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Thread: National Kazoo Day

  1. #76
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    It so happens that there was a bit of kazoo to-do on The Late Show on National Kazoo Day - intentional or not, we'll never know, because though its inclusion in the band's playing during the first bumper was discussed by the host and the band leader, the day's significance was not. The banter was quite amusing, all the same.

    The song was Fat Domino's classic, "Blueberry Hill," in case you couldn't tell.

    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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  2. #77

    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    About the only thing that makes me wish for a banjo

  3. #78
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    Well ... the difference is, you can tune a kazoo. And kazoos make people smile.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

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  4. #79
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    Another year hath come and gone, and then another year hath come and gone, and here we are, on National Kazoo Day. In taking a bit of a look around the interweb for something to add to our comprehensive compendium of comedic commentary, I noticed that the mayor of Beaufort SC, the home town the Kazoo Museum, is also the owner of Kazoobie, a major manufacturer of this delightful device, and also based there. This may be an indication of the kazoo's efforts to achieving world dominance.

    Also, taking a look at my old band's youtube channel, which is mostly just audio files of our one studio recording, I noticed the channel master, the bass player, uploaded two non-album tracks. One of these is his composition, "Tropical Swing," a fun instrumental number, which features the kazoo prominently. I present it here for all to enjoy. I'm also posting the youtube video of the previously posted "Sadie Green," so people can enjoy that romp easily, featuring much kazooing and also some fine mandolinning, if I say so myself (I must), without having to download the audio file. The still image is the album cover. BTW, copies are still available for purchase; PM me if interested.





    PS: I was pleasantly surprised to see a positive comment on another song by none other than our own Jo Dusepo. How she ended up passing through there is thoroughly mysterious, but it's an awfully happy happenstance.
    Last edited by journeybear; Jan-28-2023 at 11:52am. Reason: just one more thing ...
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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  6. #80

    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    Another year hath come and gone, and then another year hath come and gone, and here we are, on National Kazoo Day.
    Just when we thought it was safe!

  7. #81
    bon vivant jaycat's Avatar
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    Thankfully I stumbled upon this just in time to pack a kazoo for my 2 p.m. gig!
    "The paths of experimentation twist and turn through mountains of miscalculations, and often lose themselves in error and darkness!"
    --Leslie Daniel, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die."

    Some tunes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa1...SV2qtug/videos

  8. #82
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Mando View Post
    Just when we thought it was safe!
    Safe? SAFE?!? From the mirthful musical murmurings of kazoos, whose joyous jubilance never fails to make listeners smile? Heaven forbid!

    Bear in mind, kazoos are ever around us every day of the year. It is just this one day out of the year that it is commemorated. I would dearly like to know how this date was chosen. Perhaps someone integral to the merry musicmaker's invention or development was born or did something related to the kazoo that was instrumental and memorable. I have yet to discover this, but will not rest until I do. I have insomnia, anyway, so that's really neither here nor there, but it sounds good.

    Good for you, jaycat. I always have a kazoo in my case. Just in case.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  9. #83
    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    I don't know how old the kazoo is but in the 1920's Red Makinzi was blowing a comb wrapped in a piece of paper...



    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

  10. #84
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    Yes, that was the old school method, most likely pre-dated kazoos. I imagine kazoos were invented to make that approach more reliable, or seemly, or something. Next time I head up that way, I must stop by Beaufort and visit the museum. I'm sure they'll have the whole history on display. It wouldn't surprise me if it went back to the Egyptians, or even the Sumerians, in some similar form. Maybe a short piece of bamboo with a properly fashioned reed for buzzing.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  11. #85
    harvester of clams Bill McCall's Avatar
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    Beaufort may have a museum, but it’s kind of bogus, because kazoos have been manufactured in Eden, NY, for over 100 years, and they have a museum. I suspect much of their equipment is ‘museum vintage’, or at least it was through the 70’s when I had friends working there. A bit dangerous too.
    Not all the clams are at the beach

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  12. #86

    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    Of course a Kazoo Fanfare is the ultimate in triumphal entries (and exits)


  13. #87
    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    Quote Originally Posted by Bill McCall View Post
    Beaufort may have a museum, but it’s kind of bogus, because kazoos have been manufactured in Eden, NY, for over 100 years, and they have a museum. I suspect much of their equipment is ‘museum vintage’, or at least it was through the 70’s when I had friends working there. A bit dangerous too.
    The web page.....

    http://www.edenkazoo.com/history.php

    Been going since 1916!
    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    Reflecting on my history with kazoos, in the very early sixties one of the cereal companies enticed us li’l folks with a Woody Woodpecker kazoo. Send in some number of boxtops plus $1.98 or something like that and in six weeks (or one eternity, whichever came later) a package would appear in the mailbox. For the next week we’d drive parents and neighbors crazy with our interpretations. The most fun part was that we could open and close Woody’s beak as we “played.”
    A couple years in, now, and still learning!
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    Quote Originally Posted by Kenny View Post
    Reflecting on my history with kazoos, in the very early sixties one of the cereal companies enticed us li’l folks with a Woody Woodpecker kazoo. Send in some number of boxtops plus $1.98 or something like that and in six weeks (or one eternity, whichever came later) a package would appear in the mailbox. For the next week we’d drive parents and neighbors crazy with our interpretations. The most fun part was that we could open and close Woody’s beak as we “played.”
    I only had a comb and a piece of paper, what a lucky kid you were.
    THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!

  16. #90
    Registered User Ranald's Avatar
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    Quote Originally Posted by Kenny View Post
    Reflecting on my history with kazoos, in the very early sixties one of the cereal companies enticed us li’l folks with a Woody Woodpecker kazoo. Send in some number of boxtops plus $1.98 or something like that and in six weeks (or one eternity, whichever came later) a package would appear in the mailbox. For the next week we’d drive parents and neighbors crazy with our interpretations. The most fun part was that we could open and close Woody’s beak as we “played.”
    Like this, for only $.25 and one boxtop?

    https://www.mrbreakfast.com/cereal_u...315&picid=1870

    You can still buy them online..
    Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
    "I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
    Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.

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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    Quote Originally Posted by Bill McCall View Post
    Beaufort may have a museum, but it’s kind of bogus, because kazoos have been manufactured in Eden, NY, for over 100 years, and they have a museum. I suspect much of their equipment is ‘museum vintage’, or at least it was through the 70’s when I had friends working there. A bit dangerous too.
    Quote Originally Posted by Charles E. View Post
    The web page.....

    http://www.edenkazoo.com/history.php

    Been going since 1916!
    Right - that's the factory in upstate New York. I'll be heading up to South Cackalacky in March and will have to take a day trip to the museum in Beaufort. Eden will have to wait till summer. I suspect that Beaufort's facility will be oriented more toward marketing than bonafide history, but won't know till I go. But yes, the Eden factory is surely the real deal. For one thing, metal kazoos sound so much better than plastic. And for another, look at the machines in the photo in Post #63, which I believe are still operational. Those right there are historical!
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

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  18. #92
    Lurkist dhergert's Avatar
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    I didn't know National made Kazoos too. How large is the resonator?
    -- Don

    "Music: A minor auditory irritation occasionally characterized as pleasant."
    "It is a lot more fun to make music than it is to argue about it."


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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    Quote Originally Posted by Ranald View Post
    Like this, for only $.25 and one boxtop?

    https://www.mrbreakfast.com/cereal_u...315&picid=1870

    You can still buy them online..
    That’s got to be the one. Obviously I didn’t go as far back with the price as I did with the memory of it.
    A couple years in, now, and still learning!
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  22. #94
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    I was going to bring up the factory/museum in Eden, NY as it is only about 20 miles from us. Lots of history there and the tour busses keep it pretty busy. If anyone has any emergency kazoo needs let me know!

  23. #95
    Registered User Ranald's Avatar
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    Quote Originally Posted by pops1 View Post
    I only had a comb and a piece of paper, what a lucky kid you were.
    "A comb and a piece of paper"? Aren't we la-de-da! When I was a boy we had an old piece of two-by-four and the neighbourhood garbage cans, and with some luck we'd get a police siren going in the background too. But we were happy -- the kids today don't know what happy is.
    Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
    "I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
    Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.

  24. #96
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    So, I know I am 6 months early but last Friday, on a very rainy day, we decided to go to the Kazoo factory in Eden, NY which is located 20 miles from us for the last 50 years. It was a nice visit but unfortunately they do not make Kazoo's on Fridays so all the antique equipment with associated jackshafts, wooden pulleys and flatbelts were not in operation. We will need to schedule another trip to see it in operation. One interesting fact is that the whole factory runs on ONE 2hp electric motor. I thought is would be fun to document the trip for all you Kazoo enthusiasts

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  25. #97
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    Nice! Great photos, even if I had to turn my laptop and head for some. Love the USS Kalamazoo one - so fitting. That French-horn-looking one - I'll bet that is as loud as all get-out, with those two enormous reeds in its "bell." The trombone and trumpet ones reminded me of something the washboard player in my old band whipped up, called a "trumpazoo" - a kazoo affixed to the bell half of a trombone to act as its mouthpiece, and the brass to amplify the sound. (Yes, it should have been a "trombazoo," but he created it, and that's what he called it.) It was quite the eye-catching device. This band played a lot of swing, ragtime, and jug band music, and our instrumentation was closest to the latter, so we used kazoos a lot, with the horn parts from old recording played by what I called The Two-Bit Horns. Kazoos cost more than 25¢ these days, but the name fits.

    You'll have to go again when it's in operation. When they're not conserving energy by leaving their enormous power plant idle.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  26. #98
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    Here ya go:

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    And here's the trumpazoo in action ...

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    By the way, funny this should appear today. Just last night I did a bit of re-recording, fixing the horn intro to a song for my next album by my duo, Finders Keepers. It's a reworking of The Rolling Stones rather campy tune, "Something Happened To Me Yesterday," with the horn parts replaced with - yes kazoos.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  27. #99
    Registered User mandolinstew's Avatar
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    I went to their website.Cheapest is the plastic at $1.99,the metal at $3.99.Replacement resonator is 25 cents.The 24 kt gold is no longer made.
    Still using my woodie .Click image for larger version. 

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  28. #100
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: National Kazoo Day

    When this band, the Love Lane Gang, was in its two-year heyday, we got lots of props and gifts from lots of folks. Including one guy who was fairly crafty, and fashioned wooden kazoos. He gave band members some, as many as desired, and while they sounded just fine, they didn't quite have the wonderfully ratty sound of the metal ones. Still, they were cool, and stayed put in a harmonica rack better than metal ones, with their rounded shape. They also coupled as a pipe, with was fine with a couple of the guys, and perhaps their original intention.

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    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

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