-------- Original Message -------- Subject: on the streets (was 2 horns and strings) From: "Leonard & Peggy Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Fri, October 24, 2008 8:35 am To: "horn list memphis" <horn@music.memphis.edu> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Carl Bangs writes: A movement from an early Haydn symphony might work. I used to play number 18 with a string quartet on the streets in San Francisco. The oboe parts merely double the strings.<<<<<<< Carl, Is there a living playing on the streets? I guess I mean, is it for love or money? What is the experience like? LLB "the streets of Laredo" Leonard, I'll try to send this again. I apologize if this is a repetition. This was in the mid 1970's when I lived in Berkeley. I would have made more money with almost any non-music job, but I wouldn't have had as much fun. With a combination of free-lance jobs, un-employment insurance, and street music I survived, started an orchestra which I conducted for 15 years, married a couple of wives (not simultaneously this time), and bought my first house. I think we averaged about $5 an hour for time on the street, but it was really advertising for the gigs that paid well, weddings, parties, etc. I had three street music groups simultaneously so I could work almost every day. One was Emperor Norton's Imperial Orchestra, a string quartet plus horn. There was a brass quintet, and a woodwind quintet called the Gottlieb Quintet that played mostly Mozart Divertimenti. Our theory was that Mozart was so good that he had to be Jewish, but that he changed his name to Amadeus when he got into show business. We had to explain this to people who were disappointed to learn that Lou was not a member of our quintet. Our favorite place to play was outside Doubleday Bookstore. I remember one day just after I had put my horn away, someone asked me if it were some kind of electric guitar. I replied "No, it's pneumatic." On Friday afternoons all the street musicians got together to put on an orchestra concert at the Civic Center and Ghirardelli Square. The way the economy is now I may return to the streets. Carl _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
