Tuba Skinny performing “Any Old Time”, a song first recorded by Jimmie Rodgers in 1929.
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Any Old Time
Songwriter: Jimmie Rodgers
I just received your letter
You're down and out, you say
At first I thought I would tell you
To travel on the other way
But in my memory lingers
All you once were to me
I'm going to give you another chance
To prove what you can be
Any old time you want to come back home
Drop me a line and say, no more you'll roam
You had your chance to play the game fair
And when you left me, sweetheart you only left a load of care
Now that you're down I'm going to stick by you
If you will only say your roaming days are through
You'll find me here like the day you left me alone
Any old time you wanna come back home
You'll find me right here like the day you left me alone
Any old time you wanna come back home, home, home
There's something special to me about seeing music in its natural environment. When you see a deer in a zoo, or a striped bass in an aquarium, it's a whole different deal than seeing them where they belong. Same with music.
The Grateful Dead at Winterland, is my go-to example. Or Tom Rush at Club 47 (now Passim, but the same place). Brazilian choro is most at home in a living room, or on an outdoor tile patio after dark. We were fortunate yesterday to find Tuba Skinny on busking on Royal Street. It made my day.
Finally listening to a band you’ve spent years writing off without ever listening to them only to finally open your ear and find out you LOVE them…oh god
hiii um i wrote a hypnospace outlaw thingy... ive never shared my writing before so i am VERY nervous and i dont know how common this'll be 4 me but ya 👍
au where zane n corey paul r in the same school and also friends... in a mildly gay way
just fyi this isnt my usual writing style. unless you like it then actually i write like this exclusively and also all the time
word count is 1275 hope u likey 🙏
Zane has never heard of a tuba cover before. To him, it sounds pretty freaking stupid.
The tuba is not an instrument Zane has ever had any conscious thought about. To him, it's solely a background instrument for nerds in band to play at school assemblies. It's not really music- not like sick-as-crap electric guitar, bass or drums. It's the instrument you take out for marches, raising school spirit, and looking really lame.
Corey Paul, of course, feels differently.
The tuba is a beautiful instrument, both in sound and aesthetic. He likes how the gold tube wraps in on and around itself, almost making art with its function. It looks purposeful, because it is, and that air of maturity makes for good art. Corey also likes the sound of the tuba. He'd never really been an outgoing kid. His voice cracks under pressure or when he laughs too much and he's never had anything important enough to say with confidence. The tuba, though, is loud by default. Its sound is rich and deep, filling the room and demanding your attention. Corey likes that; he likes that the tuba knows what it wants, and both looks and sounds good doing it.
Zane's never really had much of a reason to give a crap what Corey thinks, though. They're friends, sure, but they both know where their interests lie. Corey had once tried bridging the gap by asking Zane if he could tuba him a song for his game, but quickly shut that down after being laughed at in his face.
Point is- it was fine. Corey could be a class clown comedian with an ugly instrument and Zane could be the X-Slayer game developer with all around superior tastes. Neither needed to change the other's mind.
…Which is why Corey's next move confuses him.
Corey stops Zane after his last class, doing that thing he does where he bounces on his heels in excitement. Corey and Zane have a schedule of hanging out every Thursday after school, and it's Monday, so he's not expecting him to come barreling into Mrs. Patterson's classroom, wheezing with excess energy, like he was rushing to see him. He doesn't expect Corey, someone usually so uptight about his personal space, to eagerly grab his shoulder, either, but he does that too, and it isn't terrible.
Through the breaths of an unathletic teenager who just ran down two flights of stairs and through a hall, Corey explains he has a surprise for Zane, something he's been working really hard on, and he just finished it so he has to come see it right now. Although confused, Zane doesn't have any gripes with this, and he tells Corey to just wait a minute for him to pack his things and he'll come see. Corey's hand retreats from his shoulder like a wounded animal, but he's still smiling as he says OK.
Zane thinks it's gross Corey's taking him to the Band Hall, otherwise known in his mind as Nerdface Central, but he reminds himself that Corey apparently worked hard on something for him, so he should hold back on any unsavory comments- just for a little bit.
Corey leads him to the center of the hall, up an elevated stage platform and to a white soor on the left. Zane feels some apprehension going in, like Corey's just asked him to walk straight into a teacher's lounge, but Corey opens the door and holds it for him, and the gesture is so homey that it'd feel wrong to do anything other than walk straight in.
The room past the door is significantly smaller, and seems to be some kind of closet. The room is entirely cleared out save for a small speaker, Corey's tuba case on the ground, and two chairs around it. Given that the chair furthest from him is right behind the tuba case, Zane assumes the other chair is for him, and slides his backpack off his shoulder, letting it fall to the ground before he sits in his seat.
The door shuts behind him and Corey hurries over to the speaker. Zane asks him what's the surprise but Corey unsurprisingly tells him to be patient. There's a small MP3 player attached to the speaker, and Corey fiddles with it some before pressing play. No sound comes out, but Corey doesn't seem alarmed, instead simply reaching down to his case and setting up his Tuba. He gently hauls it up into his lap and adjusts it accordingly, ready to be played. Zane feels a weird sort of antsy about it, and asks Corey again why exactly he's here. This time, Corey just smiles, and answers: "I found a Nothing Left For Me instrumental online."
Suddenly, the music starts.
Zane would recognize that intro anywhere, even when scraped to just its fundamentals. The realization is sudden, but interrupted by the deep tone of Corey's tuba. Zane almost can't hear the music over the tuba at first, but he's quick to notice how the instrumental and Corey's playing interact with eachother; they're meant to be the same song
Corey is playing him a tuba cover of Nothing Left For Me.
That sentence is about the lamest string of words Zane can possibly think of, but it really doesn't feel that way in the moment. Zane knows about Seepage- everything about Seepage- and he knows they don't post tutorials on how to play tuba covers of their music. For Corey to be playing a cover of Zane's favorite song, for him, on the freaking tuba, he'd have to have come up with the composition himself.
Usually, when receiving a gift, Zane doesn't feel much beyond a vague sense of hype and excitement. But imagining Corey listening to Nothing Left For Me for hours, reimagining it in a medium he could replicate, just to play it for Zane? He feels… flattered, which isn't a feeling he's used to.
A part of the back of Zane's mind is still arguing whether or not he likes this gift. Throwing Seepage's electric metal awesomeness into the ringer only for it to come out the end of a tuba should be a disgrace to Seepage itself, it says, and Zane agrees… just only in theory. Because maybe Corey didn't just listen to the song, maybe he had an understanding of what made it so awesome to Zane in the first place. And maybe that's why it manages to sound pretty good- even with a tuba.
Zane honestly didn't realize Corey liked him that much. As much as his cool punk persona was totally based in reality, he'd never had all that many friends. Not close ones, anyway. He hung out with dudes, they hung out with him, and that was about the end of it. None of his other buddies would make him a gift, nevertheless perform it for him. Does this mean something, then? Had Corey put nearly as much thought into this as Zane is thinking he did? The confrontation of this sudden fondness is confusing, and Zane doesn't know much of what to do with it.
Conveniently, of course, the music stops then, leaving a small bit of silence where Zane isn't totally snapped out of whatever train of thought Corey's sent him on. Corey either doesn't notice or doesn't care, and simply moves the interaction along with a "So? Did you like it?"
Zane looks Corey in the eye, past his square wire frame glasses and dorky grin. He smiles, all teeth, and a quick laugh escapes him, entirely gratitude and nerves as his ears burn a little behind him.
Tuba Skinny performing “When They Ring Them Golden Bells”.
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When They Ring Them Golden Bells
Songwriter: Daniel de Marbelle
There's a land beyond the river
That they call the sweet forever
And we only reach that shore by faith's decree
One by one we'll gain the portals
There to dwell with the immortals
When they ring the golden bells for you and me
Don't you hear the bells now ringing
Don't you hear the angels singing
'Tis the glory hallelujah Jubilee
In that far off sweet forever,
Just beyond the shining river
When they ring the golden bells for you and me
We shall know no sin or sorrow
In that heaven of tomorrow
When our hearts shall sail beyond the silvery sea
We shall only know the blessing
Of our Father's sweet caressing
When they ring the golden bells for you and me
Don't you hear the bells now ringing
Don't you hear the angels singing
'Tis the glory hallelujah Jubilee
In that far off sweet forever
Just beyond the shining river
When they ring the golden bells for you and me
When our days shall know their number
When in death we sweetly slumber
When the King commands the spirit to be free
Nevermore with anguish laden
We shall reach that lovely Eden
When they ring the golden bells for you and me
When they ring the golden bells for you and me
idk I thought you might have fun with this but like? TOG characters in a marching band? what do they play? idk - are they good at it? yuh.
Hello!! <3 This is a wild coincidence because I was just talking about this with a few pals the other day! Starting with Nile, because I think she's the best suited for it. Something about her says Band Kid.
Nile: Trombone! A very important part of the marching band! I can see her playing this from the time she was little. Maybe her dad used to play! Maybe she practiced with his old instrument. Also, I just love the sound for her!
Andy: I want to say the tuba! Also a very essential component to the whole marching band. And it's bloody huge and I think she could easily carry it for hours. (Upon a bit more research, I think the instrument I might be thinking of is a sousaphone).
Joe: Saxophone, baby! Or perhaps a flute. The range of sound and the whimsical sound of the flute just match Joe's artistic/poetic nature to me. Or he can just be a hopeless romantic and play some smooth jazz.
Nicky: Can I say... piccolo Nicolo? sdfghf. No but for real I feel like he would carry a heavier instrument than a piccolo, like maybe a trumpet. Trumpets sort of make me think of his voice.
Booker: Maybe it has something to do with the way I picture him in my head -- the Napoleonic foot soldier --- but I think Booker would absolutely play drums. One of those small ones that hangs at your front that you tippity-tap with two sticks. Little drummer boy.
Quynh: Cymbals. She reeks of chaos. Like you know that kid in School of Rock who got put on cymbals because he's a little hyperactive? Yeah, that could be Quynh. OR, wind. I would give her a nice little flute or a clarinet.
Lykon: I'd put Lykon on flute too, actually! We don't see much of him but we know his choice weapon is a spear. I guess my brain is going spear = long and skinny = flute.
Bonus! Copley: That one giant drum. Or do marching bands still have a triangle guy? I feel like Copley would get stuck with the instrument no one else wants to play dfgfds I can't explain it, it's just his luck.