About this project

Kay Kemble (1911-1989) is a character invented for this project. Kay sang on radio commercials as a child and went on to lead Big Bands and swing ensembles in the 30's and 40's. She worked at Scott Air Field as a WAAC enlistee and a civilian. She produced war bond rallies, and her all-female band promoted a popular shampoo brand. In the 80's there was renewed interest in Kay's musical career.

Kay informally adopted the orphaned niece and nephew of her partner Wilmetta "Teeny" Stockton, and in the early 70's the family moved from St. Louis to New Orleans. After Kay and Teeny's deaths, family members remained in New Orleans until displaced by Hurricane Katrina. In 2014, I arranged to archive, organize, and restore Kay's memorabilia. Most items were damaged due to age, hurried packing , and lack of funds for formal archiving.

I've "become" Kay in reproduction radio broadcasts, and created artifacts to represent damaged or destroyed items in the collection.



Tuesday, July 21, 2020

My life mirroring Kay's -- part 2 of 2

Kay spit valve rubber band trick https://www.smartmusic.com/blog/dos-and-donts-of-emergency-band-instrument-repair/





Trumpet rim repair -- Kay used marble ashtray and I used marble cutting board. 




The mystery mallet I found in the box, with the joke tag on it. 





I used a modern plastic trumpet stand as my make-do mandrel to straight out a bent bell, but Kay used the kind of wooden mute in popular use in the 1940s.




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