BTC: Marlene Dietrich Playing the Musical Saw
Top of the morning to you! Although it’s noon here in partly-cloudy Los Angeles, the caffeine hasn’t kicked in yet, which can only mean one thing on a Monday: an installment of Better Than Coffee! This week, we have sexy Marlene on the musical saw. Whatever goofy shenanigans were taking place to elicit audience laughter when Marlene finally starts playing the saw at 1:25 have been lost to time, for only the audio survived in the clip above.
If Marlene has inspired you to take up the saw, you can either buy one online, or you can make one from scratch using the instructions on Dennis Havlena’s DIY folk instrument site. Dennis also provides instructions for making a banjo out of a cookie tin, a 4-string bass out of a washtub, and a hang drum made out of a propane tank. You can see Dennis playing some of these wondrous instruments on YouTube.
May 11th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
If you are a fan of the musical saw – there is an annual musical saw festival in NYC: http://www.musicalsawfestival.org
Watch the video on their website – 30 musical saw players playing together!
May 12th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Next up: The Coilhouse Infectious Earworm Junkyard Jug Band, featuring covers of Tom Waits, Lene Lovich, and Arnold Schoenberg….
May 12th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
That was downright delightful actually. =)
She’s so feisty sometimes!