courtesy of

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

and ‘s questions to me:

1. Apart from the oft-mentioned tuba and the occasionally-mentioned synthesizer, what musical instruments do you play?

earlier in life, i would have said that it would be easier to name the musical instruments i don’t play, but since my injury, the number of instruments that i have actually determined that i can play again is relatively small. before my injury the only instruments that i couldn’t play were ones with strings (although my wife will tell you that i played guitar, i didn’t really play guitar, i just plunked around). since my injury, i play tuba and trombone, sort of… other brass instruments that use 3, 4 or 5 valves are more or less of a possibility, depending on how small their embrochure is, and although i used to play flute, clarinet and saxophone quite well, i’ve lost enough use of my right hand that they are probably a lost cause. i also play keyboards, but not as well as i used to before my injury, which wasn’t as good as i wanted to play keyboards, but good enough that i had done gigs in several bands.

2. How did you become aware of the positive meanings of the swastika?

i have been intrested in swastikas ever since i was first able to draw one, and was reprimanded for drawing something that people made a fuss about. at that time, it was probably more that i was reprimanded for drawing something that people made a fuss about that was attractive to me than the fact that it was a swastika, regardless of what it meant, but once i put the two together, it has always been a source of fascination to me. i first learned about the spiritual significance of the swastika when i was in high school, approximately 30 years ago, which added a new layer of fascination to the whole thing. my next step is to get a swastika tattoo on my scalp.

3. How do those around you generally react when you listen to the music of Arnold Schoenberg? (Yes, I look at peoples’ info pages for question ideas…)

about 95% of people that hear me listening to arnold shönberg have responded with varying degrees of “what the hell are you listening to anyway??”, and about 4% of the remainder (like my mother, for example) have been made physically ill… it’s always impressed me that somebody actually succeeds in doing that and calling it music, but even moreso when it actually is music.

in case you’re interested, the remaining 1% are people who, like me, listen to just about anything with enjoyment.

4. What’s your favorite band/musician, of any genre?

you have to ask?

frank zappa.

5. Why a duck? (I had to slip a silly one in, most people just got serious stuff…)

the tone that is played when you call a radio station and you’re call being recorded for broadcast – a short, repeated tone that does not interfere with the conversation and is repeated at reasonable intervals as long as the recording is taking place – is called a duck, and is required by the federal communications commission unless the person making the recording has a warrant to record your conversation without your knowledge.