Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Tuba Skinny Set from Royal Street 4/12/13 - NINE SONGS - MORE at DIGI...
Since I first heard this band 4 years ago I have been posting their videos on this
blog. I am trying to put all I can find going back to 2009 without repeating any
of them.
You can find a large amount of tuba skinny on this blog. Just look over on the list over on the right hand side of this page. Or just search under the label tuba skinny..
I think they keep getting better and better.
At first I thought the reason they were so good was the singer. Then I realized it was the singer AND
the cornet player. Both are remarkable. Erika Lewis is the singer and Shaye Cohn is the cornet player and the leader of the band. And the rest of the band is just as good.
I am amazed they have held the band together for 4 years. Players come and go but several members stay the same.
The band has a large following not only in this country but in England and Europe and Australia.
They travel frequently to places like Italy, Mexico, Australia, and all over the eastern USA.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Lindbergh Leaves For Paris.....On This Date In 1927
Lucky Lindy took off on this date from New York bound for Paris in 1927. He made the Lindy Hop.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lindbergh
The Spirit Of St. Louis hangs in the Smithsonian Air And Space
Museum in Washington D.C.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
My Car Returns Home By Itself.....What's Going On?
You have heard of cats and dogs that are taken far away and somehow find their way back home.
Those stories may or may not be true.
But this is a true story.
Three months ago I had a car wreck and my 16 year old car was totaled. No one was injured in either car. But my car was totaled according to the insurance adjuster. It would cost more to fix the car than it was worth so I decided to take the buyout instead of what they offered for repairs.
The wrecker took the car out to Merrifield, Va. where the Honda people had moved their body shop. We went out there and took the tags off and cleaned out the car.
It was badly damaged on the front bumper and the right hand side.
I asked the man what they would do with it. He said they would repair it and sell it.
I wish I had had a camera with me since the lot full of other wrecked cars in all conditions was interesting to look at.
So I got the money the insurance company paid me for the wrecked car. It was 3 times more than I thought it would be.
I thought no more about it.
But last week I left the library across the street from out house and I saw my old car(a 1997 Honda Civic)pulling into the thrift shop parking next to where we live.
I knew it was my car because I could tell by the scratches and damage still on it. They had put a new bumper on it and that was about all.
I went over to talk to the driver. It was a little Korean lady which was interesting in and of itself since I had bought it in 1999 from a nice young Korean couple who were moving back to Korea. He had been a diplomatic foreign service student at Georgetown University. The car only had 14,500 miles on it when I bought it. I drove it until this year and it had only 89,000 miles on it when the wreck happened.
I talked with her. I think she must have bought it at the car auction in Manassas, Va.
She seemed very happy with the car. My car had come home by itself.
I told her it had only 89,000 miles on it. We both looked and she said no it is 29,000 miles. Someone had turned the 8 back to a 2.
I really liked that car but it was time to let it go.
It needed a timing belt change and wasn't getting such great gas mileage anymore.
But it was quite a shock to see my car again.
This is a metro area of over 3 million people. Who would imagine it would show up next door to our house and that I would walk across the street at the exact moment to see it?
And a week later.
I think I saw it again today driving past our house this morning.
Those stories may or may not be true.
But this is a true story.
Three months ago I had a car wreck and my 16 year old car was totaled. No one was injured in either car. But my car was totaled according to the insurance adjuster. It would cost more to fix the car than it was worth so I decided to take the buyout instead of what they offered for repairs.
The wrecker took the car out to Merrifield, Va. where the Honda people had moved their body shop. We went out there and took the tags off and cleaned out the car.
It was badly damaged on the front bumper and the right hand side.
I asked the man what they would do with it. He said they would repair it and sell it.
I wish I had had a camera with me since the lot full of other wrecked cars in all conditions was interesting to look at.
So I got the money the insurance company paid me for the wrecked car. It was 3 times more than I thought it would be.
I thought no more about it.
But last week I left the library across the street from out house and I saw my old car(a 1997 Honda Civic)pulling into the thrift shop parking next to where we live.
I knew it was my car because I could tell by the scratches and damage still on it. They had put a new bumper on it and that was about all.
I went over to talk to the driver. It was a little Korean lady which was interesting in and of itself since I had bought it in 1999 from a nice young Korean couple who were moving back to Korea. He had been a diplomatic foreign service student at Georgetown University. The car only had 14,500 miles on it when I bought it. I drove it until this year and it had only 89,000 miles on it when the wreck happened.
I talked with her. I think she must have bought it at the car auction in Manassas, Va.
She seemed very happy with the car. My car had come home by itself.
I told her it had only 89,000 miles on it. We both looked and she said no it is 29,000 miles. Someone had turned the 8 back to a 2.
I really liked that car but it was time to let it go.
It needed a timing belt change and wasn't getting such great gas mileage anymore.
But it was quite a shock to see my car again.
This is a metro area of over 3 million people. Who would imagine it would show up next door to our house and that I would walk across the street at the exact moment to see it?
And a week later.
I think I saw it again today driving past our house this morning.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Bayou Boogaloo Festival In Norfolk, Va. June 21,22,23 Tuba Skinny Plays There On Sat. June 22 At 2:15 p.m.
Click on the above link for all the information about the Bayou Boogaloo Festival in Norfolk, Va. June 21, 22, and 23. Tuba Skinny will be playing there on June 22 at 2:15 P.M. See complete music schedule in the link above.
Driving directions and parking information in the link below.
http://www.festevents.org/transportation/town-point-park-by-car/
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Friday, May 10, 2013
Tuba Skinny -"Frisco Bound" - Royal St. 4/12/13 - MORE at DIGITALALEXA ...
This band makes me miss New Orleans.
Lost Teeth In McDonald's This Morning ... The Case Of The Missing Dentures
I wasn't there but I was told a man lost his false teeth in McDonalds's this morning. His wife threw away their trash with his false teeth included.
When he asked her which of the four trash bins she threw their trash in she couldn't remember.
He got mad at her for not knowing which one of the four trash bins he should look in.
So he decided the thing to do was just take all four large black plastic trash bags home with them. So he did. Smart fellow.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Trouble In The Kitchen At The Shoreham Hotel In Washington D.C. Back In 1977
below. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
When I first went to work as a Security Officer at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington D.C. in 1977 the other Security Officer I was working with on the 3pm to 11pm shift told me to "take your time if you are called to the kitchen". We did not carry guns. Security Officers in hotels in DC didn't carry guns back then. They did in Miami and New York City but not DC. As one Security Chief told an eager young Security Officer who asked why we didnt carry guns, "Because I want you to use your brain not your gun".
I was new but I understood what the guy was telling me. The Shoreham Hotel has 4 sub basements. The kitchen is down below and as you descend each level gets to look more and more like the lower depths. Broken glass covers the floors.
So I got a call to go to the kitchen that a fight was underway. And that one of the cooks was chasing another cook with a butcher knife.
I did not run to the basement where the kitchen is located. But neither did I hestitate to go. I walked calmly down not knowing what to expect. By the time I got there the two of them were separated. A big black cook was holding a butcher knife and a small Korean chef(who was his boss) told me they were cutting vegetables and that they had argued over how the work was to be done.
The little Korean chef showed me some marks on his neck which he said were from where the big black cook had choked him and lifted him up off the floor. And that the big guy had threatened to kill him.
In cases like this it was standard procedure to tell the offending party to leave and punch out and go home.
So I told the big black cook to leave and punch out and go home and come back in the morning and talk to the head chef. He did just that. They fired him the next day and I heard no more about it.
Another short story. There was an old rabbi who came to the hotel to make sure to food was prepared kosher for kosher events. He once slipped on a banana peel in a dark underground hallway and broke his glasses when he fell. I had to write a report on that.
One of the cooks told me that once a chef was tired of the rabbi hanging around and got a skillet burning hot and put it down on the floor and told the rabbi, "Rabbi hand me that skillet". The rabbi picked it up not knowing it was hot.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
The Midnight Shift At The Shoreham Hotel In Washington D.C. Back In The Day
The hotel is like a large ocean going liner. Beautiful in first class but the guests never see the 4 sub basements below the lobby. More on that another time. It is very much like the ship in the play The Hairy Ape. First class guests never see what goes on behind the scenes.
Here is a true story of the workings of the hotel Midnight Security back in the day.
When I went to worked at The Shoreham Hotel in Washington D.C.in 1977 they had 2 military guys working the midnight shift in Security The third guy was a young man who had been drawn into the scheme simply by being assigned to that midnight shift.
Only problem was the guys had it fixed so only one of them came to work and called down to the timekeeper and had the timekeeper punch all three of them in. The next night one of the other guys would come to work and do the same thing and then the third guy would do the same thing when he worked. So the hotel was paying for 3 Security Officers but only one was working on any given night from 11pm to 7am.
I worked the 3pm to 11pm shift and noticed that only one guy showed up to relieve me and the guy I worked with. He would tell us to go on home that the other 2 guys would show up sooner or later.
Nobody ever said anything about this and it went on for over 3 years.
The boss came in at 7am but he either knew what was going on or did not care. He would only see one in the morning and that was good enough for him.
One guy was an active duty Marine. One was a retired Air Force Sgt. and the other was a young man who had another day job.
Once the midnight telephone operator lady called to Security to come over to the telephone room located under the motor inn behind the Hotel.
She said there were insects in her small room bothering her. She wanted him to bring her some bug spray.
But the midnight Security(the Marine) was upstairs asleep in a
bed in an unoccupied room and did not want to be bothered. He told her he was coming but did not bother to go. She called back 2 more times. He finally got out of bed and got some bug spray
and went over to the telephone room and sprayed bug spray all over the room and her as well. At least that is what she said when she complained to the boss the next morning. Nothing came of it.
Finally the boss got fired(because nobody could find a Security Officer on the Midnight Shift) by a new Hotel Manager and the new Hotel Manager hired a really serious hot shot Security Director who was a retired DC policeman who had worked in internal affairs on the DC Police Department.
It did not take him long to figure out what the 3 midnight guys were up to.
The new Security boss came in during the night and told me to say nothing. He hid out and observed the youngest of the 3 midnight guys punching all three of them in.
He called him into the office and fired all three of the midnight shift.
The young guy seemed to think I had fingered them or squealed on them. I had not. But he still thought I was the one that ratted them out. He said to me "Is your insurance paid up?" But nothing came of that threat.
Friday, May 3, 2013
Death Of A Timekeeper
When I worked at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington D.C. back in 1977 one of the timekeepers was
a man named Smallwood. Everyone called him "Speedy" because he was so slow.
I liked the guy. He was very friendly. He was an old retired Navy man easily past 80 years of age.
He liked to drink wine and to play the ponies. He used to brag and show me his uncashed paychecks 5 at a time. He had retirement from the Navy and Social Security and possibly other incomes.
I used to see him when I came in to work. He worked in a small little room where all the employee timecards were kept. Someone would ask for their card and he would give it to thoem and they would punch in and give it back to him and he would put it back on the rack with all the other cards.
One morning he got off work at 7am after having worked the 11pm to 7 am midnight shift. It was a bitter cold January morning. He had the hood on his jacket over his head as he went to cross 28th Street and Calvert Street in front of the hotel. He had the walk sign saying WALK and he paid no attention to the traffic and he could not see what was coming since his hood was over his head. A flower truck came flying along and ran a red light and ran over and killed Mr. Smallwood.
Click on the above picture to enlarge it. Smallwood was run over in that road in the upper
right hand corner of the picture.
Below is another view of that corner.
I made a point of going to the funeral home in Arlington, Va. where his family had gathered.
I did not know any of them and I don't think any of them lived anywhere near the D.C. area.
There were three sisters of his in the room when I went in. They all looked exactly like Smallwood. Every family has one face. You can see this at funerals where the family all look alike. They all have the same facial features.
After a few exchanges of small talk I told them I was a friend of his.
They asked me if I knew where he kept his money. They said they couldn't find it.
I said no. In fact I didnt even know where he lived. I did know that he lived somewhere in the Adams Morgan section of D.C. Smallwood was a very secretive man. He was a loner and liked it that way.
I felt sad for Speedy. Run over and killed by a flower truck.
a man named Smallwood. Everyone called him "Speedy" because he was so slow.
I liked the guy. He was very friendly. He was an old retired Navy man easily past 80 years of age.
He liked to drink wine and to play the ponies. He used to brag and show me his uncashed paychecks 5 at a time. He had retirement from the Navy and Social Security and possibly other incomes.
I used to see him when I came in to work. He worked in a small little room where all the employee timecards were kept. Someone would ask for their card and he would give it to thoem and they would punch in and give it back to him and he would put it back on the rack with all the other cards.
One morning he got off work at 7am after having worked the 11pm to 7 am midnight shift. It was a bitter cold January morning. He had the hood on his jacket over his head as he went to cross 28th Street and Calvert Street in front of the hotel. He had the walk sign saying WALK and he paid no attention to the traffic and he could not see what was coming since his hood was over his head. A flower truck came flying along and ran a red light and ran over and killed Mr. Smallwood.
right hand corner of the picture.
Below is another view of that corner.
I made a point of going to the funeral home in Arlington, Va. where his family had gathered.
I did not know any of them and I don't think any of them lived anywhere near the D.C. area.
There were three sisters of his in the room when I went in. They all looked exactly like Smallwood. Every family has one face. You can see this at funerals where the family all look alike. They all have the same facial features.
After a few exchanges of small talk I told them I was a friend of his.
They asked me if I knew where he kept his money. They said they couldn't find it.
I said no. In fact I didnt even know where he lived. I did know that he lived somewhere in the Adams Morgan section of D.C. Smallwood was a very secretive man. He was a loner and liked it that way.
I felt sad for Speedy. Run over and killed by a flower truck.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Tuba Skinny -"You Can't Ride This Train" -Royal St. 4/12/13 - MORE at...
Wow! Tuba Skinny playing in front of 823 Royal Street. That was the first apartment that I rented in New Orleans with Jack Newell back in Jan. 1965. We had the slave quarters apartment in the back patio of 823 Royal Street.
George Jones "Small Time Laboring Man"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwjhNjGnEhU
I read in a biography of George Jones that Bob Dylan said he likes this song.
I read in a biography of George Jones that Bob Dylan said he likes this song.
Armed robbery 1900 block of Burgundy 4/27/13 5:05AM New Orleans
This shows clearly just how dangerous New Orleans is after dark. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Or rather the top of the cypress knee in the swamp.
Below is a link to the full story and a larger still picture and a larger version of the same video.
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/04/man_takes_shotgun_from_would-b.html
And below is a link to a follow up story of how the would be robber has turned himself in to the police. He will also be charged with 3 different armed robberies in that same neighborhood.
http://www.wdsu.com/news/local-news/new-orleans/sources-teen-in-marigny-shotgun-attempted-robbery-turns-self-in-to-police/-/9853400/19974694/-/6wxeikz/-/index.html?absolute=true
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
CARMEN and some Carmens... Thanks To Per Thomas From Denmark
That is Per's trumpet and those are his paintings. His modern jazz music is certainly as welcome as the first day of May this year. I thought tuba skinny had me locked in traditional jazz from New Orleans and here comes Per Thomas drawing me back to modern jazz. Thanks Per. Swing on.