Just read the obituary this morning of Bobby Rosengarden, who was an accomplished percussionist, and famous for being the bandleader for the old Dick Cavett show. (some of us older than dirt might recall that show)
And of course, what caught my eye was this little snippet:

and I was again amazed at how worlds intersect.
(you can see the entire obit at nytimes here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/02/obitu ... obituaries )

So arlo, do you recall working with Mr. Rosengarden, and just which recording got embellished with those finger cymbals?
I tell ya arlo, you manage to make the NY Times quite often, usually in the crosswords, but one never knows just where you'll pop up!

Sort of a tangent, but recently I was looking for no particular reason at my copy of the Doobie Brothers "What Were Vices Are Now Habits" to find to my surprise 'Arlo Guthrie-autoharp'....which would seem to be on "Black Water." I hope Arlo got some good royalties considering the overplay of that song since 1973.

Yeah, but if it's an "auto"harp, why does anyone need to play it?

Or, if it's an "auto-harp," sounds like someone should be driving it, not playing it.

Mike has that album. When I found out he played autoharps on that song, I thought it was pretty cool. I play autoharp too & am the last living autoharp player in the family...

More about the autoharp. I'm watching a one-hour special on John Sebastian, and it turns out that he wrote "Did You Ever Have to Make up Your Mind" on the autoharp. Zounds!

At least I know what the thing looks like and how it sounds now.


mikey

And the hits keep coming! Sebastian performed with the autoharp on "Do You Believe in Magic." Here's a trivia question, maybe Cheryl H. knows the answer. What was the name of the obscure instrument he used on "She's Still a Mystery to Me"? He said that someone found it, thinking it was an autoharp, and gave it to him to use in the band. Weird sound, all right.


mikey

Tremeloa? They're wierd and sorta autoharp-like.

I've heard of a Tremeloa. I wonder if it was a Zither. Some of them look like an autoharp with no chord buttons on it...

It was a Marxophone!

Go here for more:

http://www.coog.com/marxophn.htm


mikey

Not to stray too far off topic, but, last week a fellow brought into the shop a bowed psaltery. I had always heard of them but never had played one. It is an interesting little instrument and one could get hooked on it. Sort of "other worldly" sounding.

Someone gave me a ukelin awhile back, another wierd instrument that was sold door to door from the 20's-50's. I've got complete songbooks and stuff for it. You're supposed to bow strings (similar to a psaltry) and pluck the bass like a ukulele. Too bad the strings don't stay in tune and an extra pair of hands would be nice. This one was a newer model from the 40's that never saw the light of day, has the original bow (no bow hair, however) and is decorated with a sunburst paint job. It was passed on to me because a paying singing gig the donor hired me and friends for was paid for with a bouncing check.

Thought it might be Harpo's horn. Wow that Coog site is cool. Pretty good prices for such custom wood working. Arlo could use one of those cool Uke's for Haillewa.

My Dad plays the Musical Saw with a bow (of course). I like the sound.

I've heard of the Marxophone & Ukelin. They sound neat. I play bowed Psaltery. I got one last summer & am teaching myself how to play it by ear. I rembere an old man came to our church one & played a saw. I also saw an old man play one at a Baptist church at Nags Head, NC. Haven't seenone being played in along time tho. Weird musical instruments are neat...