Tag Archives: tuba thefts

LOS ANGELES: Tuba thefts, again

Once again, tuba thieves have struck. This time: Whittier High School. Four sousaphones.

Last time, Saturday Night Live did a Weekend Update bit on the phenomenon.

Lightheartedness aside, I find the topic interesting because tubas are the emblematic popular instrument of our time in Southern California — just like the electric guitar was in the 1970s.

A reporter could probably have fashioned a whole beat writing about the culture surrounding electric guitar during those years. (In Claremont, where I grew up, there were easily 20 guys in my high school class who played guitar, and, if memory serves, six guitar stores within a few-mile radius.)

I think the same is true today of tubas. Their popularity says a lot about the region and the time.

 

 

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Filed under Culture, Los Angeles, Mexico, Migrants, Southern California