
Category Archives: Music
Ring of Fire

Dinner and a show last night, but first Gyro. Amber Alert! Amber had some gossip, just days before the streets and parking lot outside the studio were the scene of a shootout and highspeed chase as two cars circled each other guns a blazing. Apparently, no one was hit and all that was left was a massed cop car callout. Her news and the workout she put us through were enough to lead us to dueling couch naps in the afternoon. We awoke in time for dinner and the show.
Anne had the cioppino, a seafood medley and I had the walleye. The theater was a madhouse. Two productions were being performed. There was the hot new show that is all sold out now and ours, Johnny Cash, Ring of Fire. Ring featured almost thirty of his songs strung together with the story of his life. The tunes were good. Afterwards, the cold front had arrived, driving the days record high temperatures down, down, down. Summer is over and winter is back.
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

This morning, as I began working on today’s post, I started by first pawing through my extensive media archive, eighteen years’ worth. Below, I quickly found the lyrics from the old negro spiritual, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, inscribed upon a plank of rough-cut wood. It is from the STL Jazz Museum. That discovery and today beginning Black History month was all that it took.

The Slammer painting pictured below, has always been one of my favorites and it is usually on display. I added the King Tut chariot picture, not that it is strictly biblical, but because it is a more arresting image than faded lyrics. And of course, the Soundcloud rendition of the song, to get this month swinging.

Ra-Ta-Tum-Tum-Tum

There is a game that I play at this time of year called the Little Dummer Boy Challenge. The object of this game is to not hear the Christmas song by the same name, between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am honor bound to tell you that this year I lost. Over the last few seasons, I have been doing pretty well, but this year I failed hard. It is a stupid game. The song is really not that bad. True the little drummer boy is a mythical character inserted into a religious story of great significance, but so what. Anyway, there is always next year. I’ll just have to husband what hipster mojo that I can muster until then.
Panamanian Dancer
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Heritage Month at the Slammer

Zooming Reggie Sisters, about all things cabin related—Lunch at Barrio, with a mountain of onion rings. The DeMun neighborhood is now a historic district—Walked through the desolation that is Kennedy Forest. So many downed trees, still waiting to be cleaned up after the tornado—The Slammer is in transition this week. Summer shows have been taken down, Fall shows still in preparation. Sunday is family day at the art museum. Lots of costumes, music and dancing.
