Selmer G-Sharp Spring: Selmer finally got the lame G-Sharp spring on the Marl VI right on the Mark VII… to bad they had the poorly designed left hand little finger keys and the Low C/E-Flat keys. Easy to balance the G-Sharp spring tension.
Author: rheuben
Saxophone Side Key Corks
11.6.208
Saxophone Side Key Corks: I see this a lot of saxophones that come in for repair. The side key corks are to long and make the key not open correctly and feel funny when they are operated.
The correct way is to have the cork only on the flat part of the key… Opens correctly and feels better.
Dirty Rods on saxophones
After years of not cleaning rods or doing much work to a saxophone…. it can really gum up the rods. Here is the upper stack rod form a Mark VII alto I am overhauling that has never been worked on since it was new. Every rod on this saxophone was locked in and difficult to remove.
How I met the Munchkin
Jerry Maren: Munchkin
How I met Jerry was my friend Ted Zeigler was working on a remake of Truth or Consequences as the announcer and he took me along for one of the first shows. They had Jerry and Billy as the little people on the show and after the first show was over he introduced me to Jerry… well that was that… I came back another time and when the show was over Jerry came up to me and said “he wanted to go to the opening of a movie he was in and he did not have a car…. So, could I drive him… Well of course I said yes… it was at the VA theater in Westwood so at the time it was not that far from where I lived.
We show up and he invites me to go along with him so I did…. We get to the door and we are in street clothes and everyone is in Tuxes…. He tells the guard he forgot his invitation and the guard told him it was OK he knew who he was…… so we go in and find seats … as the movie starts it was for the premier of “SpaceBalls” … we were sitting just a couple rows back from Mel Brooks and his group and no one seemed to mind that we really looked out of place… after it was over I took Jerry home and that is how our friendship began.
My friend Jerry Maren the Munchkin that handed Dorothy the sucker in the “Wizard of Oz” passed away at the age of 98…. Great run for a little person.
I remember going by his house one day and his wife Elizabeth was also a little person so everything was set so they could get to it. That included the toilet … I was just about peeing on my ankles…. The reason I am telling this is later that same day a went to visit my friend Wilt Chamberlain and of course had to take a leak… wilt told me to use his bathroom…. Well the toilet was raised and I almost had to stand on my toes to take the leak…. I must be the only one in the world that had the experience….
Jerry and Elizabeth loved to go to Steward Andersons or the Stake House next to Warner Brothers (the name slips my mind and it is famous) for lunch or dinner…..
Jerry, Liz and I went to see one of the Disney on Ice shows and of course Jerry was the special guest… the funny thing is that most of the people that came up to him thought he was the Mayor since he had a mustache and was old…. They did not realize it had been at that time 30 plus years since he was in the movie. The way Jerry got the job in the Oz was he could dance…. So, he worked with the other two guys to do the dancing and they were all great.
Jerry did a lot of interesting things to make money in his life….. Munchkin, Ham Burglar, Oscar Meyer kid on the truck… (But he wasn’t really a kid f course) A Night at the Circus with the Marks Brothers, Little Rascals, He was a Midget Wrestler, played the horses… there was never a dull moment with Jerry…
Liz liked to be the young child that had spiders crawling up her leg in the horror movies… I think as I recall she was the oldest of 12 children and Jerry was the youngest of 12 children and they were the only little people.
I am and always will be proud to be able call Jerry and Liz my friends. Both Jerry and Liz have passed away and they are missed.
Paul Desmond
As a musician we need to listen to jazz musicians that have solos that are great jazz melodies and not just scales… even the creator of scale oriented solos John Coltrane had beautiful melodies in his solos……
This week start with Paul Desmond…….
Prevent Sagging in the human body
Know how to prevent sagging?
Just eat till the wrinkles fill out.
I can do this……
Spires Restaurant in Torrance, California
I eat breakfast at Spires in Torrance almost everyday of my life…. the ratings are not so good on Yelp but I always have a great breakfast, the waitresses are very nice and try to get you want you want even if it is off the wall. I think if you are in the area you should try Spires.
21107 Hawthorne Blvd. Torrance, CA 90503 310-540-3050
Red Car Restaurant in Torrance
Sept. 22, 2018
Red Car Restaurant in Torrance CA http://redcarbrewery.com/
Make a great turkey, bacon and avodaco sandwich…..
Hollywood Clarinet Quartet
Hollywood Clarinet Quartet is recording a few new things and here is how far we have gotten so far.. Hope you can enjoy them…. there are four new songs arrangements by Dan Higgins and Gordon Goodwin
Rheuben Allen
Mike Vaccaro
Joe Nazzaretta
Greg Huckins – Bass Clarinet
The Gordon Goodwin features David Stanton on 1st clarinet .. this is the last thing David played before loosing his battle with CANCER!
Who plays saxophone?
Who plays saxophone? Well the most famous saxophone player that did not make his living playing the saxophone is of course Bill Clinton…. President of the United States….
I loaned him a Berg Larsen Mouthpiece for an affair in Los Angeles once…. not sure if he used it but a Secret Service guy picked it up a couple days before the event I guess to make sure it clean….
My friend Everette Harp had his saxophone played by Mr. Clinton at his inauguration and Dan Higgins transcribed the solo and sent it to Mr. Clinton…….
The saxophone world is not that big……