JSngry

The older I live, the more I realize just what a hero this guy has turned out to be for me: Frank Setzler - HS math teacher fall of 1970-spring of 1974, for all math classes save Trig, and coach of the Number Sense club, a thing where you learned to perform complex calculations mentally by knowing various formulas, shortcuts, properties, etc. The guy also gave slide rule tutorials. I was fairly good at number sense, went to some competitions, did ok, and took slide rule, which was fun but useless, since affordable portable calculators were just beginning to come on the scene. But - good background, and a reinforcement of the concept of numbers as tactile "objects" that had real value, not some random squiggly lines that could be used interchangeably. Same with number sense, it was all about finding connections, exploiting commonalities, factoring in anomalies, and always, always, using knowledge to provision a sane & sensible (aka ACCURATE) conclusion. At the end that "=" was either true or not. Some things were open for interpretation. Equations were not. It all sounds dry and boring, but Frank was anything but. He loved this stuff, you could see his excitement as he's put some bizarreass equation up on the blackboard that left you befuddled as hell, and then he'd say something like, "start with what you know you can do, then see if that leads you to something else you know you can do. If it doesn't, you've either done something wrong, or you need to learn something new. Either way, keep going, keep trying, and don't keep making the same mistake over and over. The answer is there." And then, when we hit a wall (and we always would), he'd not just tell us what to do, he'd pose a series of questions based on what we were looking at realtive to what we were looking for, all of them designed to get that light bulb to go off, that a-HA moment where you saw something that was there all along, you just weren't looking at it. The answer WAS there, you didn't have to invent it, you just had to know how to look for it. And when you finally found it, he'd laugh out loud, not at how dumb you had been, but at the joy of seeing a discovery being made. One of the best summer experiences I had was when the school bought one of the early video cassette recorders,one of those things that was the size of a large suitcase and used tales the size of an oversized Russian novel. Frank decided that it would be cool to tape a bunch of math tutorials on things ranging from the more basic to the more advanced. He needed a cameraman, so he got me and Don Mullins to come up to the school (which had yet to be air-conditioned) for a few hours a day for a few weeks in early June, and we'd just record this guy doing his classroom routines w/no interruptions from the students. The more he did it, the more he'd stretch, and start going off into alternate ways to approach the equations, different ways to the same end, and pointing out things you think would work but don't (and why), etc. It was like watching a man enjoyably lose himself in the world of numbers, connections, possibilities, dead-ends, ways out and around of dead ends, all the stuff that math provides you with. And when he'd make a mistake, he'd go back one step at a time to figure out not just what his mistake was, but WHY he made it - and that would trigger a talk about how you need to make sure you that what you think you're seeing is actually what is there, and all that. This guy got into a ZONE. Don and I were in awe, even if the whole thing seemed a bit odd...you know, it's just numbers...this guy's getting REALLY happy about numbers... Of course, it wasn't too much longer that I began to get into music on a serious level, and as time went by, it became apparent that Frank Setzler's joy of finding relationships between values, at being able to take them apart and put them back together, to change one form of The Same into a totally different form of The Same, all this stuff had a direct bearing on what I was getting into with music, jazz in particular. And I never forgot - never forgot - the laugh that spontaneously arose when somebody, anybody, hit on something that worked and set up the opportunity to keep going, because, you know, the answer is there. The only picture I can find online of Frank Setzler is this one, from the 1958 Gladewater HS yearbook.Third row down, first picture on the left. I hope the image is visible to all. He was a young guy then, but if you look closely, you can see the sly, secret smile of somebody who's probably working with numbers in his head while his picture's getting taken. Working with numbers and everything's clicking, and oh MY how good it is to be alive. You go ahead on, Mr. Setzler, you go ahead ON!

Joanne Worley Chuck Woolery Little Bo Peep

Formal apology for not participating. I jsut couldn't focus on getting it done. Nothing against the music (which I've played a few times), just could not focus on sitting down and writing something other than YEAH!!! or nah, or errrr... Didn't want to do it like that, and now the time has passed. Work, personal stuff, and more stuff like that have just knocked me off the track (whatever that means). Sorry Tony. If I'd have known that my weeks were going to be like they were, I'd not have signed up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eBrb00pdGw

Not under Bobo's name completely, but as co-leader, yes: And if that cover gives the purists the shivers don't ask about this one... That was how I first got that album, because that's what was in the stores at the time. And yet, we all survived!

Ok, the trek begins here: There's some really, really bad vocals on here, even by casual-but-sincere standards, but they've all got some really, really fine Don Sebesky at his most One Step Beyon Nelson Riddle-ish best, so I'll count one of them, "The Look Of Love" (a song that can get by with some bad vocals both because of the relative sparseness of the melody & because so many not-so-good singers don't get those wider intervals right anyway that I've gotten more or less conditioned to hearing it wrong as often as I do right). Add 4:16 to the Finest Hour, if only on Category 2 charm. Also present is "Lisa", a true Category 3 tune that could almost-easily be found on a late 1960's Lee Morgan album. 6:12 more. There's also a tenor player on here named Kenny Rogers who shows a very strong Mobley influence on a solo or two. Any chance that this is the Same Kenny Rogers who recorded with Hank on alto back in 1956? Hmmm.... As for the out-of-tune guitar, well, yeah, sometimes, not that often, though, not for me. More often than not, it puts me in Mind of Gabor Szabo's sound (and pitch) of the same era, not always A-400 perfect, but in tune within itself and the rest of the music. I'm ok with that. Anyway... We're up to Willie Bobo's Finest Hour and 10:28 after adding just one used CD. Perhaps not coincidentally, 21:57 of this CD was already a part of the original Finest Hour. Just need 19:32 more to make the Finest Ninety Minute mark. Oh, btw - Freddie Waits & Chuck Rainey here, plus Victor Pantoja, Osvaldo Martinez, & John Rodriguez, Jr. (the same guy from Tipica 73?) on percussion. So...no bullshit in that stratum, none whatsoever..

Gandy Fitch Candy Finch Randy Filch https://www.facebook.com/randy.filch

Ok, let's pretend that there were Frankenstein Olympics and the first even was the 100 yard (sic) dash (sic). Now let's pretend that all the Frankensteins were in their set position, the gun is sounded, and OFF THEY GO. Oh, the lunging! Oh, the stumbling-yet-not-quite-falling-down of all the Frankensteins as they tried to stay in the pocket necessary for a good run while at the same time feeling their overwhelmingly natural urges to get all Frankensteiny about the act of sprinting. Oh, the gutteral grunting as the lactic acid challenges their will! And just for fun, imagine asking yourself why this is all happening, and who thought it would be a good idea to put money into it, and, especially, why is it being recorded for posterity. Now, imagine a band with a three horn front line of trombone, bass trumpet, and (mostly) bari sax whose collective time feel sounds like all that sounds.Especially on solos. Well, guess what? You don't have to imagine! You'll come for getting both records for a combined $1.50, but you'll stay for the rhythmic spectacle that is The Frankenstein Olympics. But not for long.

Bony Moronie Boney James The Dog (who, with a knick-knack paddy-wack, is given a bone)

Juanita Fifer Maureen Fifer Fifer

Not a weak link in that chain!

Matt Foley Tom Foley Foley

Chocolate Bunny (with the ears bit off) Mike Tyson Vincent Van Gough

December Bride Miss December Miss Thing

Is there anybody here who was playing in a club band at the time who didn't play "Some Skunk Funk" and/or "Sneakin' Up Behind You"?

Killer Joe Visitors to Killerton Residents of Killington, Vermont ("moved to" or otherwise)

A Stranger (on the shore) Strangers (in the night) Billy Strange

Eva Marie Saint Eva Longoria Eva Mendes

ROCK CITY ROCK!!!!!

The High Jump -

Bill Lee!?!?!?!

Jan Smithers Tom Smothers Jerome Smucker

Wally Cox Archibald Cox Nate Archibald