dive into mark

First, my lower brass credentials:

• I played the euphonium for 12 years
• I made it into the Pennsylvania All-State Band three years in a row
• In 2003, I hired the Triangle Tuba Quartet to play at my wedding
• I still own a double-belled euphonium

I mention this not to brag, but to assure you that I am not mocking anyone when I say that TubaNews.com is the most exciting discovery I have made this year. (OK, OK, the year is still young.) I have already added two tuba albums to my Amazon wishlist, added the TubaNews feed to my aggregator (a tuba site with RSS autodiscovery), and I am busily reading their back issues. This interview with Tommy Johnson is both interesting and poignant, especially considering he has since passed away.

Joe called these “communities of passion,” thus missing the obvious coinage, “long valve communities.” Either way, it’s news you’re not going to read on TechMeme anytime soon.

TubaNews also led me to Roger Bobo’s blog. A tubist with an Atom feed. 2008 is coming along nicely.

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Seven comments here (latest comments)

1. A good instrument community is awesome to find. I used to play trombone (well, I suppose I still can and still own my jazz horn and my orchestra horn but I don’t think it would come out well). alt.trombone and trombone.org were so very awesome. Alt.trombone has faded away, but it seems trombone.org is still around. Thanks for reminding me to check!

   — effika 

2. I quite like Oren Marshall, but I’m no connoisseur. (I think that’s a reissue—I bought it on CD a few years ago.)

   — Paul Collins 

3. Another victory for the Internet as a social enabler for people with hobbies they don’t want to admit to in the playground or down the pub.

   — Jake 

4. Don’t you think that, I don’t know, PLAYING the thing would be a more constructive use of your time than bragging about it on the internet?

   — Anonymous 

5. It’s far more constructive than leaving anonymous flames on other people’s blogs.

   — Jeff 

6. Given your interest in the tuba, you might like to try this video game:

   http://www.theonion.com/content/news/activision_reports_sluggish_sales

   — Antony Sargent 

7. wow, pennsylvania!
   where did you live then?
   thanks.

   — dan smith 

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