829 Southdrive

829 Southdrive

A New Jersey state of mind



Thursday, December 1, 2011

Just Because




Sure-fire plan to get no comments.  "Here goes Baydog
again reliving his youth.  He probably had too many 
cocktails and went on Youtube."  And Charley, it was
well before midnight this time!  

Trivia question that I don't know the answer to:
How many classic bands had someone playing the
flute?  I can think of three immediately.  Include
the titles of some obvious songs in which these 
flautists displayed their talents. Hint:  I've posted
music clips from all of these three bands in the past,
although the flute may not have been present in all
of the songs. And there's no doubt there are more
bands than my immediate three. Someone may get
a prize, but I'll probably forget like the last time.

And sorry Mom for ending a sentence in a preposition.

21 comments:

  1. Well let's see, I think there was someone named Ian Anderson who was pretty good with the flute...Bouree

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  2. This is a perfectly good trivia question, but I'm really more fascinated by why it's flautist and not flutist.

    According to Wikipedia, which is never wrong, the accepted English usage was first flutist, but was later changed to flautist (from the Italian flautista) in the 18th century when the English apparently thought it was cool to be Italian, or to at least sound like you were Italian.

    But, here's the neat part. Flute expert Richard Rockstro wrote a three-volume tome called The Flute in 1890, in which he sidestepped the whole issue, using the word flute-player instead. And look at the spelling of Rockstro's name. This must be where we derive the modern word rockstar.

    So Eureka! Any cool '70s or '80s band wanting to achieve rockstar status would naturally include a flutist or a flautist or a flute-player out of homage to Rockstro's groundbreaking work. Mystery solved.

    Look, you said you wanted comments. I'm just trying to help here.

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  3. And then there was Jerry Eubanks... Can't You See

    I could have spun that wax for you on OFD.

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  4. Geeze, I always thought they were saying 'Kansas City, Ohhh Kansas City'. But what do I know, I'm just a Polish guy in the mirror. Is El Condor Pasa kinda like Freebird? I don't remember any flautists in that number.
    There was some dude whistling though.....

    O Docker, my bellyache about not getting comments paid off, and I got a 4+ paragraph response from lately the most elusive blogger in my little sphere. :)

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  5. Yeah, and as I remember, it's not one of your favorites. Something about being in Philadelphia in winter with slush and potholes. "And there was always that damn song."

    I remember, O Docker. You're very influential to me.

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  6. And yes, I'm still awake Charley!

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  7. Genesis who? Oh well, they weren't great, but your header photo is. Where did all those years go?

    All of the flute players I fell in love with (and there were a few) were in concert bands and orchestras. ;^)

    But if you're talking rock and roll and other children's music (thank you Tom Lehrer) then how about Canned Heat and Going up the Country?

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  8. I have to add here, that Anonymous (kx) gave the best answer - Jethro Tull. Kind of overwhelming since the main man played flute.

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  9. Before reading these comments, I instantly came up with Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull. Being a "flutist" myself, I should be able to come up with more examples, but I'm surround by some very intelligent folks here in this blog. I can however, provide some very useless information.

    Ian Anderson never learned to properly play the flute. He picked the thing up and managed to get sounds/notes out of it. It wasn't until his daughter was in school and learning to play the flute that he tried to learn proper fingerings (after his daughter's inquiries).

    I tried to emulate his sounds when I was younger. Let's just say I wasn't very good at it. Amazing technique - he's a genius on the instrument.

    I warned you . . . useless information!

    (My apologies if this post shows up twice. Issues on the iPad with posting. My first version was better written.)

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  10. He's brilliant and a pure maniac on the thing.

    Isn't blogging all about useless information?

    Some posts I compose are lost while editing it seems, and I have to re-write, often settling for
    the less desirable second attempt. Oh well....

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  11. Panda B - Right on with Canned Heat!! I can't believe I overlooked that one, but what a brilliant example. On Jethro Tull, note the first comment post above; the "main man" was Ian Anderson. Assumed people knew that. Click on the link for a treat.

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  12. BTW, Baydog, great new picture on your blog header! Give me a hint as to who/what/where. The lads are definitely equipped to be good listeners.

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  13. Pam (1) and Curt (3) are Pierson's. Keith (2) and Randy (4) are Gordy's. All sitting on Dad's Lightning 'Vision' (5805) on the beach at 829. The boat was on a cradle with railway wheels that ran down to the water.

    They had my ears pinned back at birth.

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  14. Mojo - I am sorry. You mentioned Ian first and I completely missed it and so gave Anonymous (kx) first credit. Oops. As the saying goes in the movie "Brazil", we're all in it together. Eh? ;^)

    Baydog - thanks for the explanation of who is who. Great picture.

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  15. I obviously am not busy this weekend. :)

    "sure-fire plan to get no comments" you wrote - Ha!

    Just thought of Moody Blues and Nights In White Satin Ray Thomas on flute.

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  16. Not only are we all in it together, Panda B, but we are all family too (and immediate, at that, for Baydog and Anon Kx). :-)

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  17. Brilliant again, Panda, on Moody Blues!

    And I just remembered this one from Van Morrison... Astral Weeks

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  18. Hey how about a shout out to Zamfir! remember that dude? He was on those commercials that also sold Slim Whitman albums. "Zamfir, Master of the Pan Flute". Do you know how to become Master of the Pan Flute...buy a Pan Flute and kill Zamfir! This has been the most thought I have ever devoted to the Flute.

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