Explosive Bill Bailey

[karohemd]

From a Guardian interview:

You're a classically trained musician. What do you play?

I play the piano and that's how I learned about music. I then taught myself the guitar, drums, percussion and various other things, such as the bazooka, the mandolin, the Theremin, the alpine horn, the didgeridoo.

(emphasis is mine)

Some weird combination of bouzouki and kazoo? Artists on my f-list, can you draw one for me? ;o)

EETA: Guys, I know what a bazooka looks like, I'm not stupid (hence the subject line).Wow, OK. You never stop learning...

Comments

[faerierhona.livejournal.com]

Have you never heard of one? Here is a photo, though these days it's rare/ Definitely percussion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bazooka

;-)

[jholloway.livejournal.com]

But he Bazooka rocket launcher is in fact named after:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bazooka_(instrument)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Now that I didn't know, cheers!

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I have, hence the subject line. :P
However, it turns out it is an actual instrument. The question is if he meant it as a joke or not. His tweets (http://twitter.com/RealBillBailey) suggests he did.

[brrm.livejournal.com]

You can see one being played in this Youtube clip

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I'll have to wait til I'm home. :/

[the-lady-lily.livejournal.com]

It seems to be some variety of primitive trombone, which would fit in with the other kinds of instruments he's describing, which all seem to be long and tube-like and require a great deal of air to power them.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

with exception of the mandolin and Theremin. ;o)
I only searched for the article because BB tweeted about it (http://twitter.com/RealBillBailey/status/6302299757) so I don't know if he meant it as a joke or the actual instrument.

[mansunite.livejournal.com]

Though called a traditional folk instrument, and with a name that suggests ancient European, it was in fact invented by an American called Robert 'Bob' Burns. Here's a picture of him with the very first 'Bazooka':
http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/media/gallery/photo/bazooka_f.jpg

[mansunite.livejournal.com]

And here's a comparison ;-)
http://www.imfdb.org/images/thumb/6/61/MCM1Bazooka-1.jpg/600px-MCM1Bazooka-1.jpg