Posted by Phil Lewis on May 01, 2002 at 16:04:21:
In Reply to: a possible worlds record ruined posted by bruce h on May 01, 2002 at 15:48:42:
Not that anyone asked, but here's my mouthpiece dropping tale. I was with the A.F. Band in D.C. the year that Nixon made his trip to China. We played for his return at Andrews, A.F.B. in a large hanger since it was winter and the weather was not good. I was playing an unfamiliar fiberglass sousaphone and the m.p. kept falling out and clanging on the concrete floor. One of the other tuba players warned me not to let it happen again. I asked why and he simply said it made the S.S. fellas nervous. Sure enough, the next time it fell I looked at the nearest one and he had his hand in his coat scanning the crowd rather anxiously. The rest of the evening, I somehow managed to hold on to the m.p. About a month later we were playing at the White House and the same thing happened, only this time it just landed in the grass. Standing at attention with a huge white elephant attached to your shoulder does not lend itself well to breaking rank by bending over to retrieve your m.p. The other tubas are about to crack up from stifling their own laughter when I hear a voice over my right shoulder saying, "You want I should pick it up for you?" I said that would be great. Turns out it was one of the S.S. guys. I took a ribbing for the next several days (seemed like months)about how they assigned a Secret Service man just to pick up my mouthpiece. Ever since then, I've been much more cautious about hanging on to my mouthpiece.