L.E.'s Whistle Review in the Newsletter

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 4:53 pm

PhilO wrote:Anyway, I love chopped liver

PhilO

I'm still horrified to find that Brewerpaul ate his grandmother's liver.

IDAwHOa · Post by **IDAwHOa** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 6:37 pm

Jerry Freeman wrote:We'll return to the subject of gizzards, livers and KFC later. As an exercise in extreme thread drift, I would now like to discuss dizziness. I had contemplated starting a thread about this, but since it fits nicely here (still waiting for the Dramamine, please), I'll proceed.

I would rather be dizzy that have the case of whiplash this thread just gave me!!!!

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 6:49 pm

Walden wrote:
vomitbunny wrote:Can you still get livers and gizzards at KFC?
Locally they are available if you order them during the hours they operate the buffet.

I generally do not eat liver out, as I don't believe they drain them properly.

Many many many years ago, I worked at Hartz chicken. A lot of folks don't know, but the machine that culls the livers from the chicken isn't 100%, and you get about 1-2% of the pieces are actually chicken hearts.

I had to separate them out when I was frying livers, since we couldn't sell them. I'd save these tasty morsels until my lunch break and fry them up and have them. Yum! Shame you can't buy them at the store around here any more...definitely a southern thing.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 8:31 pm

Yeah. Made it hard not to want a Burke aluminum. Have to remind myself though, that it's a lot like car ads. Owning said whistle will NOT improve my writing career/enhance my whistle-finger dexterity/or turn me into my dynamic, charismatic cool-chick alter ego.
Maybe what I really need is killer sunglasses. Yeah. Or a Chiff & Fipple lunchbox.

BrassBlower · Post by **BrassBlower** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 8:48 pm

I don't like chopped liver. I do like Jessie. Therefore, Jessie is NOT chopped liver.

ErikT · Post by **ErikT** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 9:05 pm

Um... never mind.

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 9:32 pm

emmline wrote:Yeah. Made it hard not to want a Burke aluminum. Have to remind myself though, that it's a lot like car ads. Owning said whistle will NOT improve my writing career/enhance my whistle-finger dexterity/or turn me into my dynamic, charismatic cool-chick alter ego.
Maybe what I really need is killer sunglasses. Yeah. Or a Chiff & Fipple lunchbox.

Yeah. I own a brass one and all I could think of was, "Man, I shoulda got aluminum."

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 9:38 pm

I have both brass and aluminum.

Both are wonderful, though they do have a slightly different sound. Both are favorites.

--James

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 9:51 pm

emmline wrote:Yeah. Made it hard not to want a Burke aluminum. Have to remind myself though, that it's a lot like car ads. Owning said whistle will NOT improve my writing career/enhance my whistle-finger dexterity/or turn me into my dynamic, charismatic cool-chick alter ego.
Maybe what I really need is killer sunglasses. Yeah. Or a Chiff & Fipple lunchbox.

I remember something Roger O'Keefe said after hearing a super-whistler: the CD should contain a warning: "fingers not included."

Good idea.

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:26 am

FJohnSharp wrote:
emmline wrote:Yeah. Made it hard not to want a Burke aluminum. Have to remind myself though, that it's a lot like car ads. Owning said whistle will NOT improve my writing career/enhance my whistle-finger dexterity/or turn me into my dynamic, charismatic cool-chick alter ego.
Maybe what I really need is killer sunglasses. Yeah. Or a Chiff & Fipple lunchbox.
Yeah. I own a brass one and all I could think of was, "Man, I shoulda got aluminum."

You got a brass Chiff & Fipple lunchbox?

I want one, and so does my mate Amar!

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:48 am

Actually when I read the review I thought it was more about L.E.'s performance than the whistle. It was a good story though, and I enjoyed it.

But if I want a review of a whistle, I like Jessie's better.

Besides, a whistler of L.E.'s calibre isn't likely to play a lemon on stage now, is he?

Here's what L.E. said about the whistle:

"a bright, shining aluminum D."

"The sound cut through the humid, globby air with the clarity of a silver bell..."

"..it sang out strong and impeccably in tune."

"The whistle was light, easy to grip, with the weight well-balanced along the entire tube, not top-heavy or over-bulked. It fingered effortlessly..."

"The timbre had good full body, no rasp, no dropout. . . it soared into the upper octave. . . reaching for the high B, the note sounded instantly without hesitation or resistance. The C natural... the C# and 3rd-octave D were solid as well."

"... sturdy yet agile."

"The final test for me on any whistle is the top D roll. . . It purred."

"I have been asked if I endorse this tinwhistle. Yea, verily, I surrender to it!"

JessieK · Post by **JessieK** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 7:58 am

His review, uh, kicks my reviews' asses.

I like the brass and aluminum versions of this whistle. The brass one has more depth and the aluminum one is more bell-like and ringing, in a good way. I don't like the smell of brass, so the aluminum one is my default favorite (of the two).

One time I had an inner ear infection (didn't know it) and I had a couple of beers. Oh my goodness. I got SEVERE vertigo. I got stuck in a Chicago hotel, clutching the garbage can because I couldn't make it to the bathroom. No, I was not pregnant at the time. But anyway, the next time (a month or so later) I had a beer, the same thing happened, but to a lesser degree. Each time it lasted 3-4 days. I thought I was allergic to alcohol, so I avoided it for a year. Must have been an inner-ear thing, because I can have beer now once in a while with no bad reactions. I love beer.

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 8:15 am

JessieK wrote:His review, uh, kicks my reviews' asses.

I think you're being too hard on yerself Jessie.

I stand by my previous post...what I have excerpted there is all that was said about the whistle.

Everything else was about the scenery, the performance, the sound stage, the kids running around being a pain in the rear... as I said, a good story and one I enjoyed (I suppose because it's comforting to know that celestial professionals have tough days 'at the office' too).

As an 'endorsement' for the whistle in question, it's a good one. But I don't think it warrants the headline attributed to it by Dale (I'm assuming it was Dale that wrote the headline), and as a 'review', it's sparse.

mvhplank · Post by **mvhplank** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 9:09 am

GaryKelly wrote:As an 'endorsement' for the whistle in question, it's a good one. But I don't think it warrants the headline attributed to it by Dale (I'm assuming it was Dale that wrote the headline), and as a 'review', it's sparse.

I'm going to respectfully disagree--I think it puts the whistle in context rather than being just an isolated examination of its quality.

This is NOT intended as a criticism of any whistle reviewers on this board! I don't review whistles and I rely on your observations.

Two different kinds of reviews, and you're free to express your preference.

Of course, my being a writer, and currently a lovely shade of green with envy, didn't--ahem--color my preference.

M

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 9:39 am

mvhplank wrote:Of course, my being a writer, and currently a lovely shade of green with envy, didn't--ahem--color my preference.
M

Being a writer has little to do with it I think (three of my novels are available from all good bookshops, lest you wanted credentials). Describing a C-natural as "sheer ecstacy" tells me nothing that "impeccably in tune" didn't already, and phrases like "enveloped in its blissful purity of sweep, its elegant swift carriage of lightness and power" wouldn't make it past my fingertips let alone my editor.

I guess there are certain things I look for in a review of a whistle or flute. Volume, tone, ease or difficulty of blowing, workmanship (or indeed craftsmanship), response, price, availability, and so on. Waxing lyrical about silver bells in alpine mountain valleys tells me what? It rings? It tinkles? It echoes? It possesses some magical quality of sustain?

And since I can't make a single short high D roll explode "out of the whistle with staccato ferocity" much less five on the trot, that doesn't help me much either (although it certainly highlights why L.E. is rightly regarded as a world-class whistler).

As I've said, the endorsement was a good one, and it was a good story (although a tad overdone where adjectives and similes are concerned, IMHO). A good insight into a day in the life of a world-class musician. But after all, I expect a world-class whistler to make a 2.99 Generation sound bloody marvellous (and they do). Jessie's reviews stick to the whistles and provide the kind of information I look for when I'm considering a new instrument.

Just my 2p.