Chris Tune's Blog

Andy Rooney says he is not going to think about those who have died to protect our country. . .he claims that war is our LEAST noble deed. . .he doesn't get it. He is so simple that he is not just a FOOL, but is FOOLING everyone. No nuance. . .no thought. . .no MEAT to his actual ravings. Does he honestly think that war against Hitler or against Pol Pot, or against EVIL. . .is not Noble? Not at ALL? Does he not discriminate between one action and another similar action? Can't he tell if WWII was justified on the part of the Allies? After all Hitler had repeatedly attacked most of Europe! This wasn't an action of Britain, or the U.S. Herr Hitler did it! Andy? . . . Andy? . . .WAKE UP!!! Laura Ingraham lapsed a bit today. . she seemed to think that she has to respect her elders. . . .actually I believe the commandment is to "honor your mother and father. ." There is no requirement for a Christian to respect older folk who are obviously weak of mind. . .an...

 This was taken several years ago. Daisy seems to want to hog into the picture a bit. Adam is having a good time. This is in the back yard on the swing Michele and I made. 

 This is the KID PICTURE from my wife, Michele. I think she was very cute. :-) 

  This is what I looked like at around age 7 or 8. Now, Adam was looking a LOT like this just a few years ago. Funny how the "circle of life" goes. . .I guess we have a pretty lovable little bloke here. . .? Yeah. . it's cool being a kid. . . I was pretty thrilled to be "ridin' herd as a 'cowpoke'" 

  This was a great gig. The "Direct from Vegas" The Rat Pack. . .show. This was Don Gustafson and myself on bones. . .Scott Strecker, leader. . .and other than hassles from Local 47, was a pure pleasure experience. . this was a "verbatim" style performance replicating the rat pack schtick. . you should know that is the way Sammy and Dean and Frank did it. . .they had written material which they tossed into the show in a loose, improvised manner. It allowed them to do shows solo, or with various combinations of the rat pack guys. . .I have a couple of show recordings of the three. . and a couple with just Frank or with just Dean. The same jokes. .different persons delivering. . different "victims". . .heh!. . .heh! This is very funny and is done with a real, live big band! 

  

The heart of the matter. . to my trombone player heart; here are the Kanstul bones 

NAMM is really huge; here we see some of the immense Roland set  

Kanstul and its excellent brass instruments. Steve Ferguson also carries these excellent horns 

Here is a bit of the NAMM show from a year ago; I liked some of these horns a lot 

Here are Alan Kaplan (studio trombonist extraordinaire!) and Steve Ferguson (with several of his inventory of excellent trombones . . .he also sells tubas, horn and trumpet and all the best ancillary items like mutes and mouthpieces). This is at John Sandhagen's "Boneyard" meet after Easter a few years ago. Alan is holding a copy of my CD with my home recordings. He liked the playing and was very nice about listening to it and commenting. 

Imagine this as a CONDO! I'm having a spaz attack over this! Thanks a lot Hip Hoppers! You are really helping out! 

Here is an old photo from about four or so years ago; it was in the famous Studio A at Capitol; I heard that there is thought about converting the Capitol Records building into a condo or apartments! [boy! all that history. . .] as you walk through the hall you see black and white framed photos of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. . .in the same studio you are working in. This session was with Nick DeGidio. . .I'm hoping for good things for his songs. . they are hip and aggressive swing tunes. 

Here I am with horn a couple of years ago in the Burbank Starlight Bowl; this was a "Direct from Vegas - The Rat Pack" show, that means it was GREAT! This is a hoot; imagine Frank and Sammy and Dean right there. . .doing their routines and singing. . just like at the Sands in the sixties. . . 

Adam and Michele at the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland; this was several years ago when we had an annual pass 

Adam and I hiking at Vasquez Rocks; this was about four years ago 

Adam at Legoland; he is trying his best to be a good driver 

Another cute photo of Adam taken outside as he and I goofed around out front 

Adam school photo from a couple of years ago; I think he's got a handsome smile here  I was able to contact Suelyn Tune over in Hawaii. That was quite a thrill. We have kind of dropped contact between the Hawaii Tunes and the Los Angeles Tunes. Of course some of this is just how busy both groups must inevitably be. . .but also we were used to having older folk keep in touch socially and Irene was that social guardian. I miss Irene. . .MOM. She was a good person aside from being mother to us kids. I'm not sure everybody gets to say that. Some must be well aware that their parents are flawed in one way or another. Oh well. Now the job at hand is for Michele and I to do the best job we can do as parents. A hard job! Here is a happy kid. Adam is doing well in school and is very smart in general. He likes all the different areas you can get into deeply. He is particularly adept in art and creative processes. You see that with his Lego work and with his creating things o...

Last nite at Frank and Dean's was a great success. . . .well, except for PART of my audio recordings. . .the very last bit, with "Love for Sale". . the Buddy Rich version. Somehow the machine shut off after just one second of recording. Luckily, I got full prints of the various other sections I hit record on. The band played great and I had the mic out in the front row of the audience, so the balance was really good. Dave, the drummer played great and the jazz solos generally sounded good. We had the "regular" trombone section of Lori Stuntz, Paul Young, myself and John Sandhagen. So. . I've got MOST of the gig, but not all. Anyway, this is worth some mastering. Along with several other things that would be good to master, I now have my work cut out for me. Well. . .I will stay posted.

Boy. . .I don't know if I should go to the thirtieth year reunion for U.S. Grant High, in Van Nuys. I guess I'm paranoid that someone I thought was a dope back in school will now be a billionaire and will make me feel just a few inches tall. . . Also, I just got the news a week or two ago that John Voland died. That makes me very sad and reminds me again how much time has passed by since we all were in Grant High during the 1970s. Yeah. . ."Rock and Roll High School". . .hrrmph. I see Artie Simon is on the committee for the reunion. That's a good thing. Artie is/was cool. I remember doing something musical where he was involved. And that was not THAT long ago (based upon the way my memory is now working it was probably twenty years ago!). I'll probably go. You know, At least I have a suit and a tux and all that. Who knows the thing might be OK. Michele has the house looking really nice out in front. She and her buddy Richard from work have been re...