drugs and flying (was Elton)

[A440A@AOL.COM]

Richard writes:

<< But I say the worse effects on ears are airlines. I do not know the effects
of cocaine on ears while tuning.  

Greetings and WHOA!! 
        I didn't mean I was trying to toot and tune,  I was talking about the 
"talent" that I would occasionally run into that was way past rational, and 
they were going to tell me how to tune the piano. 
     One producer yelled at me that he had been listening to that piano 
non-stop for the last 32 hours , and he sure as hell knew when it was in tune 
or not!  I turned around and walked out.  Fortunately, the tape was rolling 
so he heard himself and the piano after he de-toxed a little bit, and a week 
or so later called and apologized. 
That is the way cocaine made studio work difficult.  
    I once did snort some and try to tune my own piano , having been told how 
much more acutely I would hear things, and how quick my reflexes would be, 
blah, blah blah....  I got a temperament "almost" perfect in 2 1/2 minutes,  
then started tuning a unison, then I found a little unevenness in the thirds, 
so went back to the temperament.  10 minutes later I had a worse temperament, 
and for some reason had tuned all the G's from top to bottom.  I then decided 
that since I had wasted the last 20 minutes on the piano listening to a pedal 
squeak, I should take a break and fix that before continuing on with the 
tuning.  Things deteriorated from there.    

>I have flown cross
country and for 3 days after when tuning pianos my ears "felt different".
Perhaps that flight was extreme in cabin pressure.   However there are so
many tuners who fly, I am sure to be refuted >>

All of our ears are different, and  mine also feel a little "cloudy" the day 
after a flight.  Temporarily attenuated high end sensitivity.   I once saw a 
well know musician putting nose drops in as he stood in line to board the 
plane. He said it let his whole head/sinus/eustachian tubes react more easily 
to the changes.  I may try this myself.
    Anybody else have flight prep ideas?  
Regards, 
Ed Foote