Yesterday, one of my students misunderstood me when I said I was awarding band scholarships to three students for next year. For some reason, he thought I'd said I was giving scholarships to 3 bass players. When I said, "Three bass players?" two members of the band immediately started singing "The bigger the cushion..."
I almost collapsed from laughing.
That scene is my absolute favorite from
Spinal Tap. For a performing musician, that movie is hilarious on so many different levels. When I saw it in the theater back when it first came out, I remember being the only person to laugh out loud at a lot of stuff the rest of the audience didn't get, and "Big Bottom" was one of those scenes. (EDIT: Sorry, but you'll have to click through the link to get back to YouTube in order to watch it)
My God, the sight of those three idiots on stage all playing bass guitars just sent me over the edge. THREE BASS GUITARS! And Derek is even playing a double-necked bass!!! People sitting near me in the theater were staring at me as if I had gone nuts, because they clearly didn't think it was as funny as I did.
Also, this semester, someone in my Music Appreciation class openly sneered at my recordings of John Cage and Henry Cowell, and their creative and unusual uses of common instruments and objects. The next day, I brought in a film clip of Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin using a violin bow on his guitar, and you just know I had to follow that up with this moment from
Spinal Tap:
The absolute cherry on top of that scene is at the end when he actually stops to TUNE the violin!!! Genius.
Come on, give me your favorite moments from
Spinal Tap. You know you want to...