In searching for something to write about today, I googled musical birthdays. I found quite a list of obscure musicians for March 22, but this list also included Gerard Hoffnung. Okay, he's pretty obscure, too, but he is a favorite of mine.
Gerard Hoffnung was a British humorist, musician (including tuba player), artist, and storyteller. His concerts, which took place in England in the 1940s and 1950s, included works for orchestra and vacuum cleaners, hoses played like French horns, and many musical jokes. The humor is both very silly and quite British. If you'd like to see and hear a brief taste, here is a video of a piece for 3 vacuum cleaners, floor polisher, and orchestra: https://youtu.be/TxaEIizTNTU. His musical work looks and sounds dated today, but at the time it was funny and it inspired others who came after him, including PDQ Bach (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._D._Q._Bach).
Hoffnung's cartoons are also entertaining. They are copyright protected so I was unable to paste any here, but you can see some at https://arnoldzwicky.org/2016/05/26/gerard-hoffnung/. He drew many musical cartoons, but he also captured nonmusical humor.
So, not exactly a Slice of my Life today. I really need to brainstorm.
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