Looks like we were responding at exactly the same time but I just got to the submit button before you 
As usual, you said it much better than I could.
Slan,
D.
Sara - I do understandâŠ
First, I wouldnât have given this article a second glance anywhere else but here. I donât read celebs. stories, etc. - I tried hard to not hear the sorid details of the Jackson trial (failed a lot because of CNN being on in the cafeteria at work) - and I donât consider any of this news.
IF all this is true (again, I have my doubts), this person has little self esteem (as already stated) and even if itâs not - sheâs just out to make a buck.
The jokes, just as with the Jackson trial, are kinda the âwhistling past the graveyardâ thing. When something bothers you, you can get angry and try to change it, or when you know you canât change it, you can joke about it to try to come to grips with it. I kinda went with the later.
I think itâs also the âRipleyâs Believe it or Notâ syndrome. Humans like to be shocked, and have always paid good money for side shows, etc. Sometimes itâs real, sometimes itâs fake.
This woman would certainly NOT be someone I would hold up in any way as someone to emulate.
Again - I do understand your feelings, and Iâm sorry if making light of her upset you.
I posted the article because it was funny, sad but funny. This sort of behaviour has always been whispered in the bioâs of conductors, classical stars, and musicians etc., really nothing new and this is a pub.
It was meant to be an âOh my gosh arenât we glad that we play ITM and nothing like that happens with us sort of thing humour.â Many a kiddie porn movie (i.e. made for television type movie) has used these type of stories for plot lines including the somewhat teasing supposedly sex scenes. Nothing new really.
Kids have always been going at it in some way or another, through the history of our species. Girls were forced/sold/swapped into marriage when puberty started for them, boys were doing a grown mans labour or going off to war by the time they were twelve and thirteen.
And since this is in book form very few will read it let alone a kid of twelve or so.
MarkB
I wonder if anything has changed, and if it really is getting worse, and so forth. Pick a decade; pick an age and tell me (some) people didnât sleep around to get what they wantedâŠ
On the other hand I donât know about âaccepted norm in our society,â either. Seems to me that such behavior isnât the norm; nor is it accepted.
And then again, some people are simply cavalier about sexual relations, women included. I didnât notice any sense of her having felt oppressed in what I read; the writer seemed rather matter-of-fact about the whole thing, and seemed more interested in simply exposing the culture for what it apparently is. I canât make assumptions as to her motives.
My goodness, dear, sheâs just a slut and she doesnât know it!
LOL!!!
âŠbut I meant motives in blowing the lid off the thing, in case there was any confusion; not her motives in sleeping around. That was ready opportunism pure and simple.
One does wonder just how good she was at playing the damn oboe, if thatâs how she got all her gigs.
I played tuba and trombone professionally around southern California; never had to sleep with a section leader for a job. Thatâs a blessing, if youâve ever met orchestral trombonists and tuba players, believe me. 
(I dated a lovely young french horn player, though, and she had nothing like the problem the horn players had whom poor Ms. Tindall took home . I think sheâs full of bunk, this oboist-turned-journalist.)
If Iâd had to sleep with a pretty oboist, though . . . well, hey! 
The lady herself claims that the musicians carry the skills of playing their instruments into bed with them, and all I know of oboe playing is that you really gotta wrap your lips around that thing and blow.
I have it on good authority that uilleann pipers are into bondage and leather.
But theyâre always playing with themselves solo, arenât they? Always providing their own accompaniment, poor things.
I was under the impression that to get a position or promotion in a symphony orchestra required harrowing auditions behind curtains, so that no one would know who was auditioning. That would then ensure that the best musician would get the spot. I think it is taken very seriously.
I also thought unions played some role in making sure that musicians were treated fairly. Exactly what that role is I donât know though.
I highly doubt a conductor could plunk a babe down in the middle of the oboes without causing a mutiny among the players. I donât know about Broadway and karaoke.
I wonder why she is not still playing for the New York Philharmonic? Wouldnât that be a pretty up there position for an oboist? I think there is a reason this woman changed fields. Iâm sure hanky-panky goes on everywhere, but Iâm not sure any of her paricular stories are true. How can they be verified?
This was a long way of saying I agree with herbivore12.
Hey, whoâs gonna know you better than yourself? But solo playing is not de rigeur. Any extras do, however, need to make adjustments to fit the piperâs âtuningâ (pronounced âquirksâ) du jour. A veryâŠummâŠspecialised lot with specialised tastes and needs.
Dear Dr. Ruth Whistleheimer:
There are quite a few Chiffers who insist on whistles with plenty of backpressure. What does this mean?
p.s. I donât really want to know.
I agree with everyone from Sunnywindo on.
On the other hand, Iâm mortally offended she didnât mention flute players.
I noticed that. Noted also that she said good things as well as bad things about the musicians she did discuss.
It must be that the flute players had better judgement than to have slept with her.
This all reminds me of a Eddie Murphy skit I saw on SNL. He was âGumby Dammitâ and said, âWilma Flintstone made to the top on her BACK!â
Reminds me of a songâŠ
We never mention Aunt Clara;
Her picture is turned to the wall.
Though she lives on the French Riviera,
Mother says that sheâs dead to us all.
Then again, (male) flute players have long been the subject of innuendo as to the likelihood of their âdancing at the other end of the ballroomâ, if you will. The fact is we canât even FIND the ballroom.
All this depends entirely on the symphony in question. I remember reading about a study to see if
the curtain resulted in less discrimination than non-curtain auditions. This leads me to believe that
there are symphonies w/ curtains, and symphonies without them, otherwise thereâd be no control
group for the study.
This sort of dissention goes on within orchaestras, regardless. And if anyone makes too much
of a stink, they can easily be replaced: there are a lot of out of work musicians!
Many states (called âright to workâ states, my own included) have laws that prevent people
from being forced to join unions, thereby reducing the power of unions in that state.
That is interesting, fearfaoin. I sure wouldnât want to be working in an orchestra with problems! I guess every work place has them, but as you said, there are a lot of out of work musicians, so things could get pretty tense I suppose.
I hope this helps. As I was once told by a fisherman, âYou arenât gonna catch a fish if you donât get your hook in the water.â I would wear clean socks, too.