JSngry

That would have shrunk his audience even further!

I recommend envisioning yourself as JJ Johnson's non-existent audience. That should create a nice quiet void of emptiness into which your slumber can find a home for how ever long it needs one.

Couple of things about that... First, Texas DQs are a world unto themselves. They have a special arrangement with the national DQ organization to operate as they do with all their signature food items, like the Beltbuster, Hungerbuster, etc. Steak AND Chicken fingers, and gravy, don't leave without having had gravy, if only for your fries. That's because of the unique place that DQ has in Texas small town history. Pretty much any town with any real population had one, and it was a real social center, as there was no place else to go. So Friday nights (before and after the game, never during), Saturdays, Sundays after church, DQ was where you went to hang out, meet with family & friends, cruise for chicks on school nights, that was where you did it, at the Dairy Queen. I sure did! As DQ became more positioned as a frozen treats operation nationally, there was a basic conflict between where they were going and what was already entrenched in Texas. I remember about 25 or so years ago, there was a bit of a dustup about the national org wanting to step in and get Texas DQs in line, but there was pupblic upcry and that idea never really gained traction. As more, other, franchises have moved into more small(er) towns, that monopoly has lost some of its grip. But not all, hardly. Texas DQs still have that aura, and the smaller the town, the more it remains. They're still very local, community-centered. Now, as for the Blizzard. I was around when it was introduced, and I think the hook had something to do with, like a real blizzard, this thing was so hardcore that you couldn't move in it, everything was stuck right where it was. Something like that. The flip was meant as a physical demonstration of DAMN, this thing is so thick and cold that IT DEFIES GRAVITY! It started out as a shtick and became a tradition. My favorite flippers tend to be high school girls, they're just so INTO the show of it, with that type of naive enthusiasm that only high school girls who really believe in the omnipotent healing power of happiness, cheerleaders, majorettes, SPIRIT for crying out loud! Those type of servers will give you some since personal choreography, there will be a whole range of body motions in a very compact timeframe, a smile, and a handing off of the Blizzard to your own hands that will just warm and break your heart in equal measure, because, you know, Caroline, No, where did your long hair go, all that near-inevitability not yet on the horizon for them, not yet, and yeah, that's why I still enjoy going for the Blizzards, because of that, of Keeping Hope Alive for as long as it it there to be kept alive.

Yeah, the whole disconnect between not wanting to do anything than just stand there and play and then getting upset about strangers not wanting to just stand there and watch somebody who is just standing there and playing...I dunno, that's a lot of just standing there, I think there's a fear of exercise driving that. And you know, if a cat is really delivering some deep, spellbinding shit, they WILL sit there and watch it. But otherwise, existing as an active part of some broader social fabric/group/whatever is a prerequisite for ANYBODY giving a shit about you besides yourself. Hell, even the outsiders try to belong to each other, at least the ones who anybody knows about do. Even the EXTREME outsiders, the ones who hate everybody, if you've heard of them, it's probably because they found a group of people who don't hate them in return, and BOOM, social fabric established. Now, you get to talking about "popular music", there are a LOT of social fabrics there, and if you can't either wear or appreciate one, some, or all of those fabrics, you will not know what the fuck you are talking about unless it is to say anything other than "I don't get it". End of sentence, end of story. Personal Honor kept intact.

Wow, you grew up in an ice cream shop family...I am SO envious...ice cream remains one weakness against which for me resistance is futile. There's a St. Louis outfit, Ted Drewes, that has been doing frozen custard since 1929. They are amazing, and yes, in summer, lines can wind around several blocks. Somebody should do a coffee table book about the Blizzards of Texas, you know, the way the servers flip them upside down for you once they're completed. Nobody does it the same way, how could they, there is a definite aura of personal presentation with so many of them, it's part of the culture, especially when you get high school kids doing it A book of all the different looks and styles of the upside down Blizzard might make for a more interesting photo collection than might be expected. No two people do it alike! That's a big part of why I still get the Blizzard, just to see how the server's gonna flip it. It's a wonderful subsubsubset of Texas sociology.

Quite apart from anything musical, I am disturbingly amused by notions that music aimed at any kind of popular visibility is based on a false value system or whatever it is, and then many of those same notion-holders bemoaning the "fact" that "jazz" has no public visibility. What, is it supposed to just be there and knock everybody out against all odds just because of how well it is played? Is this something that need not be aimed because it goes everywhere and hits all targets? Is there ANY basis for thinking that this is a reality-based expectation? Relationships must be cultivated. Flirting works. Seduction works. Random gifts and treats work. Occasional silliness works. There's a reason why they're a basic part of human behavior. Why a behavior that is antagonistic towards proven successful human behavior should expect the same or better results that a behavior which does is beyond me. Popular music is popular for a reason, and if that reason has little or nothing to do with actual music, it stands to reason that evaluating these musics on a predication of that popularity defining the actual ideas and executions of the music is a misguided evaluation, clothes make the man, clothes are not the man, there is a difference.

Ok, frozrn custard, my favorite! Did they have dispensers on the truks, or were the cones pre-made? Always went to Dairy Queen for my FI fix until a few years ago, when some outfit called Rita's moved in just around the corner. Still gotta hit the DR for the Blizzards though!

Jimmy Heath?

Wow...just realized that I've never lived anywhere that had Mr. Softee. All kinds of popsicle/ice cream trucks that played songs over speaker(s) but never those guys. What kind of product was it? Cones, frozen custard, what?

Sebastian Cabot Julius Watkins Lena Horne

What's up with the mattresses? Seems like a mixed message...or maybe not?

I think I'm out of shit by now! Gotta say, though, perhaps I'm not hearing the full sound of the player. My personal PC is really buggy right now so I'm leaving it off. Work computer does not allow access to the site, so all I've been listening on is phone. and not Scott Hamilton? or Eric Alexander? or George Coleman? or Tennerbaum Lacmocarus? or Tommy Newsome?

hmmmm....Buddy Terry?

What about that spookyroaring livebootleg (first on Joker, iirc) version by Ornette with a quartet of Izenzon AND Haden? Is that still around with any convenience? And yeah, Jeff, play on!

Was it recorded at Bubba's? But that would mean Eddie Higgins, and he's hardly unknown, so no. Ok, I'm really begging here, call me Tyrone Davis, but in what city was it recorded? Not that that will help, if I was going to get it, I think I'd have gotten it by now...

My daughter was in JROTC, mostly loved it, and shot firearms as a part of it. She loved that too, it reminded her of video games. She's now in California waiting to vote for Bernie, and hasn't handled a gun since. But she still talks about how much fun she had. Not sure if an indoor shooting range is the best use of taxpayer(?) money, but JROTC gotta shoots them guns somewhere. As you know, I've spent time in rural WV, and it seems like the two givens for kids up there are guns and fucking. Your school's hunter's ed course makes sense, the probable lack of a sex ed class, not so much. (who is that guy supposed to be anyway?) Learn safe shooting, no matter from whence or from whom the shooting issueth.

Ok, the file seems to no longer be up, but #7 = John Wright? #3 has me more stumped now than ever...you said it was a band of unknowns to you, other than the bassist, correct? And that the saxophonist is a major name? And now, that this was a presumably handpicked band? Uncle! However, after repeated listenings, the only player who remains irksome is the drummer, and only then if it is not Frankie Dunlop.

Keeper Of The Flame Al Kooper Elle Kemper

She's going to the Miles film. Perhaps you and Mrs. Paul Secor would like to join us for a double date? I think we're going to eat afterwards.

Going solo to this one on Saturday, Mrs. JSngry has requested a reprieve from any and all things vocal. I made my case, believe me, but she was adamant. She has agreed to go see Miles Ahead with me the day after and she does not like Miles either (based on the one time we saw him live, she did not at all care for his stage presence, I still laugh at her about that (but to myself, ok?)), so...negotiating slices is in order right now. I can do that, especially since she's been pretty brave about a lot of other things. https://www.mydso.com/buy/tickets/carmina-burana Nicholas Carter conducts Kathryn Lewek soprano Nicholas Phan tenor Noel Bouley baritone Dallas Symphony Chorus: Joshua Habermann director Children's Chorus of Greater Dallas: Cynthia Nott director HIGDON blue cathedral BRAHMS Song of Destiny ORFF Carmina Burana I'm gonna have fun AND have an empty seat to one side of me!

Izaak Walton Juan Ambrosio Angler George Creel

Ok, my Google skills failed me Turns out there is a showing here in Plano. Plan on going Sunday.

Are you UK guys getting this in mainstream theatre's or in art houses? The only one place here that has it is an almost ddowntown art jouse, even though we have suburban, multi-screen art houses. It's pretty damn hard to just pop out of the house and catch a screenig, if you know what I mean. Come to think of it though, Cheadle's Petey Green movie had a limited distribution. But Petey Green is a significantly less known name than is Miles Davis, so...Part of me gets limited release to see if it builds, but another part of me wonders why I can't even see it in an African-American neighborhood's multiplex. ONE venue in a major metropolitan area. No matter. If Don Cheadle seems a little seethy sometimes, that's ok.

Let the frying begin!

Prince was a rock guy, eh? Well, no wonder! Just curious, who/what is your Funk Of Choice? Tell you what, though, there is no worship here. Plenty of crap in the mix (yeah LoveSexy, I'm looking at you). The admiration, and even love, here is for the deep skills sets (and I kinda love the whole " I never really paid attention to him and he didn't really do anything special" thing, yeah, not paying attention is always the best way to know...) and the uncompromising dedication to self-determinaion in a game built on destroying it. That and some damn good records, lots of them. Not unlike Brotzmann, really, except that Prince was from Minnesota, you know, the whole "geography is destiny" thing. You wanna blame somebody, blame geography.