Happy Birthday

Today, I'm trying not to feel ridiculously old. My daughter has reached the age of 30. It really does not seem possible that 30 years ago, on a Sunday, she arrived. Thirty years is a long time, but, in a way, not long enough.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, I have been sending, since the end of October, one birthday card a day. She should have received 30 of them; some silly, some dumb, some sentimental, but all sent with lots of love. That was the nefarious thing I was up to when I posted, earlier, the photo of the cards with stickers attached. I've done this to several other people. It can get expensive when they get up around my age, but I guarantee, years later, the recipient is still talking about it and probably still has all the cards.

She gives me a list every year and I buy things off the list but I also am always on the lookout for things I think she might like. Sometimes, I'm way off, but other times it turns out to be something she didn't know was out there. One of the items I sent this year falls into that category.

We both love Fred and Ginger movies. When I think of movie musicals, their movies always pop up first. They were always upbeat. In spite of contrived reasons why they couldn't be together or why they break up, they always got back together at the end, usually also in a very unrealistic fashion. I always wanted a replica of one of Ginger's dresses; total froth and I'd have no place to wear it, but look! Feathers! Tulle! Organza!

And the dancing. Oh the dancing. This book, which I wound up reading after I got it, talks about the dancing and the movies that made up their partnership in the 1930's. The author took each movie they made, pulled them apart, put them in categories by story line and then discusses how the dancing was used to further the plot or, in some cases, to distract you from a really silly plot. As an example, she discusses their early movie, Roberta, which was supposed to be a showcase for Randolph Scott and Irene Dunne. But those performers parts pale in comparison with what Fred and Ginger do.

If you like their movies, this book is an excellent companion to them. It's not very big and is well organized so if your night includes Swing Time or Follow the Fleet, you can flip easily to the section about those movies and watch how the dancing enhances the movie.

The other thing I did was burned all of the photos and folders we got from our Civil War Battlefield trip back in 2001 onto a DvD.

She's always been a student of history and this trip was kind of a culmination of that. I have the originals, but she now has everything to review and remember.

Here's to my marvelous daughter. Happy birthday.

Beverage:  Coca-Cola

Deb

Monochromatic Suburban Music

In shopping yesterday, I wanted to get a couple of jazz albums. They have had airplay on WDCB 90.9 FM. Granted, WDCB is a public station and is located in a suburban Chicago junior college campus, but the albums in question should have a wider fan base as they are current. It's not like I'm looking to replace my Fred Astaire cassette tape, although that would be a nice idea, replace all my jazz cassettes with CDs of the same album.

Does anyone even say "album" anymore or does that seriously date me?

Anyway, the mall where I was at only had one store selling any kind of music, f.y.e. I walked in and could not find the jazz CD's. They were way in the back corner. There were only two sections for jazz. It could be worse. I could prefer blues. There was only one section for that.

I was looking for Eliane Elias' Bossa Nova Stories and Patti Austin's For Ella. How hard can this be?

Well, maybe I should have looked to replace a couple of my Ella Fitzgerald tapes because everything they had would be considered either smooth jazz (gag) or born before 1935. The clerks were busy with customers so I was able to sneak out. I didn't want them to offer to order something because I don't want to have to drive all the way up to Woodfield Mall to get music.

The Pop/Rock section was huge. It was such a disappointment not to have any selection to even browse. I might wander over to the Border's here in Wheaton as they tend to have a larger selection of jazz versus Pop/Rock.

I remembered a store at Oakbrook Mall. It was nothing but jazz and classical music, about 2/3rds jazz and 1/3rd classical. At Christmas, I would take a note pad and write down my top 10 wants. There were always people in the store, but it closed after about 3 years. There was another one tucked away in a corner that was heavy into jazz but they lasted only 18 months.

It just seems the music offering in the suburbs is strictly what's featured on the top 40 radio stations. Shortly after Carole and I heard Old Blind Dogs on a public radio station in Iowa, we were able to go to Tower Records and buy their CD's The World's Room and Fit?. We ordered the rest of their available CD's through Amazon.uk. Now, I order them off the band's web site. But, if I were looking for something I heard on "Blarney on the Air" on WDBC on Monday nights, I'd be really hard pressed to find it through traditional outlets. There's a celtic music store in Villa Park, which is a 15 minute drive east, assuming I can remember where they are when I get there.

Maybe it's just my age and my curmudgeonlyness. I think it does a disservice to people when they aren't exposed to a wide variety of music. I was extremely lucky in having a father who loved early Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby and the like. My mother has this wonderful collection of 78's with jazz music from the late 1950's. These are songs you don't hear, not even on WDBC which play all jazz (except 'smooth', whatever that is) so has millions of songs available from the early days of jazz through today, as witnessed by the two CD's I linked above. Jazz is still very alive with performers recreating the standards and writing new and interesting material. Having this available to the consumer expands the fan base.

There's a reason Eliane Elias and Diana Krall pose seductively on the covers of their CD's. They know people will pick it up based on the cover alone.

The urge to possess these CDs has passed. I thought I would reward myself with some music and that was not to be. I did get something else not of the chocolate persuasion. I have Halloween M&M's with peanuts on top of the fridge so my chocolate needs are satisfied for now.

Maybe at the end of the month, I'll check on music. It's not like I don't have any music. If I played everything stored on my mac, it would take, currently, 5 and a half days to get through and I haven't uploaded ALL my jazz CDs to the Mac. Carole has more than me, I believe.

Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to do some writing to the dulcet tones of Artie Shaw's Greatest Hits.

Beverage: Huckleberry tea

Deb