Bassoon Brothers News

Following the Sunday night (May 19) performance of Hells Angels with the Oregon Symphony, the Bassoon Brothers will be interviewed on stage by Jonathan Pasternak.

The Bassoon Brothers will appear on the show "AM Northwest" on Portland television channel KATU (2) somewhere between 9:00 and 10:00 AM.

Mark is editing and recording extra tracks for the next Bassoon Brothers CD. We are aiming for an April or May release. Working title for the release is Bassoon Behind Bars, or possibly Bassoons in Black. The tracks include our first recording with the "tenoroon" (or "fagottino" as it is known by the maker) playing Mark's new arrangement of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Three Little Maids." We recorded Alan Ridout's Pigs with four contrabassoons and Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze with wah-wah electric bassoon. Extra sounds include accordian, oboe, and drums. Mark's extra tracks include sax, synthesizer, tromboon and more. The basic tracks were recorded in April 2001. Good stuff on the way soon.

The "big dumb guy" who really started this whole Bassoon Brother thing on his Halloween recital so many years ago has left to start a new gig playing with the Atlanta Symphony. Juan will return to perform with the Brothers in May 2002 for performances and recording of Daugherty's Hells Angels. Juan's replacement in the Brothers' and Oregon Symphony's 2001-2002 season is Steve Harriswangler.

The new music director of the Oregon Symphony, Carlos Kalmar, has shoved the woodwinds toward the back of the stage at Schnitzer Hall. In retaliation Mark Eubanks, head deranger for the Bros and Principal Bassoonist of the Oregon Symphony has taken up a bigger horn to make cannon shots into the dull, bassoon unfriendly and unacceptable acoustics of Schnitzer Hall in Portland, Oregon. His new weapon is the somewhat controversial revised version of the Fox Model 660. Fox hasn't realized yet what a dangerous and powerful weapon this is. They completely screwed up the marketing of this instrument. More disciples of the 660 will follow. Mark was content with his Fox model 201 when he was closer to the podium, but from the back wall you need firepower. Many bassoonist are familiar with the Fox 601, but Mark has always felt that this model was too inflexible and "tank like" to play. Lookout Portland!

On page 26 of the travel guide -- tips and trips -- "A sip and a symphony" describes the upcoming Chamber Music on Tap brew pub gig with the Brothers. They say that the performance by "four horn players from the Oregon Symphony known as the Bassoon Brothers is likely to sell out." Horn players, eh?

JEOPARDY ABC game show. A photo of Bob and Mark appeared as a clue on the program. The question: "What is a bassoon?" The photo was from an AP wirephoto taken at the premiere of Peter Schickele's Blue Set No. 2 in Portland. The same photo was used on HBO's Dennis Miller Show (see the Photo Gallery).

Selections from the Bassoon Brothers CD Wanted on Crystal Records were featured on several U.S. airlines.