{"id":25282,"date":"2011-05-16T10:56:33","date_gmt":"2011-05-16T17:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/?p=25282"},"modified":"2011-05-16T10:56:33","modified_gmt":"2011-05-16T17:56:33","slug":"a-weekend-filled-with-music-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/2011\/a-weekend-filled-with-music-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"A Weekend Filled With Music & Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before I developed my neuro problem my weekends were always filled with music, because I was generally working Thursdays through Sundays with 1 or more of the 3 bands I was in. Now however, it’s all I can do to suck it up to play with Deception<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Deception<\/em> hosted a dance over the weekend at Straiton Hall. I haven’t talked to the organizers yet, but based on the people on the dance floor, and the number of people I saw at tables and milling around, I’d say we were pretty damn close to a sell out.<\/p>\n

I had some very special friends come out and see us this weekend, but perhaps none were as special as my first saxophone teacher, Kenton Kuusela, and his wife Wendy. Kenton was my junior high band teacher,\u00a0but he is first and foremost a saxophone player.<\/p>\n

Because I was really keen and dedicated to learning how to play, I was lucky enough to get to take lessons with him. Kenton gave up some of his free time to give me regular lessons during the noon hour.<\/p>\n

Kenton is a wonderful jazz player, and I learned so much from him during my 2\u00bd years under his guidance, that to this day you can still hear his influence in my style of play. Although I’ve gone on to study first classical and then rock\u00a0with other profs and teachers since, I still have all those early jazz lessons strongly entrenched under my fingers. When\u00a0Deception<\/em>\u00a0does a slow blues ballad, you can really hear my jazz\u00a0style just below the surface.<\/p>\n

One the morning of the show, my Zephyr first got a once-over to prevent any keys from sticking.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Photo by H. Kahlke<\/h6>\n

During the dance the Zeph certainly got a workout. The sax certainly isn’t a wall flower in Deception<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Photo by M. Margison<\/h6>\n

Most of the time I tend to not look up,especially when stage lights are pointed right at me. In this shot, I must have noticed some kind of movement right in front of the stage.<\/p>\n

I was asked after the show by one of the attendees, why I don’t polish my horn. Wow, talk about a loaded question. That could get into the whole finish\/tone thing couldn’t it?<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Photo by M. Margison<\/h6>\n

On Sunday Kenton and his wife came over for lunch, and he brought his 1967 Mark VI that he has had since new. I played my 1972 Mark\u00a0VI\u00a0that I’ve had since 1981, and we compared the horns\u00a0side by side.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a shoot out with the same mouthpiece\/reed\/lig set up, these 2 horns are\u00a0almost identical. Mine\u00a0is perhaps a tad\u00a0brighter. However, I\u00a0have\u00a0the Selmer\u00a0Series II style metal resos in mine, so that might make a\u00a0bit of difference. Bottom line, Kenton thought the same thing that everyone else who has played my tenor has thought: it is a really nice<\/span><\/em> VI. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Photo by M. Margison<\/h6>\n

Kenton also gave my Buescher bass a try. I decided to take this opportunity to check for leaks. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Photo by M. Margison<\/h6>\n

Yup, I found it! Who needs a leak light?<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Photo by M. Margison<\/h6>\n

Although this was busy and tiring weekend for me, it was also a great one. It made me feel more like a regular person again, rather than Dr. D’s neuro\u00a0or more recently Dr. Q’s dental patient. \":mrgreen:\"<\/p>\n

\n
…this is just my blog<\/em>. <\/span> My \u201creal\u201d <\/b> website is<\/span> www.bassic-sax.info.<\/a> If you\u2019re looking for <\/span> sax info<\/strong>,<\/span> you should check it out too.<\/span>There\u2019s lots<\/em> there! <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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Before I developed my neuro problem my weekends were always filled with music, because I was generally working Thursdays through Sundays with 1 or more …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[150,619,43,640,620,149,35,627,644,29,224],"class_list":["post-25282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musical-friends","tag-american-saxophones","tag-bass-saxophone","tag-blues-band","tag-buescher","tag-deception","tag-french-saxophones","tag-king","tag-musical-friends","tag-photos","tag-selmer-mark-vi","tag-zephyr"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t