Conference thebay::joyoflex

    The other morning, going to work, there was this piece they were
    playing on WCRB, featuring a saxophone.  (Kind of unusual--Quick!
    name a classical piece with a saxophone.)  I wasn't paying close
    attention, but there was undoubted a string part in there too.
    Anyway, when they announced the name of the piece (which I forgot;
    I wasn't paying attention, remember?) my wife, who was driving, and
    also not paying attention either, said to me in puzzlement:
    
    "What was that about sex and violence?"
    


That was supposed to be "sax and violins," I would guess.

--Simon

>    The other morning, going to work, there was this piece they were
>    playing on WCRB, featuring a saxophone.  (Kind of unusual--Quick!
>    name a classical piece with a saxophone.)  I wasn't paying close

	Could've been Bizet's "l'Arl�sienne".  I seem to think [what a
	strange expression!] that this was the first orchestral piece
	written for saxes.  Don't know about the violence though...

	Delia

    Also, it depends what you mean by `classical' - was Saxe even born
    when the `classical period' ended 
    				   (if I was a Real Pedant, I'd've said
    		o	if I _were_ a Real Pedant
    		o	what other pedants mean by the `classical period'
    				    )
    ? I don't know, but I'd guess the saxophone was invented in what
    Grove's would call the `romantic period'. But who's a pedant? The
    first one I thought of was Ravel's Bolero. Next came Walton's
    Belshazzar's Feast - but that's even more recent faheavensake.
    Anyway, I prefer .2's word here - "orchestral" although that word
    wouldn't work in lots of cases. 
    
    (Incidentally, I was telling my son about a duo playing a duet, when we
    noticed yet another oddity in the language: duO/duET, triO/triO,
    quartET/quartET [and -ET thereafter]. To say nothing of the fact that
    `a piano trio' is usually played by four instruments, one of which is a
    piano.)

    
    	Actually I think it was Borodin's Fantasy for Saxophone,
    	if I remember Ms. Nichols' introduction correctly. It was
    	played in honor of Adolphe Sax's birthday.
    
    	My question is, "Who suggested it to her?  Peter?  Doug?"
    	because she is not all that musically astute.

    re .4
    
    Are you referring to that "Maryanne" creature who does the morning show
    on WCRB?  The one with the cutesy, radio-personality voice?  Yuk.  She's
    the reason I stopped listening to 'CRB in the morning several years 
    ago.  
                                                              

    
    	re: .5
    
    	Yea, verily, yea.  
    
    	As someone who did radio for over seven years (news, music,
    	production, etc.), and who has traveled a bit for this great 
    	company of ours tuning in the waves hither and yon, my humble 
    	opinion is that Nichols and her cohort, Laura Carlo, are the 
    	worst thing I ever heard in a "serious" music format.  
    	(*C*harles *R*iver *B*roadcasting listener since approximately 
    	1959 (my orthodontist had it going all the time) and Bob Lurstema 
    	used to be part of the the broadcast team.)
    
    	[BTW: Did you know that until the early 70s, WBCN was the
    	only other commercial classsical station in Boston?  BCN
    	stood for Boston Concert Network.]

    Yes, I did know that 'BCN used to be Boston Concert Network.
    
    When "the voice" started on 'CRB, I was horrified!  Called up and
    complained, sent letters, all to no avail.  So there's no classical
    music between 6:00 and 7:00, when Robert J. follows the birds....
    
    I just wish she would go away....  And take Laura with her.
    
    -ellie

    What's the name of the guy who talks ... so .........slowly ........
    
    ...................that ...........................................you..
    
    ........................................................go............
    
    ...........................................................................
    
    .............................to .........................................
    
    .......................................................................
    
    ........sleep .........................................................
    
    .........................................................................
    
    ............................................................between
    
    ........................................................................
    
    ......................................................................
    
    .........................................................................
    
    
    .................................................................words?

    That's Robert J. -- Boston's very own Narcolepsy Poster Boy.
    
    I found that chirping birds don't work well in a compact car driving
    on Route 3 North -- the road noise obliterated the birds -- so I
    shifted the dial slightly and discovered Morning Edition -- and I
    was hooked.
    
    					andrew

    
    	And speaking of things not being heard right, Lurtsema
    	used to go by Bob Lursema on CRB and with The Folk Song
    	Society of Greater Boston.  He changed to Robert J. because
    	he kept getting mail addressed to Bob Blurtsema.

    ...sorry to continue this GMA-o-centric rathole (-: further rathole: 
    is it MORE impolite to rathole a topic with a GMA-o-centric topic when
    that topic "lives" on a faraway British VAX?? :-), but imho I *like* their
    rather chirpy attitudes.  Never actually LISTEN to 'em, save when NPR is
    doing something tedious and Robert J.'s cohorts are doing fundraising,
    but when I *do*, they're rather caffiene-laden and not too hard on my
    ears.  Just mho.  As far as 'CRB in the PM, impossible.  Too Too many
    commercials and everything ELSE they play has a simple selection spec:
    
    (a) is it by Johann Strauss?
    (b) is it less than 3 min. long so we can put in ANOTHER commercial??!!
    
    grrr...  Thank gooness for cassettes...
                                    

    Dan --
    
    Joy_of_Lex now resides in Northern California.
    
    					andrew

    Re .11, .12:
    	...And wasn't even British before residing in California. It was
    located in Valbonne, on the French riviera.
    			Denis.

        ... file this under "Things not REMEMBERED quite right!!"
    
                                 And HOW!!!

    Aaaahhhh...yes!  Dear Robert J. Lurchalong!
    
    
    
    (*8
    
    
    E Grace

    This isn't a "mis-heard" exactly, but it seemed to fit here. On a news
    summary on the radio the other day, the announcer began to talk about
    "eighteen striking teachers...", and a vision of a beauty-pageant
    runway popped into my mind; three or four simply smashing-looking
    teachers had paraded down it before I caught up with the rest of the
    announcer's message - something about salaries and contracts, I think
    it was...
    
    -b

    Yet a third meaning: 18 people beating up on teachers.

    18 expert teachers of bowling,
    or 18 differently abled teachers of baseball.

    or 18 teachers of how to take down a tent.  Or light a match.
    Or both at the same time.

    My mother-in-law (over for lunch) said to my wife, "Why is this shower
    head here in the kitchen?".
    
    My wife replied, "Jon's got to sort it out - it's scaled up".
    
    I countered, "Yeah, but I don't know how I'm going to make it any
    smaller".		;-)
    
    Jon
    

    Take it to a psychologist  ;-)

    This _may_ have been just a typo, but if the quote is accurate,
    the speaker definitely mis-heard something. In yesterday's paper, an
    article reflecting on the career of the late Rudolf Nureyev included a
    quote from Jayne Persch, who had danced with him at one time. As she
    explained how hard-working, disciplined, and demanding he was, she
    said, "He was a Tartan..."
    
    -b

    {Note to Moderator - I know there is probably a better note than this
    for my reply but I'm darned if I can find it!}
    
    I recently bought some goods from a famous chain of newsagents in the
    UK.  The bag they gave me to carry stuff home had a promotional panel
    on it advertising an altruistic :-) scheme running in the shop; thus:
    
    "Help your local primary school to obtain up to �500 of free books"
    
    What I don't understand is why they need my help to get hold of free
    books.  And how will the shop work out when the value of free books has
    reached �500?
    
    Bemused of Basingstoke

    I should think that "free books" means "We'll give them to the library
    free if you'll pay for them."  And when they've collected �500 that is
    designated for a particular library, they will decline to accept
    further subscriptions for that library.