His idiotic tin-can band

"Mr Petrbok, all dressed up in his band-leader's uniform, rushed out of his house and carried off toward the square. He was wearing white gloves and carrying a baton with a gold ball on the end. The idiot. This poor sap was the one who always made trouble about our permit to play and said that since jazz wasn't our national music it should be prohibited. And now he thought he would welcome the Russians with his idiotic tin-can band ..."

-Josef Skvorecky, The Cowards