[Dixielandjazz] Intercourse Boombass concert (was Muhlenberg Gigs)

[W1AB at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/24/2010 9:06:08 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
meetmrcallaghan at gmail.com writes:

Speaking  of Pennsylvania towns, have you ever played a gig in Intercourse?

While  I'm not really up on my PA. geography, if memory serves me correctly,
it is  in somewhat close proximity of Blue Ball.
 
 
    Indeed, you are correct on your  geographical knowledge, Harry.  I 
never played an Intercourse gig, but  I have been to the town and I have a 
couple of nice tee shirts from  there.
 
    To add some musical content to this  discussion, here is a true story, 
told to me by a friend....
 
    My friend had stopped off at  Intercourse to spend the night in a motel 
(the "Intercourse Motel"?) when he was  on a road trip, several decades 
ago.  After checking in, he went to a  nearby local cafe for dinner.  While 
waiting for his order, he looked over  the tune list on the juke box -- ALL 
selections on the juke box were polka  tunes....
 
    Then, as he looked around the room, he  saw that several people had 
"rhythm sticks" -- also called boombass or, in  German, Teufelsgeige (devil's 
fiddle).  You can see a Czech version of one  here:
 
_http://www.volny.cz/kalouda/images/foto/vozembouchy1.jpg_ 
(http://www.volny.cz/kalouda/images/foto/vozembouchy1.jpg) 
 
    ( ( SIDEBAR:  The boombass is a  percussion instrument that you strike 
on the floor to activate the sock cymbals  on top of it plus various bells, 
etc along its length.  A tambourine is  mounted on the side, which you play 
as a drum, using a single standard  drumstick.  
 
    ( ( I bought a damaged boombass at a  music store several decades ago 
and rebuilt it to make a hotrod boombass.   I replaced the simple tambourine 
with a Hohner children's snare drum, added  a nice bulb horn and a Daffy 
Duck bicycle horn, plus various other things.   It is a GOOD boombass. ) )
 
    Anyway, back to the tale of the  traveler in the Intercourse Cafe....  
As he was waiting for his  order, the appointed hour arrived for the event 
that was the town's weekly  musicale.  
 
    One of the boombass musicians got out  of his seat, carried his 
boombass over to the juke box (there were no remote  selector heads), dropped in a 
nickel (remember, this was long ago), and selected  his favorite polka.  
When the polka began, he played vigorously along with  the music, doing little 
dance steps as he played.  When the tune was over,  he got a nice round of 
applause from the audience, took his bows, and reseated  himself.
 
    Another boombassist got up, went to the juke box,  selected HIS 
favorite polka, played along, received applause, took bows,  etc.
 
    Each player took his turn (probably  decided on by an Intercourse 
Pecking Order), and when everyone had had his first  turn, the order started over 
again, as in baseball's batting order.
 
    My friend heard more boombass playing  that evening than he has heard 
al the rest of his lifetime, combined.  He  was suitably impressed, as I know 
you will be by the reading of this  report.
 
    As I understand it, Muhlenberg Joyce  was not at the cafe that evening. 
 She apparently had other affairs at  hand.
 
                                                                        Al B