View Full Version : Don't Leave your Loar...
ethanopia
Apr-15-2004, 9:07am
ok so it ain't a loar but it's about the same...
Violin, viola found in alleyway near bar
Thursday April 15, 2004
NEW YORK (AP) An 18th-century Italian-made violin reported #missing earlier this week was found in an alleyway near the #Manhattan bar where its owner had left it, police said.
Odin Rathnam, the first-chair violinist for the Harrisburg #Symphony Orchestra, had been in New York for a meeting and left the #violin, along with a borrowed viola, at Yogi's bar on the Upper #West Side.
The violin, valued at about $95,000, was made by Bartolomeo #Calvaros of Bergamo, Italy, between 1750 and 1755; the viola #belonged to a friend.
Rathnam called himself ``the luckiest man alive.''
``This is like a reunion,'' he told the New York Post for its #Thursday editions. ``When you finally learn (to play the violin) #and find an instrument you're compatible with, it's a relationship. #You feel like you lost a loved one when you lose it.''
A patron at the bar, Noah Garden, told the Post he had ``won'' #the violin in an impromptu fiddling contest at the bar. He said he #pawned it for $600 but did not remember where the pawnshop was, the #Post said.
It was unclear how the instruments, which were found by a #maintenance worker Wednesday night, wound up in the alley.
Welll.., BUSTED!! - I always suspected it!! - Them "classical" people occasionaly "hit-it-pretty-hard" too... At least I hope he drank the "good"(i.e. expensive) stuff. And I'VE done some stupid stunts eh...!!??## - but.., I play Bluegrass and tap the "generic" liqour. Hmmmmm.. EL MOOSO. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif
bratsche
Apr-15-2004, 10:15am
If I were the owner of the viola, this drunken doofus would be my ex-friend. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif
bratsche
Spruce
Apr-15-2004, 10:50am
I remember the Strad (we're talkin' millions here...!) that was left on top of a car and fell off somewhere on the Santa Monica Freeway...
Recovered 25 years later, recognized by a friend of mine when it came in for repairs...
Here's the story:
"In 1967 a 1732 Strad, named for the Duke of Alcantara and owned by UCLA’s Department of Music, was loaned to a member of UCLA’s Roth String Quartet. He apparently either left it on top of his car and drove off, or had it stolen from inside his car.# A woman turned up with it in 1994, claiming her former husband’s aunt had given it to her husband, and she had acquired it in a divorce settlement.# She said their family lore had it that the aunt had found the violin beside a road.## UCLA eventually gave the woman $11,500 to regain the violin and avoid a protracted court fight.#"
ethanopia
Apr-15-2004, 10:51am
yeah I like the part about the people "trying" to play it
talk about an ugly ugly sound.... yuk
JD Cowles
Apr-15-2004, 11:07am
this brings to mind the classic joke:
what's the difference between a fiddle and a violin?
you can spill beer on a fiddle.
the funniest part of that article is that little twit being upset that the people in the bar played it "like it was a toy". #his sorry drunken soul should be happy he got it back at all. #bratsche, i'm with you...no more loaning instruments to that cat.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif
Tremolo
Apr-15-2004, 11:21am
``When you finally learn (to play the violin) #and find an instrument you're compatible with, it's a relationship. #You feel like you lost a loved one when you lose it.''
LOL! He didn't lose it: He abandoned it! He might not have intentionally abandoned it, but still...I don't care how drunk you are, if an instrument is that valuable in your life, you don't forget it. He compares it to losing a loved one. So in essense, if he left his wife behind, first he would say that he lost her, then he would be upset that people tried to hit on her! #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif
MrSrubas
Apr-15-2004, 11:28am
What about the guy that sold it for 600 bucks! I wonder if he got to keep it? I wonder if he felt cheated?
and the other thing is, what kind of bar pawns off it's lost and found? I bet it was a strip club, you know those closet-y orchestra types...
Christine W
Apr-15-2004, 11:35am
He sounds like a real winner! JD Atewire, I agree with you that's the same thing I thought what a dumb thing to say, how dare he get offended at "people' trying to play his instrument like it was a "toy". I know children who take better care of thier "toys" than he does. Geesh some people.
RichL
Apr-15-2004, 12:59pm
Not sure he went to Yogi's for the drinks but I can see why he was distracted.
http://www.nycbp.com/camera/56/index.html
and a review
http://www.murphguide.com/bar-reviews-y.htm
A couple of notes...
now, now, now he said he only had ONE drink...I remember (normally through photos and videos) some of my "one drink nights." :-o
There should be an organization for abused instruments: Kinda like a child welfare organization. And we should put that violin in a foster home.
Hey nice research to get those websites...but what was a fine classical musician doing in a place reserved for mandolin players?
Hey!! - Somebody call the union!! - Was he in there for a NON-union gig....!!?? Are those "waitresses"/"barmaids" union - Does the joint have an ASCAP "permit" pasted on the wall...BUSTED!! (and fined$$$) hee.. hee.. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
John Rosett
Apr-15-2004, 6:12pm
wow! who knew that they have "improptu fiddle contests" in nyc bars. i wonder if some bars have mandolin contests too. it seems like the prizes are pretty darn good...
john
chipotle
Apr-15-2004, 6:23pm
Next time I'm in NYC, Yogis is on the "must see" list!http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
MrSrubas
Apr-15-2004, 10:30pm
I was telling my fiddler brother about this post, so he broke in with a conversation concerning the time yo-yo-ma (or whatever the hell his name is) left his cello (the one people have bought stock in) in a taxi cab. He also got a pretty good kick out of the "you can spill beer on a fiddle" joke.
(Please note, changed my "signature" from socrates to dostoyevsky. pretty happy about it).
mandomick
Apr-16-2004, 8:58pm
No wonder this doofus wound up playing in Harrisburg, PA.
Probably the only capital city in the US that doesn't have a music store within the city limits. I **** you not!
Russ(String-Alley)
Apr-17-2004, 10:45am
Well being from the area all I can say is its not the type of place where you want to book a gig.
cheers
jim simpson
Apr-17-2004, 7:37pm
Hey, I'll be playing on April 24th near Harrisburg (Ono). We (Walls Of Time) are co-billed with Heart And Soul. I've never been there but I believe it is at a firehall. How big could Ono be?
krishna
Apr-22-2004, 4:45pm
Who said he was drinking? I did'nt see that anywere. Now you just listen here a minute. An ex band mate of mine .... 2 TIMES... was the passenger in a car and while standing by the car talking, put his $9000 viola on the roof, and promptly forgeting it, drove off. He was'nt high. He was'nt drunk. And he was VERY lucky I was there both times to save his butt.(running , jumping, waveing, screaming at the top of my lungs) Stuff happens.