Radio announcer conundrum of the week: How to pronounce the last name of dead-at-last Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet? The answer, according to Slate’s Andy Engber, is that you can find a justification for just about anything. Engber finally dug up a video of the man pronouncing his own name, though, and it came out “pee-no-chay.” You can read the whole pronunciation saga here. That's where you'll also learn how to pronounce the title of this post.
Courtesy of oboeinsight, here’s a link to a human-interest item that supports your parents’ notion that nobody with any good sense becomes a professional musician. This trombonist, at least, suffers an obvious sense deficit. It’s hard to resist an article that begins like this:
Paolo Esperanza, bass-trombonist with the Simphonica Mayor de Uruguay, in a misplaced moment of inspiration decided to make his own contribution to the cannon shots fired as part of the orchestra's concert. In complete seriousness he placed a large, ignited firecracker, which was equivalent in strength to a quarter stick of dynamite, into his aluminium straight mute and then stuck the mute into the bell of his quite new Yamaha in-line double-valve bass trombone.Alas, this story is entirely apocryphal, right down to the conductor being blasted into the front rows of the auditorium. But what does it tell us about trombonists that it sounds like the sort of thing one of them would do?
Later, from his hospital bed he explained to a reporter through bandages on his mouth …
James Reel's cranky consideration of the fine arts and public radio in Tucson and beyond.
