Bitterroot Bugle archives |
By Ted Dunlap, on November 15th, 2022 
I was surprised to listen recently and realize how deep this song went. I missed the point when it came out, but at 14 years old was pretty shallow myself. Many years later I saw the tract homes covering the hillside south of San Francisco, was immediately reminded of, and began singing the song to myself. I didn’t realize then it was that very scene inspired the song, but it sure did fit. I embedded the audio track below – essentially the You Tube version without the tracking and advertising. https://www.bitterrootbugle.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Little-Boxes-by-Pete-Seeger.webm Wikipedia covers the history of it nicely. I excerpt here. Over there you can read a university professor claiming that the conformity Malvina and Pete were against is actually […]
By Ted Dunlap, on June 23rd, 2022 
Looking around my websites and disk storage archives I realized that I did not document my restoration of a very desirable old trombone that I ‘got for a song’ because it was screamingly ugly, non-functional, and in need of quite a lot of work. I am rectifying the lack of documentation today. Nine years ago I got to hankering for a particular vintage jazz horn from Conn instrument company’s heyday, the apex of their evolution in Elkhart, Indiana when the craftsmen, culture, design and materials came together to make some of the finest brass instruments EVER. In 1970 Conn company was sold and in 1971 brass instrument production moved to Abilene, Texas, walking away from the craftsmen and their […]
By Ted Dunlap, on June 3rd, 2022 
I once was a bugler for the United States Air Force. The government paid me $98 a month plus cheesy room and board, officially making me a professional musician. It is a bit of a convoluted story, but here we go: When I turned 19 years old, all healthy males my age who were not politically connected or fully engaged in college were whisked off into the army or marines to tramp around in a far away jungle and shoot at or be shot by complete strangers. None of that appealed to me so I enlisted in the air force. In basic training we took a written test intended to gauge our trainability for various job assignments. I tested […]
By Ted Dunlap, on November 5th, 2021 
I am reviewing a large collection of music that includes Billboard magazine’s Top USA Hits 1946-2006. Leaning back in my chair listening to The Who performing their 1971 hit “Won’t Get Fooled Again” suddenly struck me as amazingly prophetic. This is happening to me quite a bit as I listen to classics from that era. Fascinating. Here we are 50 years later with The World Health Organization at war against humanity. Yeah, The W.H.O. Now we are finally beginning to understand that all wars are bankers’ wars. They win every single one. While we lose the exact same number, though rarely recognizing it. Those freaky hippy performers knew, and tried to explain so much to me that went right […]
By Ted Dunlap, on June 29th, 2021 
I have enjoyed playing trombone in The Bitterroot Community Band every summer since June of 2013. It is glorious to make music together with a large ensemble. Better still our shared enjoyment makes for good friendships. Sadly, fear of the psy-op shut down the entire 2020 season. This year the volunteers who organize and operate the band appended this to the schedule of practices and concerts they sent to bandsmen. from Bitterroot Band: Covid- 19 Information According to current CDC guidelines, anyone that is vaccinated is no longer required to wear a mask in public. If you would like a mask or bell cover for rehearsals / performances, please let us know. If you are feeling ill, or were […]
By Ted Dunlap, on April 12th, 2021 
I responded to a friend’s e-mail inquiry about my thoughts comparing the features of my upright bass, my acoustic bass guitar and electric basses. I am sharing an enhanced version of my reply here. I have played trombone since I was 10 years old, mostly because of my appreciation for swing, blues, jazz, big band, and concert band music. That is, creating the music more than simply listening to it, though I do plenty of both. Since it is so rare to find trombone opportunities in these woods, I decided to take up the bass. My first attempt was an electric bass with practice amp. Nope. The sound, the feel, the gaggle of gear, cables, electrical requirements all conspired […]
By Ted Dunlap, on November 11th, 2020 
https://www.bitterrootbugle.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Fast-Buck-Freddie.mp3 In 1975 The Jefferson Starship released album Red Octopus with the song Fast Buck Freddie on it. The lyrics railed against the Feral Reserve stealing our wealth right before our eyes that were squeezed tightly shut. This group of musicians did that quite a bit – tried to open our eyes to the evil lurking in our political “representatives”. Click the play arrow above to hear what they tried to tell us 35 years ago. The dollar bill of the time could be folded in certain ways to create an image of a joker shooting himself with a handgun. That was Feral Reserve humor as they laughed their butts off while sucking the value out of our hard-earned dollars. […]
By Ted Dunlap, on September 13th, 2020 
A trombone great I never heard of does amazing imitations of many I have heard of in a light-hearted stand-up routine. She is enough of a student to understand and appreciate their various styles and a great enough musician to reproduce them one after another.
By Ted Dunlap, on July 5th, 2020 
Since moving to The Bitterroot, groups with room for my trombone playing are hard to come by. My fall-back option is my computer and studio speakers running Music Minus One recordings while I pretend to have a real band or small combo to play along with. I used my new-to-me-then Canon camera to record two representative samples of my main Bitterroot trombone gigs. The miniature internal microphone certainly does precious little to capture any sound quality that might exist were we listening live. The artsy photographic effects were fortuitous accidents. I did not know I had turned them on (or how), but am happy with the result. Most summers find me playing a bit part in our community band… that […]
By Ted Dunlap, on April 25th, 2020 
This is the ultimate child prodigy – the real thing. Take a break and enjoy this show. Mozart Piano Concerto No 3 in D major is a lovely piece, but to watch a 5-year-old smoke it out on a grand piano is an amazing treat. While 20 adult musicians read and play their parts off sheet music, the diminutive Russian holds it all in his head. More amazing is the power this little guy puts into the keyboard. His tone, articulation, rhythm, timing and feel are as good as any adult I can imagine playing this piece. And DO STAY for the encore. He is clearly enjoying this short piece. Observe the audience reaction. Were this in the USofA a […]
By Ted Dunlap, on February 5th, 2020 
My daughter’s 8th grade class put on the play WIZ. I loved it… likely helped that my little girl who had done so poorly academically shone in dedication to learn and perform two leading roles… doing a good job of building sets, costumes, memorizing lines, actions and tunes very well. A dramatic change inspired by performing arts. I was completely taken with their song “Don’t Give Me No Bad News”. Tear them up, Grammar Nazis That tune has come to my mind many times in the ensuing 20+ years. Click the PLAY arrow on the right for an audio-only version. You can listen to it while you read on. While not knowing what is going on, or what is […]
By Ted Dunlap, on December 26th, 2019 
Trombone style comms We sing nature’s tunes.
By Ted Dunlap, on December 12th, 2019 
and many, many other cities throughout the USofA. This Friday, Dec 13th, 2019 at 7:00 pm in Southgate Mall Lucky’s Court Brooks St Missoula a platoon of musicians gather to make joyous noise with their tubas. They are open-minded enough to embrace players of euphoniums, baritones and Sousaphones as well, which makes for a marvelous combination of voices. Speaking of voices, they highly encourage the audience to join them by singing the Christmas Carols that are so familiar to those of us who grew up in this country. They typically play the first time through to the appreciative audience, then a second verse joined by hundreds of happy voices. As proof of this event’s popularity, it has been going on […]
By Ted Dunlap, on December 10th, 2019 
I am a lifelong music lover, and in particular, trombone, swing, big band and symphonic. I also enjoyed plenty of 70’s rock. The more recent headbanging stuff: nah. In my teens, I enjoyed practicing and singing in a church choir with my mom. What is in all that? What makes us like, dislike, love and hate various musical forms? More importantly, what effect does listening and/or creating music have on us? Can the base tuning frequency change IT ALL? Apparently so. Read on. According to the 432 advocates, those who would rule the world figured that out, THEY changed the standard tuning frequency OVER THE PROTESTS of the knowledgeable music community. Power brokers changing musical foundation against the wishes of […]
|
Bitterroot Bugle permanent pages
|
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/silver/t24_ag_en_usoz_2.gif)
