{"id":1912,"date":"2009-12-21T01:05:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-21T09:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/?p=1912"},"modified":"2009-12-21T01:05:00","modified_gmt":"2009-12-21T09:05:00","slug":"the_rifftides_staff_is_pleased","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2009\/12\/the_rifftides_staff_is_pleased\/","title":{"rendered":"Crow’s Names"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rifftides<\/em> staff is pleased that the eminent bassist, raconteur and author Bill Crow reads the blog. Among his many activities, Mr. Crow writes the Band Room<\/a> column in New York AFM Local 802’s Allegro<\/em> monthly publication. Every now and then he contributes a Rifftides<\/em> comment. \"Thumbnail<\/a>Bill’s latest communiqu\u00c3\u00a9 is in response to the Freddie Schreiber item in the following exhibit. It deserves wider exposure than it might get as a comment to that piece. I have taken the liberty of removing from his list names that duplicate those on Schreiber’s. Again, these names are best read aloud and not in the presence of those who fail to understand that, contrary to conventional wisdom, puns are the highest form of humor.<\/p>\n

Musicians have been playing the name game for a long time, and I have no idea who started it, but back in April 1983 I ran a lot of names in the fourth column I wrote for Local 802’s Allegro<\/em>, using a list I had gotten from trombonist Jack Gale, and adding some of my own inventions. Jack had collected his list from the Broadway show pits, where a lot of inventive people while away the minutes between musical numbers with word games, jokes, cartoons, etc. Funny ideas travel fast around the music world, and I imagine some of these came from Freddie.
\nHere’s Jack’s list:
\nLeader:<\/strong> Owen Guys
\nVocalist:<\/strong> Rachel Prejudice
\nTrumpets:<\/strong> Kenny Makit, Diz Astor, Kent Reed, Noah Count
\nBones:<\/strong> Hy Register, Slip Shod, Willie Show
\nSaxes:<\/strong> Les Tone, Don Swing, Al Thumbs
\nPercussion: <\/strong>Phil Din, Chick Boom and Perry Diddle
\nGuitar: <\/strong>Django Bells
\nBanjo:<\/strong> Ricky Tick
\nHarp:<\/strong> Anne Dante
\nOrgan:<\/strong> Page Turner
\nTuba:<\/strong> Sue Saphon
\nFrench Horn:<\/strong> Belle Tone
\nVibes:<\/strong> Hal Mallet
\nViolins:<\/strong> Vi Bratto, Fay Kerr,
\nViola:<\/strong> Vera Sharp
\nCello:<\/strong> Beau Braker
\nHarpsichord<\/strong>: Aaron Variations
\nAsst. Conductor:<\/strong> Justin Case
\nArranger:<\/strong> Walt Smedley
\nCopyist:<\/strong> L. Egible
\nLibrarian:<\/strong> Miss Inga Page
\nManager:<\/strong> Hiram Cheep
\nBand Boy<\/strong>: Manuel Labor
\nAgent:<\/strong> Gig Booker
\nFan Club President<\/strong>: Doug DeBan
\nThe ones I thought up were:
\nTrumpets<\/strong>: Al Tayket, Val Voyle, “Miles” Awai, “Diz” Lexia
\nReeds:<\/strong> Reed Fleichit, Harlan Nocturne, Barry DeMelody, Chu Bertalli, Buddy Ansole, Rocco Caine
\nBones<\/strong>: Amos B. Haven, Duncan Drisordley, Axel B. Hocht, Albie Laight
\nTuba<\/strong>: Erasmus B. Dragon
\nPiano:<\/strong> “Changes” Kahn
\nGuitar:<\/strong> Acupulco Gold
\nFender Bass:<\/strong> Basil Affendia
\nDrums:<\/strong> Burr Rumpum
\nArranger:<\/strong> Kent Wright
\nCopyist:<\/strong> Don DeHatch
\nSound Man:<\/strong> Hamp LeFeyer
\nManager<\/strong>: Noah D’Vance
\nConductor<\/strong>: Yul C. Sordplay
\nAsst. Conductor:<\/strong> Flayling Wilder
\nVocalist:<\/strong> Wanda Lust
\nThe guys on NPR’s Car Talk<\/a><\/em> always come up with good names for their closing credits, like the attorneys Dewey, Cheatum and Howe. It’s a great game, and I’m glad to have Freddie’s list to add to my collection.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click and Clack, the NPR car guys, have a chauffeur name Pickup Andropov.
\nAnd that, unless a name shows up that reduces the staff to uncontrollable laughter or stunned admiration, ends this exercise in punditry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rifftides staff is pleased that the eminent bassist, raconteur and author Bill Crow reads the blog. Among his many activities, Mr. Crow writes the Band Room column in New York AFM Local 802’s Allegro monthly publication. Every now and then he contributes a Rifftides comment. Bill’s latest communiqu\u00c3\u00a9 is in response to the Freddie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1912","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}