[Dixielandjazz] Bass cano

[David Richoux]

Anton (and all)

I cannot at this point take everything my acquaintance in Colma said  
as 100% gospel. We are both members of a California Historical  
Drinking Fraternal organization (or is it a Drinking Historical  
California Fraternal organization?) known as E Clampus Vitas. There  
have been some real whopping fibs told by members of that  
organization - it is part of the grand and noble tradition of the group.

However, I do think he may have seen something at some point that may  
actually be a "Bass Cano," or "Bass Can" - maybe at that museum. When  
I went to the Met last Spring I had a long talk with the department  
head and also talked with a noted musicologist from Boston who was  
doing some work there. Neither of them remembered any sort of similar  
instrument in the permanent collection. There was a temporary exhibit  
of monochord instruments a few years back at the Met - maybe my ECV  
friend saw it then?

anyway...
Dave Richoux

On Aug 27, 2007, at 11:44 PM, Anton Crouch wrote:

> Hello all
>
> The post that Bill Haesler remembers, and is probably "locked" in  
> his Mac, came from Dave Richoux in 2004. It is (in part):
>
> >Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 16:09:06 -0800
> From: david richoux <tubaman at batnet.com>
>
>
> I was just at an mid-day gig  in the town of Colma (just south of San
> Francisco) at an annual event celebrating the life of Joshua Norton
> (Emperor Norton the First) ( go to
> <http://www.discordia.org/~keeper/norton.html> or several other
> websites for more on that.. an interesting story!)
>
> anyway, one of the people who was there is an expert in early Western
> Swing, Jug Bands and "Hill Billy Music" so I asked him if he knew what
> a "Bass Cano" is or was.
>
> Not only did he know - he actually SAW one at  The Metropolitan Museum
> of Art a few years ago! He said it was a one string instrument about 5
> or 6 feet long - basically a big stick of wood with a very simple
> tuning peg at each end of the string. It was not displayed well and  
> was
> there not much of a descriptive explanation but it was called a Bass
> Cano. He remembered it because he asked a curator about the instrument
> and they did not have any ready information.
>
> I just went to the Met website to have a look
> <http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/department.asp?dep=18>  - it is
> not shown but there are a lot of very interesting instruments shown at
> that site.<
>
> All the best,
> Anton
>
>
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