It Must Be Deep Gras or How I Bought a New Tuba...

 You may not have heard the phrase "Deep Gras" before because it's pretty new. It was first used by New Orleans song writer and personality Dominique Lejeune in 2020 and it refers to the period of Wednesday to Fat Tuesday or the last week of Mardi Gras. It means that every action you take is influenced by Mardi Gras.  

I guess I warmed up that path by taking the kids to Mardi Gras parades in Shreveport last weekend because what with preparations for a Fat Tuesday dinner at church, the making of a Mardi Gras mix tape, playing nothing but Mardi Gras songs on tenor banjo and tuba, plans for the Old Town Brass Band gig today, I also then bought a new tuba. I'd say that's under the influence of deep Gras.

The tuba I bought is a King (like my old horn) 1135. It's a 3/4 size student model horn previously owned by the Lufkin School District. They culled out their horns, I guess with the building of new facilities at the middle school and carted them down to Hicks Antiques in downtown Lufkin last summer. My friend, Susan alerted me of this and I headed down there to check them out. In addition to tubas there were bari saxes, trombones, baritones, and a ton of drums. I was ready to buy that day but Hicks was not ready to sell so things rocked on till this week (Deep Gras) they offered up a sale which I took advantage of to purchase this horn for $100. The sale continues today.   

The serial number dates the horn as made from 1975-80. This makes it quite a bit newer than my old King 1240 recording bell tuba which was made in 1936. The guys in the Lufkin Brass came down and listened to me try out the 7 tubas on hand, gave their sound input and everyone around the house thinks it has great tone but I do feel a little bit sad because of my old horn sitting lonely in the corner on it's stand. One reason I was interested in this 3/4 size horn was as I age it might be a bit easier to carry around than the big horn and it does have a case. 

The upright bell should come in handy and might keep me from getting fired out of smaller groups that don't require a straight out focused recording bell sound. There might be an alto sax player that usually sits in front of me at civic band that is glad I now have an upright bell but I have also heard the statement, "that old horn is so you" so we will see what applications we find. 

I never thought I would own two tubas and I now have exactly $175 tied up in tuba. I think that's a pretty good investment. Matt also bought a bari sax and today I go with Morgan to look at the drums a bit closer.

I am itching for a gig. How are you spending your Deep Gras?