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Gross things other musicians do.

#121
Call it "spit", "water vapor", "condensation" or unicorn tears...to those of us that don't use our mouth or lungs to produce sound on our instrument, it just seems gross. I used to regularly open for a regional/national touring Ska band. MANY times I watched their trombone player take the slide entirely off and tip it up in the air and into his mouth. I would usually turn away when I knew it was coming.
 
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#122
Hopkins said:
So how did this work, did he strike a yoga pose and just gnaw one of them off, or clip one off and gnaw on it?

Either way, I couldn't be friends with that guy
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He'd just be sitting on the couch Indian style, then he'd lift his foot to his mouth with his hand... I guess that'd be similar to a yoga pose??

You dont have to be friends with.someone just because you play with them....
 
#123
hintz said:
He'd just be sitting on the couch Indian style, then he'd lift his foot to his mouth with his hand... I guess that'd be similar to a yoga pose??

You dont have to be friends with.someone just because you play with them....
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I don't know if I could handle being around that guy at all. I have a serious aversion to feet as it is, so that would gross me out completely.
 
#124
Hopkins said:
I don't know if I could handle being around that guy at all. I have a serious aversion to feet as it is, so that would gross me out completely.
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It was something he did after we played together for a few years...yeah, it was gross!!

I also think he had a amphetamine problem that he kept secret from everyone, he'd go to the bathroom and be "mysteriously energized" when he returned, plus his ups and downs;). Strange dude...
 
#126
d-dave said:
Dude... I played tuba for 6 years. I'm sorry, but you're delusional. It's spit. It is not water vapor. It is a condensate of the moisture within your mouth that gathers in the bends and turns of the metal tubing that make up your instrument. And that moisture within your mouth? It's not water. It's spit. Horn players call them spit valves for a reason. :thumbsup:

P.S.: Tuba = MUCH bigger mouthpiece = MUCH more lip crammed inside = MUCH more spit. Band rooms smell funky for a reason.
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Spit into that mouthpiece until your sound bubbles, and compare it to the natural buildup over playing for a few hours. Not the same stuff.
 
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#133
We had a fill in drummer for a few shows who was great but refused to wear a belt and showed 80% of his ass setting up his gear. It got to the point a manager of a club asked us please make him tuck in his shirt or buy a belt before coming back.
 
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#136
Really only one thing but still pretty gross. My friend plays bass in a band but he broke his ring finger and index finger on his left hand so I filled in for him on one gig. Anyway it's pretty straight forward rock covers like ac/dc, guns n roses, the who and Jimi Hendrix. We start playing and everything was fine but after each song the drummer kept getting more and more sweaty until drops were flying everywhere on a pretty compact stage! It was gross because as we're playing I could feel it landing on me and see it getting on my bass, I moved as far as I could but it still got me. When we finished it looked like there had been a light rain on the stage. The back of my shirt was a little wet and the back of my bass neck had a of drops on it. I was grossed out and found some wipes to clean all my gear. The guy looked like he had just fallen into a swimming pool or something and sweat had puddled a little bit under his stool. Grossest thing I've ever seen or experienced involving other musicians!!! I don't know how my friend doesn't care about that, maybe he's used to it but it's nasty if you ask me.
 
#137
Working on the lead singers broken mike from back in the 60's... As I was taking it apart, I got a whiff of the sponge between the mike pickup and the outer screen.. The smell almost made me puke. Years of bad breath and spit from singing up close for many years turned that sponge into a condensed and potent form of halitosis. Yuck... maybe that's why it was called it a condenser mike.. ;)
vomiting.jpg
 
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#138
sonicblue62 said:
Not really gross, but definitely uncool, was a drummer who answered his cell phone during a song and continued to play with his right hand while arguing with his wife about their broken dishwasher. This was at a jazz gig during a pretty quiet ballad (and during my solo, I might add) and the audience could hear their conversation loud and clear. To add insult to injury, the incident was repeated a few minutes later during another song.
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I doubt it's the same drummer, but I was in a band with a chronic cell phone user. Think he'd have the smarts to get a headset. No. Played with one hand.
 

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