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Two years ago, I won a free "Merry Tuba Christmas" hat for being the OLDEST player there. My being old is now official.

I've only participated in one just last year.

There was a supplement to the regular TC program.

One number was in D Major.

I said "Sharps?? WTF??"

Hilarity ensued.

It isn't that I was asked not to return to that venue this year,

it just so happens I'll be spreading the joy at another locale...

Sorry for not knowing, but what is a Tuba Christmas ?

It is a largely American Tuba Caroling event but I do see there are some International events as well...

http://www.tubachristmas.com/whatis.htm" target="_blank

Getting straight-up yelled at by Harvey Phillips during a rehearsal, in front of about 300 people:
"Pay attention, dammit!"

Man he was angry.

(Not that I didn't deserve it, I was screwing around* while he was telling us something, and then I played straight through the rest that he just told us about... while sitting about 5 feet away from him. Oh, young and stupid 18-year old Bort.)

Sorry Harv.

*I believe he was telling the group that the Sousaphone is one of two instruments named after it's inventor, and asked us all what the other one was. I told my friend it was "Jean-Luc d'Bass Clarinet."

Bort, was that you?

I remember that. Or, it could have been someone else. Harvey didn't have patience for anyone not paying attention.

Man, I have a lot of memories, heart-warming and otherwise. Let's see:

* Harvey asking me to improvise a bass line so that he could sing Sant Wants A Tuba For Christmas. It was a duo, on the ice in front of thousands, where I screwed up some chord change during the bridge.

* Getting to conduct the ensemble for 2 songs in 2012 because I was leaving NY and moving to Texas days after.

* Going to a Chinatown restaurant after Tubachristmas one year, with Harvey, Carol, My wife Debi and John Glasel, where we were treated like Kings ! The food and booze kept coming.

* Howard Johnson showing up, as he did many years just to chat with Harvey, and giving me a present because I was moving to Texas.

* Playing a 10 minute concert because everyone's valves froze due to it being -18 deg. wind chill factor in 1981.

* I got particular joy out of wandering through the rehearsal under Rockefeller Center, where everyone stood through the rehearsal, as well as the concert, coming to the rescue of struggling young players with my duct tape remedies.

* One year, a parent asked me to look after their son and they insisted he use a chair. They brought a nice dining room chair from home just for the event - strange. They, somehow, were allowed to get the chair on the ice rink with their son (the early days before 9/11) and I stood near this player throughout the concert. The parents told me they would be at the top of the stairs leading to 5th Ave. by Sachs and/or that they would try to retrieve the chair on the ice. After the concert, the kid disappeared and I was left with this really nice dining room chair. I brought it up to 5th Ave. and waited around for a bit and nobody came to claim this chair. I just left it there. Somebody took a nice dining room chair home.

There's more, I'm sure. Those were the days!!

My story was from Baltimore, 1998. So if you were there in the Verizon building cafeteria... Yes, that was me.

Sorry, Bort. I know you were in NY at some point. I've only been involved in the NYC and Austin Tubachristmases.

I figured. At least I wasn't the only person to upset him. Bonehead move. I met him for real a few years later, only a year or two before he died. I have never, and may never again meet someone as enthusiastic about the tuba.

As I have said before, I am a clown. So I show up at TC in my Elf outfit. It is very classy with a gray tailed jacket, and $300 elf shoes with bell. I am not allowed to compete in the costume contest any more, but I get to help out with voting, giving me a chance to "Clown Around". I usually get my picture in the paper every year as well. But the best was having one of the two pictures that were printed in 2014 be selected as one of the top 101 Oregonians Pictures of the Year. It is number Eleven, it you care to Google it. The tuba is my 1933 York.

A number of years ago, when the Mall of America had just opened, we had Tuba Christmas there. We had over 300 tubas! The U of MN Sousaphone section was there lined up one of the spiral staircases. We got about 1/2 way throughout the concert and the building manager stopped us. They were afraid we were going to crack the foundation. We have not been invited back. (I really did sound good.)

This year in Newport News, VA I took a header on the pavement looking for the rehearsal room.

I may have bruised/cracked a rib. (It still hurts when I laugh)

Fortunately, the Mrs. didn't see me so I rested for about 15 minutes, rubbed some dirt on it and off I went.

This is a nice little group. I was a spectator two years ago and when we went back to visit family I decided to participate.

opus37 wrote:A number of years ago, when the Mall of America had just opened, we had Tuba Christmas there. We had over 300 tubas! The U of MN Sousaphone section was there lined up one of the spiral staircases. We got about 1/2 way throughout the concert and the building manager stopped us. They were afraid we were going to crack the foundation. We have not been invited back. (I really did sound good.)

Bummer. That was quite a long time ago, wonder if they would reconsider? I would much prefer that to the church in St. Paul. Not that the church is a bad place, but I like Tuba Christmas far better as an event in a public space with people who pass by and stop for a song or two.

The whole "Tuba Christmas as a seated concert event" concept is kind of bizarre to me. Maybe it's pretty common... but I don't really like it.

bort wrote:
The whole "Tuba Christmas as a seated concert event" concept is kind of bizarre to me. Maybe it's pretty common... but I don't really like it.

Check out this Tuba Christmas parade in Basel SW...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hY4BCjkg8k" target="_blank

...and that wild looking Cim-contra at about 2:42 in!!

Matt Walters wrote:Two years ago, I won a free "Merry Tuba Christmas" hat for being the OLDEST player there. My being old is now official.

I narrowly escaped being the oldest present on Sunday. The winner was 56!

Speaking of TubaChristmas, how could I go about getting a button from this year?

When I got there, they had run out. Instead of a button, I got a yellow post-it note with some scribble on it as my receipt. Doesn't look very good on the hat.

bort wrote:Speaking of TubaChristmas, how could I go about getting a button from this year?

When I got there, they had run out. Instead of a button, I got a yellow post-it note with some scribble on it as my receipt. Doesn't look very good on the hat.

I don't collect them. If mine survived a quick cleanout of my car Sunday evening (and I don't remember tossing it) you can have it.

Michael Bush wrote:

bort wrote:Speaking of TubaChristmas, how could I go about getting a button from this year?

When I got there, they had run out. Instead of a button, I got a yellow post-it note with some scribble on it as my receipt. Doesn't look very good on the hat.

I don't collect them. If mine survived a quick cleanout of my car Sunday evening (and I don't remember tossing it) you can have it.

Thanks a lot!

Honestly, I really don't like buttons, and find them pretty annoying. But, I've kept them all over the last 20 years, so it seems silly to stop now.

bort wrote:

Michael Bush wrote:

bort wrote:Speaking of TubaChristmas, how could I go about getting a button from this year?

When I got there, they had run out. Instead of a button, I got a yellow post-it note with some scribble on it as my receipt. Doesn't look very good on the hat.

I don't collect them. If mine survived a quick cleanout of my car Sunday evening (and I don't remember tossing it) you can have it.

Thanks a lot!

Honestly, I really don't like buttons, and find them pretty annoying. But, I've kept them all over the last 20 years, so it seems silly to stop now.

As I suspected, it was in the console of my car. PM me your address and I'll send it to you.

I walked a bit over a mile to the rehearsal this year. Got plenty of honks and waves on the way, even got invited into a car dealership for a cup of coffee, but i was running late, so i didn't accept the invitation.

I ended up bumming a ride from a friend, so i didn't stop in on the way back either.

Last year, i probably was second furthest away, having driven roughly 2,000 miles, and arriving 10 minutes late mildly sleep deprived. But folk had flown in from Asia, so it really was no contest. On the walk back from that one, i had an absurd inspiration for decorating my tuba, the kind of idea i probably should ask permission from organizers before implementing...