I hate playing outdoors. Or at least I dislike it strongly. (“Hate” might be a bit too strong. Or maybe not.) There are a number of reasons to dislike it. But here’s one thing I’ve never had to deal with:

During the piccolo solo in “Stars and Stripes Forever” in an outdoor performance, a moth flew right into my mouth when I took a breath. I could feel it flapping around inside my mouth, but I didn’t dare stop because it was a broadcast concert. So I just bit down on it really hard – yuck, it was chalky!

I read it here.

I remember playing Midsummer Mozart outdoors when Richard Stoltzman was playing the clarinet concerto. He choked on a fly.

Fun times.