Chord hat!

Caj · Post by **Caj** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:20 am

Sorry if this has been posted already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bexIdm0awwo

So many times I have wanted something like this. Maybe with electrodes to give someone a painful electric shock.

Caj

harpmaker · Post by **harpmaker** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 3:18 am

I can't watch youtube with my current set up, but is this the one of Jim Miller and the hat for calling out chord changes? If so, I'll tell you "the rest of the story"

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 7:29 am

harpmaker wrote:I can't watch youtube with my current set up, but is this the one of Jim Miller and the hat for calling out chord changes? If so, I'll tell you "the rest of the story"

Yes. Party noise makers respond to his stepping on turkey basters. I'd love to know the rest of the story.

He has a pipe hat as well which is, um, interesting.

missy · Post by **missy** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 7:29 am

yeah- it's Jim and Fred Meyer. I'll let harp tell you his version, then I'll tell you "the rest of the story"........

BTW - Fred also plays hurdy gurdy and Fisher Price Phone. Jim makes hammered dulcimers, and can play any string instrument known to man, and quite a few known to aliens.

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 7:51 am

ROTFLMFAO!!!!

Hell, I'd buy it just to amuse folks at parties!

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 10:37 am

Those fellows must be quite a pair. That was a nice version of Soldier's Joy. What does a "pipe hat" mean, emmline?

missy · Post by **missy** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 10:53 am

well, still waiting for Dave to tell his story, but I can tell a few of my own in the meantime.

Jim Miller is a 4th grade teacher. He's also one heck of a musician. He loves to sit in jams and "sign" the chords for songs. He'll hold up his fingers in the shape of a D, or A, or G (Em is a hoot to see him try). When I found out he was teaching fourth grade and told Noah (who was also in fourth grade at the time) Noah said "Oh - I can just SEE spelling class now!!). Anyway - the signing is where the chord hat idea came from.
We were all in a jam WAY too late one night. Jim was playing a Baby Taylor he had redone into a bouzoki (sp?), and stopped, turn it over his head with the sound hole pointing at the floor, and started shaking it. When asked why, he said "I just broke a string and keep my extras inside".

Fred's feet are NEVER still when he plays. I've threatened to nail them to the floor and see if he could still play.
He also plays the phone. He found an old Fisher Price phone perfectly in the key of Em. He took the speaker out and hooked the thing up to a mini- Marshall stack. He plays "Black Nag" on it. A lot of us spent many a summer going to garage sales trying to find Fisher Price phones in different keys!!!!
Fred also plays the hurdy gurdy and has been asked to come to a festival in France that has been going on for over 1000 years!

Then there's the time Jim dressed up in a toga and was the god "Dulcidius"................

harpmaker · Post by **harpmaker** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 11:38 am

"the rest of the story"...

To really get the feel for this, you have to know Jim Miller. He is, well, a 'unique' human being. He can walk into a room of strangers and 5 minutes later leave a room of friends.

And he has a very wicked sense of humor.

Several years ago (99?... 98?)at the Unicoi music festival in Helen GA, Jim had set up next to my booth. During the late afternoon, I noticed he was fooling around with something behind his table. There were a lot of snorts and laughter due to what ever he was doing, but I didn't find out what he was up till until that evening.

After dinner there was the usual concert which cleared out the vendors area. Because I snore, I normally do not attend concerts and therefore usually take this alone time to catch up on stuff. However, this night was different, for about a dozen people decided to stay behind and partake of the fine home made wine brought by either Jim or Fred....my memory is still a little fuzzy on that.

Anyway, after a few bottles had been consumed from fine glassware (aka styrafoam cups) one of the organisers of the festival appeared in our midst.

You have to keep in mind that we were on a different floor, in a different building from where the concert was taking place, but this guy came down to ask us to please quiet down because our laughter could be heard in the concert hall.

Unfortunately it was just about this time that Jim decided to demonstrate his new toy, the chord hat. The original version did not have the coiled air whistles (or whatever those things are called) but used brghtly colored balloons with the chords written on them. To get the balloons to inflate Jim had to really stomp on the turkey baster.

So as the guy is begging us to quiet down, here we are watching Jim sitting there stomping on the various basters.

Between our laughing and calling out suggestions to Jim, the guy from the concert didn't stand a chance.

We finally agreed to quiet down and the guy left us alone.

Mistake...big mistake.

For just about then Jim started tellng us about the trip he and a female friend had made earlier in the day to get the suppplies for this thing. Helen GA is a small town, so, as Jim put it, he seemd to create a bit of a stir when he and the woman walked into a hardware store with a shopping list that included 3 turkey basters, a plastic headband and/or a baseball cap, rubber balloons and several yards of plastic tubing.

As Jim told it, at one point he turned to his companion and asked "What about duct tape, do we need that? She replied with a wink to the clerk "No honey, we have plenty of that already"

Jims description of the look on the clerks face was priceless.

A few minutes after telling us about the shopping trip the concert guy showed up again....

missy · Post by **missy** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:01 pm

to continue.....

The next summer, Jim was getting on stage at Cosby TN with the contraption. As he's carrying all this stuff on stage, a little boy of about 3 or 4 years old in the audience points up at Jim and says "Mommy - what's that?"
All of us say "We've been trying to figure that out for a LONG time!"

Jim also once made the "doggy back scratcher". It was a box with four foot peddles, and four strings attached, with a pick on each string. You were to put your dog in the box, and by stepping on the foot peddles, you'd cause the picks to move, which would scratch the dog's back. Jim "conveniently" figured out that his flat top accoustic bass ALSO fit in the box, so he could play hammered dulcimer AND bass at the same time!

I was at a festival once where someone left a wooden crutch at Jim's booth. He got out his drill, put a hole in it, put a tuning peg in one end and a eye bolt in the other, put a string on it, and proceeded to play "Cripple Creek" on the crutch.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:10 pm

Cynth wrote: Those fellows must be quite a pair. That was a nice version of Soldier's Joy. What does a "pipe hat" mean, emmline?

It's another youtube vid by those guys, linkable from the chord hat one.
His hat is made up of several upright plastic fipple flutes (I believe he does refer to them as pennywhistles,) each of which toots when he stomps on the appropriate turkey baster.

Caj · Post by **Caj** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:02 pm

Joseph E. Smith wrote: Hell, I'd buy it just to amuse folks at parties!

Me, I'd buy it to express my boiling rage. (stomp) (stomp) Look! At! My! Head! IT's! In! G! Major!

Or maybe a POV hat that displays certain messages in the air above your head, like "MAYBE YOU SHOULD SIT THIS ONE OUT" or "THIS IS A POLKA: IT HAS NO SWING."

That and a rhythm hat. You press one pedal and a pair of hands extends 10 feet from your head. You press another pedal and they clap right in front of the sessioneer's face.

harpmaker · Post by **harpmaker** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 5:05 pm

Caj wrote:
Joseph E. Smith wrote: Hell, I'd buy it just to amuse folks at parties!

Me, I'd buy it to express my boiling rage. (stomp) (stomp) Look! At! My! Head! IT's! In! G! Major!

Or maybe a POV hat that displays certain messages in the air above your head, like "MAYBE YOU SHOULD SIT THIS ONE OUT" or "THIS IS A POLKA: IT HAS NO SWING."

That and a rhythm hat. You press one pedal and a pair of hands extends 10 feet from your head. You press another pedal and they clap right in front of the sessioneer's face.

LOL!

Missy, you takin notes for the next time you see Jim?

missy · Post by **missy** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 5:11 pm

harpmaker wrote: LOL!

Missy, you takin notes for the next time you see Jim?

ah - he doesn't need any help, he comes up with enough of them on his own!!!