[Dixielandjazz] Intercourse Boombass concert (was Muhlenberg Gigs)

[Harry Callaghan]

Perhaps Joyce had a "Bird-in-Hand"?

On 6/24/10, W1AB at aol.com <W1AB at aol.com> wrote:
>
>
> 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
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