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I was playing Sousaphone in a New Orleans style funeral parade this afternoon along Clement Street in SF (a 2 lane shopping street - not a major road) when I caught my foot in a small pot hole. I fell forward, hitting the bell and 1st valve pipe, along with my left knee. After more than 40 years of parading, this is the first time I have taken such a hit! I was able to get up and keep playing through the rest of the event (and the horn will be quickly repaired, I am sure.)

So I guess it was a draw... The street tried hard, but i kept on going. There were a lot of folks recording the band on their phones so I suppose I will be on some YouTube or equiv upload by this evening

David Richoux wrote:I was playing Sousaphone in a New Orleans style funeral parade this afternoon along Clement Street in SF (a 2 lane shopping street - not a major road) when I caught my foot in a small pot hole. I fell forward, hitting the bell and 1st valve pipe, along with my left knee. After more than 40 years of parading, this is the first time I have taken such a hit! I was able to get up and keep playing through the rest of the event (and the horn will be quickly repaired, I am sure.)

So I guess it was a draw... The street tried hard, but i kept on going. There were a lot of folks recording the band on their phones so I suppose I will be on some YouTube or equiv upload by this evening

You're lucky it didn't turn out to be your funeral. An accident like that could have been serious. Glad to know you are OK, David.

Pot holes in San Francisco streets? I've heard the budget is tight.

Ace

I sympathize, terribly, for I walk about my own house risking low hanging lamps, doorways, all conspiring to clank my bell.

Ouch!

Coming a cropper after hitting pot hole is somewhat common on the bike and where I live in Melbourne, Australia there's been lots of successful cases of compensation paid by the local council for personal injury and damage to the bike. The main thing you need is a witness and it helps if you can somehow be demonstrate that the council was previously warned of the pothole. Some local bike avocacy groups keep this information.

Now.....bikes and sousaphones don't have a lot in common, but the general concept of damage resulting from council neglect is the same.

California is thousands of millions of dollars in debt tight now and our system is such that it would take months if not years to receive
any money from the government - unless of coarse, you don't deserve it at all - and then the opposite is true !

I think you're probably right......no point trying to get blood from a stone. And David did say it was a small pot hole. However, if the fall was clearly due to council neglect then I'd be seeking costs to fix the horn and my knee as well, if needed. Guess it also depends on the horn to, if its already beat up then I a cheap repair job is okay and it's probably just easiest to pay it.

David, I am glad you're OK, and hope your horn is easily repaired. Falling in a parade has always been a concern of mine. My balance is suspect at best, and I have bad knees and ankles. One year I resorted to wearing my duty boots in a 4th of July parade so my colapsable ankles wouldn't.

Well,
24 hours later - everything is pretty well under control except my right wrist. I must have strained it a bit when the horn fell forward and my thumb was still in the ring...

Thanks for all the kind comments!

No embarrassing Youtubes yet, far as I know -)