Tuba Day, Scurvy Awareness Day, Chocolate Truffles

~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
May 2, 2014

brought to you by the letter Q

★~ Today’s Quote: When using a public campground, a tuba placed on your picnic table will keep the campsites on either side vacant. (Anonymous)

★~  International Tuba Day:

Tuba Day

 International Tuba Day, is celebrated annually on the first Friday in May. Joel Day founded International Tuba Day in 1979 while attending Lower Merion High School in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Being one of only two tuba players in the band and finding a lack of respect from his fellow classmates, he decided to set a day aside for our recognition as reputable musicians. Let’s all give the Tuba a BIG Oom-pah-pah

★~ Scurvy Awareness Day:

shipyards-export-ale-prevents-scurvy-small-97362

The disease of pirates has its own international holiday, and an entire website to boot!   I have no intention of sharing the gruesome details with you over a morning cuppa . . . suffice to say, make sure you get, what pirates call, ‘yer daily glass of arrr-ange juice and ’Steer your ships over to Limestrong for citrusy cocktails, curvy-not-scurvy pin-ups, and drop some (citric) acid into your bloodstream!

★~ Chocolate Truffle Day:

Historians believe Prestat Chocolate Shop in London was solely responsible for popularizing chocolate truffles in England (and beyond).The first recipes for chocolate truffles appeared in the 1920s. Today there are three main types—American, European, and Swiss. Each type of truffle has a slightly different twist, but they all include a creamy ganache filling and a topping like cocoa, coconut, or drizzled chocolate. Roald Dahl, the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, was a huge fan of Prestat truffles!

★~ Note: Some holiday calendars note today as ‘brother’s and sisters’ day, insisting brother and sisters day is different than sibling day which we celebrated on April 10th.  I would ask, “different how” but in an attempt to spread joy, peace, and good humor I will simple request you click this link  if you would like to celebrate brothers and sisters day or sibling day.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1885 – A new magazine for homemakers went on sale. You can still get it by mail or find it right next to the cash register at your favorite grocery store. The magazine is Good Housekeeping.

♥~ 1953 – Dark Star defeated the heavily favored Native Dancer to win the Kentucky Derby. A $2 wager to win on this dark horse would have put some change in your pocket. Dark Star was a 25-1 long shot.

♥~ 1969 – The British liner Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) left on her maiden voyage to New York.

♥~ 1981 – Scottish singer Sheena Easton made it to the top spot on the pop music charts for her first — and only — time. Morning Train (Nine to Five) knocked Kiss on My List, by Daryl Hall and John Oates, out of the top of the music charts.  Morning Train pulled into the top spot for a two-week stay.

♥~  Iowa spent $6,000 to change the locks at one of its state prisons after someone paid $12 on e-Bay for a set of keys belonging to a guard who retired in the 1970s.

♥~ 2011 – International terrorist icon Osama bin Laden, architect of the Sep 11, 2001 attacks in New York City, was killed in an early morning firefight in Abbotabad, Pakistan.

★~ Born Today: 

Benjamin Spock

♥~1903 – Benjamin Spock baby doctor, author: The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care; died Mar 15, 1998

♥~1904 – Bing Crosby, US singer who recorded an estimated 2,600 songs in his lifetime including ‘White Christmas’, which was written by Irving Berlin. Crosby had 317 other hits in the USA. Died of a heart attack on a golf course in Madrid, Spain, on October 14, 1977.

♥~ 1936 – Engelbert Humperdinck (Arnold George Dorsey) singer: After the Lovin’, Release Me, There Goes My Everything, The Last Waltz, A Man Without Love, Winter World of Love, Les Bicyclettes de Belsize

♥~ 1937 – Lorenzo Music actor: voice of Garfield, Carlton the Doorman [in Rhoda]; Emmy Award-winning producer: Carlton, Your Doorman [5/21/80]; died Aug 4, 2001

♥~ 1945 – Bianca Jagger actress, model; Mick Jagger’s ex

♥~1952 – Christine Baranski actress: The Good Wife, Chicago: The Musical, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Odd Couple II, The Birdcage, Addams Family Values, Welcome to Mooseport

★~ Good To Know: Please Note.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/aYO7z2LogR0[/youtube]

♥~ The Tuba was invented by Willhelm Friedrich Wieprecht and Johann Gottfried Moritz in September 12, 1835.

♥~ Tuba is a Latin word meaning trumpet or horn. Kind of.

♥~ Tubas were introduced into the orchestra to replace the ophicleide, a keyed bugle of the Renaissance age. There was nothing wrong with the ophicleide that required its replacement in the orchestra. Instead, the  ophicleide was ousted by a a successful marketing campaign that showed off the Tuba as more snazzy and cutting edge.  up-to-date instrument forced its replacement.

♥~ The tuba is capable of being more than the bass instrument that reinforces the bass string and woodwinds. Several concertos have been written for the instrument, using it as the featured performer. Some popular examples are concertos by Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Williams, and Edward Gregson.

♥~ Early tubas were altered to possess forward-facing bells in order to make recording the sounds of the instruments easier. These tubas were aptly named recording tubas, while those that remained unaltered were known as concert tubas.

♥~ Tubas come in a variety of pitches ranging from the deep bass of the extremely rare subcontrabass tuba to the much higher pitched tenor tuba.

♥~ Marching bands use a specially designed tuba for ease of carrying. These marching tubas rest on the players shoulders for support and look like large trumpets.

♥~ Some marching tubas are convertible, allowing the player to change the direction of the mouthpiece in order to perform with the tuba held in the lap.

♥~ Early jazz bands used tubas as a replacement for the stringed bass to avoid exposing the bass to weather extremes when playing outdoors.

#

I’m off to make some coffee with high hopes of jump starting my Omphh pah-pah. I woke up so sleepy! Have a fabulous Friday.

♥~

6 thoughts on “Tuba Day, Scurvy Awareness Day, Chocolate Truffles

  1. Morno,
    My son’s best friend in high school played the tuba. It was a lot of instrument to lug around. He did a good job playing it, tho.
    I had my juice this morning so I don’t need to worry about scurvy.
    Beautiful day, golf this afternoon, weekend is off to a running start.
    Hope you wake up and enjoy your day.

    • Those tuba’s look very heavy.
      Good to know you had your juicy.
      Sounds like you’ll have a wonderful start to the weekend!

  2. Okay, out of all the bands in the U.S., you HAD to know I’d recognize that tuba-playing gent as being part of the Notre Dame Band, didn’t you??! Thanks for thinking of us. Domer played trumpet, but brass is brass!

    And yes, placing one on a picnic table would be a good way to get a bit of privacy — a drum would work just about as well!

    I can’t drink orange juice, but I always get my vitamin C in the morning — no scurvy here!

    It’s gray and dreary. Again. I hate to complain, but this is May 2. When are we going to have some Spring?? Hope yours is better!

    • I did. And I was pretty sure you would notice. I didn’t think Domer played tuba but I thought he might be in the brass section.
      Drums would work better, I think. Only because almost anyone can play drums (badly) and a tuba takes skill to get sound out of it.
      Oh come now we’ve had some pretty days. Yes, it’s been a long gloomy week but the temps are above 0. I’ve always said spring (not just April but March tho the middle of June) is the worst season because you have expectations of warmth and sun. Unfortunately the weather seldom meets our expectations. However, after this past winter, rain and temps in the 50 isn’t too shabby :-D. Sun will be coming up our way soon.. hang in there!

  3. Interesting sounding dueling tubas! Found myself out of breath.
    No scurvy for me….OJ daily.
    Did you ever wake up from your sleepy start to the day?

Comments are closed.