I truly could not have made this up if I tried. I'm not this creative.
According to NPR, there have been a recent series of tuba thefts from Los Angeles area schools recently, and authorities are blaming a the latest musical rage in the area. The new trend is
banda, or something akin to... ahm... sorry, I have to get this out with a straight face.... a Mexican polka band. Apparently, tuba players can get more than $100 per hour playing this popular dance music, but tubas don't come cheap. So, according to a local police officer, if you know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy with a tuba, you can sell it easily.
I don't even know where to begin with this. First, I wasn't aware that tubas were commonly a part of polka or mariachi -style music groups. (I'll chalk that one up to massive ignorance.) Second, do that many people even PLAY the tuba? Ok, sorry. I'm sure they do.
I'll just quit here, and hope that someone else gets as good of a laugh out of it as I did. Click
here to see the NPR report, and
here to see the L.A.Times article.
