice Hekster does mention this tale. It does not prove it, as it is heresay in the extreme but it does make mention of the story. It also kind of proves that it cannot be a quote from the mouth of Toscanini, since as it states, " the B flat, not G flat is the lowest note on the bassoon"

The myth is repeated here, using the same careworn WRONG bit of data- that Toscanini knew there was no G-flat for second bassoon. Again, the B flat not G flat is the lowest note on a bassoon.

Amusing, that people speak with such absolute authority and yet cannot even get the mistaken myth right. In this version, the quote goes as follows:

Okay, I’m 10 pages in on Google. The websites that love to talk about how to build your memory and whatnot, keep using this myth. Repeating a myth over and over does not make it fact, no matter how amusing an anecdote it may be. They all get it wrong, because of course, it’s not a citeable quote from the master himself.

Instead of complimenting Toscanini, if it were true ( and I totally doubt it is), the story casts insulting doubt upon his basic grasp of musical instruments. I tend to believe that he knew what a bassoon played. I also tend to believe that this is a much-adored urban legend with not a shred of real proof behind it.

Cartooniverse

262

It warms my heart to see even three other people here know Daniel Amos. I have about 12 albums by them, although even when Napster was working, I was never able to find more than a couple tracks from the very ignored first album (it was SO out of print, just to mention it for the legalities here).

263

The Nelson family is noted for being the only one with a Grammy win in three generations: Ozzie Nelson, Ricky Nelson and Nelson (the band).

264

While I also doubt the truth of the Toscanini anecdote, the fact that it has been repeated with different specifics proves only that it has been garbled in transmission, not that the basic story isn’t true. I also don’t think you can discount the story on technical grounds. I don’t play bassoon, and I am aware that there are variations in fingering among different makes, but the fingering chart I use as a reference (the one in Walter Piston’s Orchestration) shows that there is indeed a particular key (played by the left pinky) used only on the low C-sharp/D-flat. The lowest note on the instrument, B-flat, also has a unique key (for the left thumb). And the high E-flat–yep, another unique key (right index finger). So the story, while highly dubious IMHO, is at least plausible.

Also, the fingering for the bassoon makes me glad I play flute.

265

Fender Stratocaster serial number 00001 is owned by Dave Gilmour, ex of Pink Floyd

mm

266

Yngwie Malmsteen and Nancy Wilson of Heart are in fact the same person.

267

Yngwie Malmsteen and Ann Wilson of Heart are in fact the same person.

268

The original cover photo on Alice Cooper’s “Love It To Death” album has Alice draped with a long cape or some such piece of fabric, with one finger of his right hand visible through an opening, right about at crotch level. It had to be recalled so they could airbrush out his finger, as there were complaints that it was his penis showing. All further issues have no finger there.

269

It is a fundamental law of the universe that once a joke is fucked up, it can’t be corrected.

I will add, however, that Led Zeppelin currently holds the career record for songs about hobbits with 67.

270

…and it is generally understand that that is NOT the first Strat however - I believe that this is because the dates written on the neck and/or the body come after other Strats made in '54. Also, they didn’t have a serial-number sequence codified at the time. One of the earliest, but, to my knowledge, not the first.

And Gilmour is still in PF, but just came out with a solo album. Roger Waters is ex-PF…

271

[QUOTE=WordMan
And Gilmour is still in PF, but just came out with a solo album. Roger Waters is ex-PF…[/QUOTE]

Bah. Roger *is * PF, if you ask me…

272

Before she hit it big, singer Ethel Merman was a stenographer. She put her talent to use after she became a star: when a show had to be rewritten on the road, she’d take dictation or type out the rewrite.

Actors Christopher Lee and James Coburn are on the cover of Paul McCartney’s “Band on the Run” album. In addition to Paul and Linda and Denny Laine (who was the original leader of the Moody Blues), there are several other UK celebrities.

273

Oh and because I seem to be focused on vintage guitar trivia in this particular thread, I’ll offer this:

  • the guitar Slash used for most of Appetite for Destruction and the tours around that was NOT a Gibson Les Paul - it was a replica made by a custom luthier - I think it was Chris Derrig. It was made to look like a '59 Sunburst, complete with Gibson on the headstock.

  • Slash’s fave guitarist growing up was Joe Perry of Aerosmith. When Joe was going through a nasty divorce, his soon-to-be ex-wife sold all his stuff - I think Joe was in rehab. Anyway, she sold his Tobacco-burst '59 Les Paul to…Slash, for about $8,000, a pretty good deal at the time. That is Joe’s guitar that Slash uses in the Church solo of the November Rain video. Cut to about 2 - 3 years ago - the guitar, besides being owned by both Joe and Slash - so super valuable from a celebrity standpoint - has gone up in value simply because it’s a '59 'burst - probably worth $200 - $300,000. At Joe Perry’s birthday party, Slash shows up and GIVES Joe the guitar back.

Very cool.

274

The song titled Isolated that some of us may have enjoyed when playing Vampire: Bloodlines (The Asylum’s song in Santa Monica) which is performed by Chiasm (female solo project, Emileigh Rohn, also a molecular biologist) is about a lab mouse which became a pet, named Carnivorous. Cite. The lyrics of the song are well down on this page. You can hear her music on her MySpace page as well.

275

I have that album (and pretty much all their others), but if you don’t, they are planning to re-release it, with bonus material. See their website (http://www.danielamos.com) for details.

276

I don’t get it

277

according to legend, the working title for the Beatles’ “Baby You’re a Rich Man” was “Baby You’re a Rich Fag Jew” - a not-so-subtle dig at Brian Epstein

278

Who the fuck is Ann Wilson?

279

Here, this should more than answer your query.

280

No doubt. All I asked for ( and sought for quite a while last night) was a cite proving same. I still say, highly dubious.

OTOH, either Slash bought that freakin’ amazing guitar and then did the righteous thing by giving it back, or he didn’t. Tons of people must have been at that party. Nice move, very classy. It ain’t the instrument, it’s the artist holding it.