Three CDs, a DVD and a book: your new Doug's Picks are in the center column. To see previous recommendations, click "more picks" at the bottom of that section. … [Read more...]

Looking for the earliest Slim Gaillard clip I could find, I came across a sequence from Olsen and Johnson's manic 1941 hit movie Hellzapoppin'. Gaillard plays piano and guitar, with his constant companion of the period, the great Slam Stewart, on bass. Among the several dozen uncredited musicians and dancers is the Duke Ellington cornetist Rex Stewart, done up in a cook's outfit. If anyone can identify the clarinetist, trombonist and drummer, please send a comment. You'll see some of the most … [Read more...]

Summertime, and the living is easy.             --Ira Gershwin, "Summertime"   I hear laughter by the swimming hole. Kids out fishing, with the willow pole. Boats come drifting 'round the bend. Why must summer ever end?             --Iola Brubeck, "Summer Song" (With apologies to Rifftides readers in the Southern Hemisphere) … [Read more...]

It has been some time since we ran a check on the whereabouts of Rifftides readers. Here is a partial location list of recent visitors, starting at the point farthest from home base. Wellington, New Zealand Wollongong, Australia Sydney, Australia Tokyo, Japan Beijing, China Tarnow, Poland Kronobergs Lan, Sweden Dalmine, Lombardia, Italy Heidelberg, Germany Terneuzen, Zeeland, Netherlands Kettering, Nottinghamshire, England Glasgow, Scotland Casablanca, Morocco Rio de Janeiro, … [Read more...]

The Rifftides staff is going to take a couple of days off and trek across the mountains to watch the Mariners play the Tigers. The links are for the benefit of those in, say, Casablanca or Tarnow who may not be familiar with the quaint US sporting culture. In the meantime, enjoy this video of Miguel Zenon and two of his homeboys at work in their native San Juan, Puerto Rico, last December. The bassist is Ricky Rodriguez, the drummer Henry Cole.   More on Zenon soon. Have a pleasant … [Read more...]

A few years ago, research disclosed that Louis Armstrong was not born on the Fourth of July, 1900, but a little more than a year later. No matter; Armstrong believed that Independence Day was his birthday and identified himself with the United States of America. As his career and popularity developed and the magnitude of his genius became apparent, the country he loved--and much of the rest of the world--adopted him as a symbol of the spirit of America. Much of Armstrong's reputation stemmed … [Read more...]

(An annual Rifftides reminder) Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.--Benjamin Franklin America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.--Abraham Lincoln   … [Read more...]

It appears that Ernestine Anderson is going to be able to stay in her house--at least for now. News of the seventy-nine-year-old singer's impending eviction traveled quickly around the world last week, and people responded. Help came from fans, old friends--including Quincy Jones--and just plain folks who sympathized. Here are the most recent essential facts from The Seattle Post Intelligencer. Folks over the weekend held benefits. And dozens upon dozens in the city, across the state and … [Read more...]

It was in the back of my mind that I would post something about this morning's bicycle ride. I took the mountain bike along the canal trails. It was a perfectly good ride, but it turned up nothing to report beyond the fact that by the time I finished, around 11 a.m., the temperature was approaching one hundred degrees.   So, I decided to dig into the archives and bring back by popular request (one), a piece that generated considerable response when it ran nearly two years ago. Hey, if Dave … [Read more...]

When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent inventions for man's convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became. Here, for once, was a product of man's brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle. ~Elizabeth West, Hovel in the Hills When I see an adult … [Read more...]