[Dixielandjazz] Merry Tuba Christmas

[David M Richoux]

I'm also not a big fan of TC, but in San Jose there was a much better  
event that ran for about 23 years - Tony Clements did his own  
arrangements of seasonal songs that were much better than the Tuba  
Christmas® selections. We had as many as 200 horns and some years it  
actually sounded pretty good.  Because of trademark issues, he had to  
call it "Christmas Tubafest," and another difference was the inclusion  
of the Alto Tuba (Peck Horn) to add a higher voice to the songs.

I played in maybe 90% of those concerts, but I have not done a real  
Tuba Christmas® in decades.

Dave Richoux

On Dec 19, 2009, at 10:31 AM, Mike Marois wrote:

> Good Afternoon Steve et al;
>
> I remember my first tubachristmas about 25 years ago out in Los  
> Angeles.  I
> got a call from this guy to show up at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillon  
> dressed
> in blacks and whites on a specific date and time to play some  
> Christmas
> tunes.  The caller had mad no mention of the tubachristmas  
> performance.
> Showed up, paid for parking, got up to the courtyard and saw a ton  
> of tuba
> players, most of which were school kids playing school horns, get my  
> drift.
> Took a seat and then got hit up for another $10.00 bucks for the  
> music.
> Needless to say, after an hour or so, a dozen or so new dents in my  
> axe from
> careless students, and a massive headache the concert was over.  The  
> only
> saving grace to the evening was found at the original Tommy's which  
> was a
> few mile from the tuba carnage I had just left.  After that night I  
> made a
> promise to myself that as a professional musician I would never pay  
> to play
> again.  This is a promise that I still live by to this day.
>
> Happy and Safe Holidays to Everyone,
> Mike
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com
> [mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com] On Behalf Of Stephen G
> Barbone
> Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2009 8:43 AM
> To: Mike Marois
> Cc: tradjazz at list.okom.com; Dixieland Jazz Mailing List
> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Merry Tuba Christmas
>
> Just a reminder that this Sunday, Dec 13, one of the largest groups of
> tubists will play Tuba Christmas Music at the Ice Rink in Rockefeller
> Center, NYC at 3:30 PM.
>
> For similar demonstrations of large Tubist Christmas gatherings in 250
> cities in the USA, Canada and Switzerland, see: (and click on the
> location box, upper left)
>
> http://www.tubachristmas.com/selectloc.php
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone