The Brass Junkies 60: Joanna Hersey

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Joanna rocks! She is one of my favorite tuba players, can teach her tail off and is just one of the most energetic, positive people you'll ever meet. She is just an A+ human. I could interview her every week and never get bored.

From the show notes:

Joanna Hersey, President of the International Women’s Brass Conference and one half of the JAM Duo, joins Andrew & Lance in a fantastic and high energy conversation about taking risks and following your dreams.

Joanna is a very busy musician. In addition to the above, Joanna is Associate Professor of Tuba/Euphonium at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Visiting Instructor of Tuba/Euphonium at East Carolina University and is a Yamaha and Parker Mouthpiece Performing Artist.

Formerly of the US Coast Guard Band, Joanna spoke with us from the Music For All Conference in Indianapolis. She talked about the importance of being quick and dealing with your “external shoulds,” and we had a frank discussion of sexism in the career field. 

We also had time to talk about the new JAM Duo CD which features Andrew and Lance! How could we not?

The Brass Junkies 58: David Silverman of The Simpsons

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David Silverman plays a sousaphone with flames shooting out the bell and was one of the original animators on The Simpsons! I feel like this possibly makes him the perfect human.

In all seriousness, he is a Hollywood legend and a fixture at Burning Man. What a life this guy has led! It was a blast talking to him about all of it. (Especially asking him about the Simpsons episode that featured Phish!)

From the show notes:

Simpsons animator and Flaming Tuba artist David Silverman joins Andrew & Lance in a fascinating and hilarious exploration of The Simpsons, the tuba and animation. David has had an incredible career. He was one of the original animators on The Simpsons, directed countless episodes of the show, as well as the The Simpsons Movie. More importantly, he plays tuba! He started relatively late in school, at the age of 17. “Dr. Fonz” set him on his way and David went on to play tuba and sousaphone in college, first at the University of Maryland and later at UCLA, where he joined the marching band on a trip to Japan for the Mirage Bowl. We hear about the time he created a caricature of the National Symphony, his love for 1930's jazz, including artists like Sidney Bechet and the number of animators who are also musicians. 

As if that weren’t enough, David regularly plays with Vaud and the Villains, a "19 Piece 1930’s New Orleans Dance Orchestra and Cabaret Show" and is known to many as the guy with the flaming tuba from Burning man. Suffice to say, Andrew & Lance are fanboys. 

The Brass Junkies 50: Alex Lapins and Tony Tortora

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This was one of the funniest episodes we ever did. University of Tennessee student Tony Tortora took us up on an offer we never thought anyone would do and hilarity ensued. And then we got his teacher on the line without him knowing it. Podcast gold!

From the show notes:

Alex Lapins, Assistant Professor of Tuba/Euphonium at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville and Tony Tortora, a senior music education major and virtuosic vuvuzela-ist from Alex’ studio, join Andrew & Lance to discuss what happened and why.

The email subject heading was “Challenge Accepted” and referred to the offhanded comment made in the TBJ Joy Tartell interview. Blind auditions and vuvuzelas were mentioned. There may or may not be video. Which looks like this:

YouTube Awesomeness!

Additionally, based on a request from one of our great Patreon Patrons, Russell Etters, we unpack the ins and outs of preparing for a college audition. Thanks Russell!