Still reading?  Okay, the Legion of Flying Monkeys Horn Orchestra (including the secret owner of this fabulous new honker) will be playing the Railway Club in Vancouver BC, Wednesday January 25th from 7:30 – 8:30pm.  You could do worse things on a Wednesday night, for free.   Since we’re still talking, look on my links list (just to the right) to see the pics from this last Clown Parade (photos by Peter Lolley!)

Some self-congratulatory photos carefully edited for your pleasure.

Two coats of varnish on the inside, and whammo – the seam on my maple ‘up-pipe’ starts to split open!

The difference between heaven and hell is one millimeter.

Despite my large inner turmoil (the possibility that half of the horn would need to be replaced, a setback of several months), I mentioned this to nobody, certainly not my client,  for a week and a half while the horn went under serious binding measures and the introduction of oak bands that should have been in place before I varnished.  Word to the wise.

Do I make you horny, baby?

Nine days later, the crack is closed up, and we’re back on track.  Friggin’ maple.  I shoulda known.

Sweet relief.  What else could possibly go wrong?  If you’ve managed to read this far I question your time management skills, but still feel compelled to reward you, good surfer.  To that end, here is the Clown Parade image for this year’s event happening on December 17th starting around 6pm at my place.  Send me a message and I’ll add you to the list of Inner, Inner Sanctum Legionnaires (following a short, painless criminal background check, naturally.  You understand, right?)

This year, similar to last, it is a semi-private event with the before and after-parade at our house.  So don’t go blabbing about it on the innertube, if it’s all the same to you.  Thanks for looking.

]]> http://davidgowman.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/hornmakers-studio-drama/feed/ 1 davidgowman Docshorn Nov 27 2011 006a Docshorn Nov 27 2011 001a Docshorn Dec 6 2011 017 Docshorn Dec 6 2011 015a Docshorn Dec 6 2011 018a clown parade '11 rgb http://davidgowman.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/commission-horn-update/ http://davidgowman.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/commission-horn-update/#comments Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:10:51 +0000 davidgowman http://davidgowman.wordpress.com/?p=315 ]]> Furious work in the studio of late, leading to good progress on the newest horn, this commission piece for my client (who must remain internet anonymous).

The pleasure from reaching this stage is that initial sound tests can begin.  My guesses about the qualities of the notes and her range bear fruit.  So far, she is in G with a smooth, deep tone.

Veneer strapping will ultimately happen over each segmented curve and over each butt-joint to add strength, prior to varnishing the inside and outside with a varathane (waterbourne) coating.

blah blah blah aren’t I fantastic, blah blah blah.

There is also quite a bit of work begun on the mouthpiece/leadpipe section, though it will not photograph very well at this stage.   Stay tuned.   The Legion of Flying Monkeys Horn Orchestra is scheduled to play Solstice (Dec 21) with the Secret Lantern Society at Creekside Community Centre in the Olympic Village, an evening show.  More on that later.  Thanks for reading.

Hello blog world.  Here is my poster announcing the show next Wednesday November 16th.  Don’t say I never invite you out to nothing.*

*Because if you said ‘I never invite you out to nothing’, that would be a double negative, and bad grammar, which we both would never use.  Hey, while you’re still reading, did you know that if you click on any of my images, they give you an enlargeable viewing option?  I just found that out recently.  Many of my pics are much more fun if you can look at them enlarged.  Just saying.

Lightweight, straight chambers in renewable wood being the most desirable substance for my type of horn, I have found nothing better than the new growth from a pollarded empress tree.   Mature samples in this very town regularly produce over 18 feet of new hardwood in a single growing season.  Until this year, I believe the parks gardeners would actually chop it all off and chip it up for composting.

Miraculously straight, chambered hollow between the nodes, and bone dry after 6 months on the porch.  The only real challenge is splitting it in half (to carve the chamber), as the crack likes to shear off to one side.  Fortunately, I know a guy who’s getting better at that over time.

The Legion of Flying Monkeys Horn Orchestra, my long-suffering and underpaid band, is playing this Saturday, October 29th at the Parade of Lost Souls event in Garden Park  (at 2nd Ave. and Garden Drive,  East of Victoria).  Look for us on the Main Stage at 7pm.  Free!

How I hope you will come to my extravaganza at the Ironworks this coming Saturday, September 10th.  It is all too rare that I simply book a fancy space and cajole my talented musician friends to pony up with the stuff.  Currently, it is looking to be all kinds of fun.

More, I hope you can afford 15 bucks.    I’ve been giving it away for so long now, I’ve all but forgotten how to charge money at the door.  Guess we’ll find out if that works.

Did I mention Ironworks has a bar?  What about the Monkey/puppet show?  The awesome lineup?  No?  Okay, Jason Hall on teragato (a haunting clarinet relative from Hungary),  John Ames on cello, John Woods on guitar (he of the famous Wet Spots),  Daniel Lunn on drums, Jason Jones on keyboard and Gord Robert on vibraphone.  All of this plus the usual awesomeness of the Legion of Flying Monkeys Horn Orchestra in the overwhelmingly beautiful venue that is Ironworks (at the corner of Main and Alexander in Gastown).

I’ll get back to posts about horn carving real soon.  Promise.

Three, count ‘em, three Legion of Flying Monkeys performances await you toward the end of this month:

• The first will be at the Railway Club on Wednesday, Aug. 24th from 7:30-8:30 (the Super Robertson Supper Show)
• the second, three days later at Lumberman’s Arch in Stanley Park wherein the LFM will open the giant waterfight with a new song at 1pm (message me if you would like to be in the Wet Choir alongside the Wet Band)
• the third,  at MOP Garden (corner of 6th and St. Catherines) on Sunday Aug. 28th from 1-4 (the Shade and Song Tea Party)

And it’s all free, free, free unlike September 10th when I expect you to fork out $15 for the awesome privilege of sitting in some fancy-schmancy jazz club (Ironworks) just to hear our shenanigans.  More on that one later.   If you’re still reading, here’s the Shade and Song Tea Party poster:

Meantime, I’m running PanFlute classes at the MOP Garden (next one is Aug 16th from 6-8pm.  No registration required)  with the plan to build an additional panflute orchestra to dovetail with my band for the aforementioned tea party (see poster above).  Could be beautiful.  Could be messy.  Click here to register for the Sun. Aug 21st panflute class.

It will get busier, to be sure.  These notes only cover the high points.  But life is very good.  For me, this is living it large.

And it’s all FREE, FREE, FREE!!  (Don’t worry, a cover charge is coming this fall.  I know you’re eager to give us money.)  In the studio, continued labours were interrupted by a pending interview with the CBC for a TV series about hidden Vancouver cultural secrets, in this case, I suppose, me.   A pending interview means many days of cleaning.  Thus, the aforementioned interruption.

More studio work:  a hinge pin carved for the single-piece, articulated Empress bell.  The pin is carved from a Brazilian hardwood called Cocobolo, a very lovely wood which I have in diminishing supply.

Time slips away, my friends.   Here we are, the beginning of July.  My gourd plants are scarcely grown at MOP garden, and my Empress staves have largely finished their battery powered new growth, regardless of a complete lack of roots.

My mojo is back in place, a direct result of performing the Colony Farms Summer Fete gig.  This esteem, whether composed of complete self-delusion or skill won through determined labour, I cannot entirely say.  The result, however, is an eager willingness to march out more monkey-business in the immediate future.  Hope you’re still entertained.

Upcoming for me and the LFM, if you are hoping for information from this indulgent place:

Sunday June 5th, I am playing with a group of skilled musicians called ‘Doom Lounge’ in a backyard somewhere in East Van for the In The House Festival.  (location to be announced)  In The House (June 5th ‘Doom Lounge’)  7pm – 8:45pm.  Buy tickets in advance!  They sell out as I’m told.

Saturday July 16th – the LFM plays as ‘The Wet Band’ at Vancouver’s Largest Waterfight in Stanley Park at Lumberman’s Arch.  This is an early announcement, as the moderator has yet to actually commit to a date.  I’m betting he’ll go for Saturday, July 16th at 1pm.  But you should link to this site for the Facebook Vancouver Waterfight Group just to keep up to date.  Expect to be invited to sing in the Wet Choir along side the Wet Band.  We’re rehearsing something very fun for the opening act.

In the studio lately, plenty of work when I can sneak it in.  The single piece empress horn bell and mute are shaping up.

Above is the empresswood single piece mute separated from the bell, in process.  Here you see me carving with a scoop gouge (a chisel) in a posture that will eventually throw out my back but is good enough for the short term.

And there above is the two pieces fitted together, minus the hinge pin, all still in process.  Empresswood is a dream to carve, but only if your tools are very very sharp.  Otherwise the grain likes to crush and looks ragged.

My cache of drying empress shafts have begun to sprout.  Perhaps unaware that they have been removed from the tree, they still seem intent to make leaves from their residual power.

a 10' shaft sprouting in a shady corner of my porch.

Sprouts at week #2

Sprouts at week #4

Tenacious, to say the least.   On a relative note, I have been recently accused of being too free with my horn offerings on a friend’s stage.  It’s all true!  Committing to this experimental form has made me, perhaps, too keen to find stage time.  Too keen to the detriment of musicians in my circle, musicians who are tired of having their moments overblown with free wood horn solos that make their blood boil.

Perhaps more than just tenacity, which I have in abundance, I must practice my discernment.

What?  You’re still reading this?  My friend, you have too much free time.  Anyway, since you’re still reading, here’s a link to a rough cut for an upcoming song the LFM is working on.    BEWARE !!  ( Don’t tell nobody.)