I am not Layne Francis. My name is Helen Kahlke, and although I know Layne, and highly recommend him for your horn repairs, I am not him! 😀
I just wanted to clear this up, because even though there are nearly 200 pages on my main site, and at this point over 800 published articles on this blog, and Layne’s name only appears on 1 page of my site—2 counting this one now—I get at least 1 email a month from people who think I am Layne Francis, and that this site belongs to him.
Sometimes these emails tell me that they need horn X repaired before their show or concert on a particular date. Other times I get emails from school teachers who want to drop off 75 horns and want to know would Tuesday work. Still other emails are requests for particular types of used saxophones. I dutifully write all these people back telling them that I’m not Layne. I generally never hear back or get a thanks from anyone.
I did not have a chance to visit Layne before I moved from the Maritimes, so I did not say goodbye to him. Everything was rather crazy in those last 2 months of packing up a house and moving from the East to the West Coast.
Since moving back to BC in 2004, I had heard rumours that Layne had moved from the Halifax region to Chester, but I had not spoken to him. I have looked him up on Canada 411, and provided a phone number in my email replies suggesting that people try it and see if it was indeed the correct Layne Francis. However, I never knew for certain if I was telling people to call the correct man.
Then a couple of days ago I received yet another email mistaking me for Layne, and I thought I really need to check this number before I give it out again. Otherwise there is likely to be a really pissed off person in Nova Scotia wondering why all these people are calling about their saxophones!
So yesterday morning I called a number in Chester, Nova Scotia that was listed as belonging to Layne Francis. Well I had indeed been giving out the correct number all along.
It was very nice to talk to both him and his wife again. Yes, Layne is still doing horn repairs. His wife informed me that they still have miniature dachshunds. Currently they have 5—check out the picture of Layne, one of his dogs, and my bass to see the humour in this.
So, if you’re looking for Layne Francis because you’re looking for a saxophone—he was always my go to guy for that—or because you need your horn(s) fixed, give the man a call.
And no, Layne has not entered the technological age. He does not have a website, or email either. Just pretend it’s the 1990s, and pick up a phone. 😯 😉
Hi Helen,
It’s funny that I should chance upon this post. I was in Dartmouth for the first time in years and decided to drive by Layne’s old house. I saw that there was no “beater sax” on the fence and feared the worst. That’s when I decided to Google him before putting my foot in my mouth. What a relief to find out he had moved to Chester. I owe him large for many reasonably-priced repairs during my university years (and the lean years that followed)
It’s a shame we were never in the maritimes together. (I moved in 1997 to Toronto) It would have been a hoot to do some bass-bari stuff together 🙂
Hi Kevin. Welcome to my site.
Yes, it seems that this post was indeed very timely. 🙂
Layne is such a gentle soul, and a wonderful guy. He kept my horns in top working order while I lived in the Maritimes. I gladly did the 4+ hour drive from Fredericton annually to have him work on my babies. He always took great care of them, and they always played amazingly well when he was done.
I would have loved to have done some bari/bass stuff with you. If you ever find yourself out on the West Coast, please give me a shout. My bass & I are always open to having visitors.
Warmest regards,
Helen
Hi Layne I have a few horns that I would like fixed can I drop them off tomorrow?
😆 😆
As you know, I created saxpics.com and then sold it to USAHorn.com. I also was an administrator on SOTW. During the many years of doing both, I was mistaken for:
* Harri Rautiainen (founder of SOTW)
* Paul Cohen (he of the “Vintage Saxophones Revisited” column in The Saxophone Journal magazine)
* Paul Coats (SOTW member and endorser of several sax-related products)
* Paul Lindemeyer (SOTW member and author of Celebrating the Saxophone)
I hope you noticed the trend with “Paul” ….
There were several more, of course, but the #1 e-mail intro I get is “Dear sir/madam”. Well, I guess that means I’m going to be confused with you, Helen :).
The thing I find most interesting is that it’s been 6 or so years since I was an admin on SOTW, and just NOW are people sending me e-mails thinking that I founded that website. Yes, I set up several versions of it and I was an admin, but that was 6 years ago and I cannot make your thread into a sticky!
I think the problem is that people don’t read. They read just enough to catch part of what’s going on, but not enough to grasp the actual truth. Uwe and I were having a similar conversation about his research and how it has been bastardized and misquoted—and most often not cited. He is usually not given credit for his work.
I think a lot of it has to do with the nature of the Internet. I think there is so much information out there, that we’re suffering from information overload. We’re not taking the time to really read, and comprehend what we’re reading. We’re too busy thinking about the next 10,000 articles on Google’s list—or the next 5,000 posts on SOTW—that we need to get to, that we’re not really concentrating on what we’re currently reading. I think the Internet is contributing to a global case of ADD. 😮
Don’t you agree Paul. 😀
Regarding info overload, the thing is that you know that no one is reading after one sentence. Even if the next sentence has a good deal of meaning.
As a real life example, I’ve asked a group of people at work for two bits of info I needed to complete a project. A very small percentage sent me those two bits of info. Some responded with the wrong info. Most gave me one bit and that was it. It’s frustrating. But I can use this for evil, if I decide to become a contract lawyer ….
Sorry… You lost me after the first sentence. What does that mean? I don’t understand. 😆 😆