Category: This ‘n’ That

Fans make all sorts of requests of performers — from the simple “please send me an autographed picture” to the absurd, such as “Can you come to my husband’s surprise party and sing happy birthday?” Once in a while, however, a request touches me for one reason or another, and I try to make it happen. I’m not talking about the tear-jerker last-wish type of requests, just a simple request like the one I got recently from a man asking if Nancy Wilson would send a letter of retirement congratulations to his buddy who has been a lifelong fan. The man making the request said “It would be one of those special things in life that makes it all worthwhile,” and while he, too, was also a lifelong fan, he asked for nothing for himself. In fact, he added, “If this cannot be done, I will understand and we will still be loyal fans.”

I don’t know why, but I decided to call the guy and find out more about him and his friend. Long story short, the guy about to retire first saw Nancy at a New York club called The Blue Morocco — it was truly at the very beginning of her career. Years later, that same man got in line with a whole bunch of women at a shopping mall in Atlanta where Nancy was promoting a line of cosmetics. He really wanted that autograph, and he got it. I took note of a few more details and called Nancy. She sent the letter, along with two copies of Men Women and Girl Singers (one for the retiree and the other for the buddy who made the request).

I wish I could have been there to see their faces and hear the reaction, but I did get an email from the buddy making the request. He wrote:

I must tell you that the last few days have been one of those rare moments where I can say that life has a funny way of bringing a person back into the fold. The meaning of that takes me back to Music and Art High where I started playing Trombone and writing seriously. From there I played in various Army Bands and with various backup bands for great legends. This went on for 25+ years. I just jam with a few friends and sit in now and then.

Reading all about your husband and how he has been associated with all my favorites (especially the ones who used to play on the CTI label), has sparked a new musical interest. I do remember some things about him from Downbeat magazine and he definitely deserves the award coming up in January. John is just a legend himself!…I am just in awe to be in touch with such royalty!

I sincerely want to thank you again for your kindness and for being down to earth which are rare qualities these days. “You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them” — M. Forbes

I had never before read or heard that quote attributed to Malcolm Forbes, but you never know what impact your actions might have. For me, these are the moments that make it all worthwhile.

Addendum: After writing the above, I received an email from the retiree himself. He said, in part:

There were probably 100 guests at my retirement luncheon with various roast jokes and friendship testimonials … all wonderful. But you can only imagine how overwhelmed I was when [my friend] presented me with a letter from my absolutely most favorite performer Nancy Wilson. I was so surprised it took me a minute or two to come around. Then I was elated … This truly touched my heart … I will treasure these gifts always. Thank you for making me feel so honored and making my retirement celebration so special!

Cliched though it may be, it’s the little things that can make the biggest difference in someone else’s life. Who have you made happy today?

I awoke this morning from a dream about death (guess that’s what I get for falling aleep to the soothing strains of Law & Order: Criminal Intent). When I opened my planner on the computer and saw more than two dozen tasks to be accomplished today (some just short phone calls and errands, others that involve more time and thought…and writing…plus an interview), not to mention first posting something on my blog, did I jump to it? Nope. It was too early to be coherent on the phone and I didn’t have a plan on what to write, so I started reading emails instead. One email was a warning forwarded by someone I know well, and that person received it from someone else I know slightly who added an endorsement with a link to the verifying source.

At the top of the source page it says

Claim: A man was electrocuted when he answered his cell phone while it was recharging.
Status: True.

followed by the text of the email message, closely matching the one in my inbox. Well our friend must have stopped reading there. The site, Urban Legends Reference Pages, run by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson, goes on to explain that the circulating email

appears to be a retelling of an 11 August 2004 news story out of Chavara, India. According to articles by the Press Trust of India (a news agency) and the New Indian Express (a newspaper), K. Boom! Viswajith was electrocuted when he answered his cell phone while it was plugged in for recharging…However, given that no other accounts of similar accidents have surfaced in the press, it is reasonable to conclude the problem was specific to Viswajith’s phone. One sole occurrence points to a manufacturing defect in a particular unit, not to all mobile phones being capable of dealing death blows while recharging.

And suggests

Manufacturing standards vary from country to country, so it should not be assumed all cell phones are built to the same specifications no matter where they come from, or that the quality of workmanship is consistent across the board….

There have been a number of exploding battery stories reported, but Urban Legends concludes

in each and every exploding phone case it investigated, the battery in question proved not to be original to the unit and not to have included industry-standard safety measures. It also found the vast majority of short circuits that led to these explosions were caused by the units’ having undergone traumatic events (such as being dropped) which jeopardized the integrity of poorly-manufactured batteries.

Go here to read the whole entry on Urban Lengends, or here to see a similar explanation given at Hoax Slayer.

And the moral to this story? Caveat Lector, to be sure. But also, if you are prone to helping your friends by forwarding warning messages, please add one or more of the hoax and urban legend websites to your browser bookmarks so you can check them out before you flood the ethernet with more garbage.

Last night we stayed here. Look quaint, doesn’t it? It’s billed as a “first-class resort located halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.” They say that their “Imaginitive interior design and architecture” make them “unique.” Each one of their 108 rooms is “uniquely decorated with a special theme and color scheme, no two alike!”

Our room was the Mountain Cabin, “a hand-painted mural depicting an Early American scene.” They’ve rearranged the furniture since this photo, now the desk is on the left and the couch is under the window, facing the foot of the bed. The boulders that run along the lower portion of the mural are not painted, they’re real. The room is comfortable, but I have to close my eyes when I go into the bathroom. The window has four colored panes of glass, two Christmas green, two deep sky blue. The lower portion of the walls are painted bright lime green, and above is covered with a clashing gold/olive patina-like wall paper. The sink/counter is faux salmon-colored marble and the toilet and shower tiles are tourquise. What have I left out? Oh, the floor has brown and white quasi fleur-de-lis patterned tiles.

One travel site called it “a garish, but good natured, theme-driven inn.” I call it a tourist attraption and an esthetic assault.

Today, Ms. Yarns&Yarns posted The world is two blocks big, her report of our chance encounter that I mentioned here. I’ve added YarnsandYarns to my list of blogs (see Links box on left).

I also added Carl Abernathy’s Cahl’s Juke Joint: A rock, blues and jazz blog. In his personal profile he includes John McPhee and Tracy Kidder among his favorite writers; they are non-fiction gods in my world, and two of my favorites as well.

With the weekend just a few hours away, I feel the need to lighten up a bit. A meme might be fun. Lynn over at Reflections in d minor said she’d like to see a lot of people do the Heinlein human being or insect meme dreamt up by Eric.
(She was tagged by John L of Texas Best Grok.) Glad to oblige.

Instructions: Of the items listed in the following quote from Robert Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love” identify all those that you have done.

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

change a diaper – limited experience as I do not have children, but I did spend a summer working as a mother’s helper; I was in my teens and that was before pampers and pull-ups!

plan an invasion

butcher a hog

conn a ship – yes, if sailboats and rowboats are ships

design a building – yes, if building a city out of blocks counts – we even ran electricity – I was 7

write a sonnet – albeit unpublishable

balance accounts – I’ll assume that we’re talking about financial accounts, and I do balance those, but I also must balance the accounts as in stories I am told when doing research…two people see the same thing and tell very different tales

build a wall – both figurative and literal

set a bone

comfort the dying – many times

take orders – yes, but I’m not very good at it

give orders – too often, in the minds of some

cooperate – can do

act alone – usually

solve equations – I was good at algebra; geometry was another story

analyze a new problem – incessantly

pitch manure – cows and horses, lots of times, lots of places

program a computer – PCs and mainframes; I was a geek in the 1970s

cook a tasty meal – friends will vouch for me

fight efficiently – I don’t like to fight, but I’m nothing if not efficient

die gallantly

Of the four things I’ve never done, you can be sure that butchering a hog is something I will never ever do, setting a bone could happen, planning an invasion is not something I would put past me, and as for a gallant death only time will tell.

Because I was not “officially” tagged, I’ll not tag you, but feel free to take it on.

Rifftides has already posted a note about The Chicago Jazz Archive’s list of New Orleans musicians found safe. To that I add two more online musician information lists:

WWOZ radio’s List of New Orleans Musicians Who Survived the Hurricane — you can communicate with the station via email at wwoz@wwoz.org or by leaving messages on their message board

and

JazzAscona’s News About Our Musician Friends — If you have information to contribute, end an email to info@jazzascona.ch

The Jazz Educators’ website has information about how to help musicians and music teachers. Go here and click on Hurricane Relief Zone. That takes you to the Hurricane Assistance and Relief Efforts page where, after brief paragraphs about How To Help and How To Ask For Help, you’ll see a green Enter Community button; click on it and and then click on Guest (no registration required) to read the postings in the Conference area under Hurricane Assistance. (If you want to post a message yourself, you will need to register.)

Among the messages I saw there, which included individuals offering support and refuge, and a statement from Recording Academy President Neil Portnow about NARAS/Music Cares Hurricane Relief, was this posting from Jazz Foundation of America:

We will be addressing the longer term needs of these jazz and blues artists who will have just lost everything.

We will be raising funds and distributing money for the musicians to get a new apartment or room for rent: by giving a first month’s rent, possibly more, for them to start over, a place to live. (This is what we normally do on a daily basis for musicians across the country who become sick and can’t pay their rent, we also keep food on the table and get employment to hundreds of elderly musicians through our Jazz in the Schools program. Our operations normally assist 35 musicians a week.)

As well, we will be attempting to help New Orleans musicians by replacing the thing that matters most and the only way they can ever work again: their instruments.
To those who lost their instruments, like drummers and bassists who could not carry their heavy equipment, and guitarist with their amps, we will be making an effort to work with manufacturers and music stores to replace those instruments for as many as we possibly can.

Remember, New Orleans was only “New Orleans” because of the musicians…

Send donations to:

Jazz Foundation of America
322 West 48th Street 6th floor
NYC 10036

Director: Wendy Oxenhorn
Phone: 212-245-3999 Ext. 21

email contact: Joyce@jazzfoundation.org

website: www.jazzfoundation.org

To make an online CREDIT CARD DONATION OR PLEDGE:
go here and click bottom right corner of page where it says “instant pledge”

Thank you, from our hearts.