Riding Through the Boneyard

"Never look at the trombones, it only encourages them."

(Richard Strauss)

When those slides start to move, you can bet something is about to happen, you just don't know what that something will be. Wah-Wah! Don't get all like that, you Debbie Downer, my experience suggests that something is usually something good, and when there are a whole lot of slides moving, i can guarantee there will be fun. Not that different really, from what you'd expect from the start of a ride.

Taking place just around a couple corners from home, the annual Boneyard (as in Trombone) gathering and sale has been on my radar for almost as long as i've lived in Claremont. I've ridden by and seen all that brass, some of it shinning in the sun, some of it dull and weathered, but only once previously did i stop to see what it was all about - Wah-Wah. Most years, when April comes around, i completely forget or, maybe, it does not even cross my mind.

WAH-Wah!

Yeah, yeah, well this year was different, i did move the slides of a couple of 'dem 'bones, bringing back memories of every note from Bb to F, and all the in-between positions. I heard Mr. Johnson (Tommy "Jaws" Johnson) explaining the different slide positions to Brian, Rene and myself. I saw Miss Sundquist's disapproving look when i wondered if maybe i could create an echo if i pointed the horn into the classroom storage cabinet and blew exceedingly loudly. I remembered toting that big black case on the two mile walk home each weekend (and being thankful i didn't chose the tuba). Dressed all in cycling kit today, i didn't look like much of a trombone player (is there a trombone player look?), but there was a lot of encouragement that i could pick it up again, almost as easily as i remembered how to hold the things. After all, one of the guys had picked it up after thirty years away from sliding around a sheet of music. Were i to make a similar musical comeback, it would shatter that thirty year record, and perhaps that is why the mrs. didn't let me, impulsively, ride a quick loop to the bank and back, my jersey pocket stuffed with twenty dollar bills. I came close though, especially after Steve (i believe his name was Steve) of Pasadena's Horn Guys showed up with the carbon fiber beauty. Truth be known, i would have been happy with the basic public school model.

Just another example of what you might see, and hear, when you get out on two wheels.