Tuba Playing Made Easy: weird art and stuff from Dave.

The tuba may be cumbersome but it's the real bottom in the old marching bands of New Orleans. You'll need a hat of course and some kind of suit jacket but those are easy to find. The most important thing is your lips really. They have to work...and well. There are doctors out there who can check them for you if need be or if you're confident in your own diagnostic ability, you can just go to a mirror and do it yourself.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009


Hey, I used to eat there. What happened? Signs of emptiness are everywhere. You may spot one someday and wonder where it all went. OK, maybe it's just like sand running through your fingers or toes. That's the price you pay for that new pair of jeans...;-)

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Sunday, May 18, 2008

signs of emptiness



You can take a look at some of this if you like and if you have any of these in your neighborhood and would like to snap one and send it along to me, that would be great:


please send any pix to: davemancini@dialogsplus.com

Incredible storefront in Venice


After we finally settled in to the reality that Venice, Italy is a remarkably commercial place, we began to enjoy the 'scenery'. Thousands of shops all competing with the ancient, crumbling-ness of the old city. It's no surprise that there is a Disney store there. Adds to the charm, ya know?

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Tuffi lauded for trumpeting abilities


Tuffi was a female circus elephant. On 21 July 1950 the circus director Franz Althoff had Tuffi, then 3 years old, take the Schwebebahn (a suspended monorail) in Wuppertal, Germany as a marketing gag. The elephant apparently did not enjoy the ride, trumpeted wildly and ran through the wagon, broke through a window and fell some 5 meters down into the Wupper River, suffering only minor injuries. A panic then broke out in the wagon and some passengers were injured. Althoff helped the elephant out of the water. Both the circus director and the official who had allowed the ride were fined.

Tuffi is included here in Tuba Playing Made Easy because while not officially playing a tuba per se still she is reputed to have demonstrated extraordinary trumpeting ability under duress and is thus by the author duly recognized for that.



Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Alchemy- Watercolor 42 X 56 cm.December 2006


To be honest I have always believed in the alchemical process that is, man's ability to transform ordinary substances into gold. This is the last in a series of paintings that I did over the Christmas time and it depicts the alchemical process at work. This is of course a metaphor for what we humans are quite good at, and hopefully use for good ends, and that is 'thinking'.
Visualization. Picturing. Imagineering. What you will...
The process depends on your ability to get into, and remain in touch with, that which we have in former times described as heart's desire, lifelong dream or utmost fantasy.
It has been said that it is very important not to allow your belief in your own ability to create what you want in your life to be contaminated by the contradictory belief that it is not possible. Thought power is God power.
Peace.