Greetings Fellow Kazooist!!!
First I would like to thank Captain Kazoo for inviting me to be part of the WebZine!
It is indeed a great honor for this old kazoo maker.
I guess the next thing to do is introduce myself. I am the owner and kazoo maker of the Great Aswego Kazoo Factory
on the Aswego Homestead at Lake Senica, Florida.
I specialize in kazoos but also make a variety of traditional folk instruments.
My kazoos are handmade the old fashioned way in what I call the Carolina Primitive Style.
No two ASWEGO kazoos are ever exactly the same.
My kazoos aren't meant to compete with the beautiful inlayed wooden kazoos made in proper woodworking shops.
The ASWEGO kazoo comes from the tradition of beautiful primitive folk instruments
of western North Carolina folk and bluegrass music of my youth.
Now lets talk kazoos!!!
I do believe I have the best job in the world. Without doubt I have been blessed indeed.
I love kazoos. I love playing kazoos. I love hearing kazoos.
Most of all I absolutely love making kazoos.
There is a side of kazoo making that goes beyond description with words.
When I start a kazoo the first step is to choose a wooden blank from the shelf.
Sometimes I am making a kazoo based on a picture of one I have made before.
Other times it's a special order I have received based on the customer's design idea.
Sometimes is a totally unique ASWEGO kazoo with no specific plan or design.
The finished kazoo is totally determined on the wooden blank I select.
The latter is the kazoo I speak of today.

ZEN KAZOO

It sometimes takes me a couple days to pick the wooden blank that will be used.
I usually start with a selection of a several blanks.
I have the blanks laying on the work bench and over the next couple days
I will stop and look at them and remove one or two until I am at last down to the blank that I will use.
This probably the most important step and one I never rush.
Kinda like getting to know the wood I am about to work into a kazoo before starting.
Once the blank is selected it's time to start carving.
Much of my wood stock is harvested locally and cured with bark on. Some is milled at my local sawmill.
The selected wooden blank is like a rough diamond.
It's true beauty lies in the color and grain pattern hidden beneath layers of bark and wood.
For this Old Kazoo Maker now is when the fun starts with my carving knife.
This is when "Zen Kazoo" takes over and the outside world ceases to exist.
Nothing exist in my mind but the knife in my hand and a piece of wood.
Problems of day go away, things on my To Do List disappear and there are no distractions.
For the next couple hours I slowly begin to discover the rough shape and appearance of the kazoo.
There is a time that many of us have had an experience where we are so involved with the moment we are in that we actually "stop the world".
This is the best way I can describe the experience of
"Zen Kazoo".
It is truly an experience almost impossible to fully explain.
You have to experience it to understand and once you do you will know.
There is an old saying that goes "those that know do not tell and those that tell do not know".
This truly "Zen And The Art Of Kazoo Making".

Well this Old Kazoo Maker will ramble when given the opportunity to talk about his passion so I will shut up now
and let you enjoy the rest of Captain Kazoo's WebZine.
I hope I didn't get too deep here. Bet you didn't know the simple kazoo had such a philosophical side.
I wish each of you a beautiful month and that you find "Zen Kazoo" each time you hum a tune.
Most importantly, "Don't Be Kazooless"!!!! When life serves you cod liver oil,
just hum and smile, knowing that you know!
Best of regards,
Butch
The Old Kazoo Maker
Great Aswego Kazoo Factory

THE KAZOO IS THE FAVORITE INSTRUMENT OF CLOWNS AROUND THE WORLD !

For updated information re Kazoo Patents, Designs etc. GO TO:

MOTLEY'S YAHOO KAZOOZ GROUP

THE KAZOOLOGIST

KAZOO PATENT HISTORY 1884-1902
from motleyjustmotleynothingbutmotley

CIRCUS MUSIC by a KAZOO CLOWN

Black Metal Kazoo

XXXL KAZOO SOLO

REPEET ON AMERICA'S GOT TALENT

HISTORY OF THE JAZZ KAZOO
The kazoo was first brought into the public by a magician named J.P. Kalaam.
He was "fascinated" by strange instruments and encountered the kazoo while in Africa.
His kazoos were all made of wood.
The kazoo is played professionally in jug bands and comedy music, and by amateurs everywhere.
It is one of the few acoustic instruments to be developed in the United States
and one of the easiest instruments to play well, requiring only the ability to vocalize in tune.
In North East England and South Wales, kazoos play an important role in juvenile jazz bands.
During Carnival the kazoo is routinely used in the Carnival of C‡diz and the Murga in Uruguay.
The National Youth Administration: "rhythm band" plays in Sandwich, Illinois, 1936.

In the Original Dixieland Jass Band 1921 recording of "Crazy Blues", what the casual listener might mistake for a trombone solo is actually a kazoo solo by drummer Tony Sbarbaro.
The Mound City Blue Blowers had a number of hit kazoo records in the early 1920s. The Mound City Blue Blowers featured Dick Slevin on metal kazoo Trombonist-vocalist Jack Fulton played it on Whiteman's recording of "Vilia" (1931) and Frankie Trumbauer's "Medley of Isham Jones Dance Hits" (1932). The kazoo is not often found in European classical music, a rare exception being David Bedford's With 100 Kazoos, a piece which emphasizes the simplicity of the instrument
rather than being played by trained musicians, kazoos are handed out to members of the audience,
who accompany a professional instrumental ensemble.
Leonard Bernstein included a kazoo ensemble in the First Introit (Rondo) of his Mass (theatre).
The kazoos are played by the boy's choir.
The kazoo was used in the 1990 Koch International and in 2007
Naxos Records recordings of American classical composer Charles Ives' "Yale-Princeton Football Game",
where the kazoo chorus represents the football crowd's cheering. The brief passages have the kazoo chorus sliding up and down the scale as the cheering rises and falls. The kazoo is called for in Frank Loesser's score for the 1961 Broadway musical comedy How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
It appears as part of the instrumental accompaniment played by the orchestra:
several instruments provide the sound effect of electric razors being used, during a dance reprise of the ballad "I Believe in You".
A kazoo solo is featured in Jesse Fuller's 1962 recording of his song "San Francisco Bay Blues",
in Eric Clapton's 1992 recording of the song on MTV's Unplugged television show and album.
Short performances of kazoo music is included on many modern recordings, usually for comic effect.,br. For example, in Frank Zappa's first album, Freak Out!, he used the kazoo for adding such comic feel in some songs
(including one of his best known, Hungry Freaks, Daddy).
In the song ÒCrosstown TrafficÓ, from the album Electric Ladyland, Jimi Hendrix used a kazoo made of comb and paper acompanying the guitar to accentuate a blown-out speaker sound for which he was looking.
In the song "Lovely Rita", from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles
kazoos made of combs and toilet paper are featured.
One of the best known kazooists in recent times might be Barbara Stewart. She was a classically trained singer
who has written a book on the kazoo ,
formed the "quartet" Kazoophony, and performed at Carnegie Hall. She has appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yamaha EZ-TP digital trumpet. Interview with Ted Furman

If "tone-deaf" and "rhythmically challenged" are words that describe you, then the EZ-TP Digital Trumpet from Yamaha is the instrument for you.
That's because you don't have to actually play it! In Singing Play mode, simply hum or sing a melody into the mouthpiece, and the valves will light automatically to show you how to play the song.
Once you've mastered the song, switch to Normal Play and play it on your own. With the included Y-adaptor MIDI cable,
you can connect the trumpet to your computer and download your favorite tunes to its internal 992KB memory.
Play this digital trumpet for $277.04 from XPlanet.biz.

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KILLER CLOWNS PREFER THE ITALIAN PROFESSIONAL KAZOO