record my own version of Junk Man

that T.’s son E. is now in remission and back in pre-school. MySpace has its place, I guess.

Soooooo . . . . . what does this mean for Rusty’s P.? Do I grab this bull by the horns? Could I really do this in July? Of course, I could, but am I up to this amount of practicing and then of course, where would I do it (no modern harp with me at the moment)? Also, I left the music at home (SF) and I’d have to get T. or K. to send me a copy. And the biggest hurdle of all, of course, is that I’d have to get those two off their butts to put some creative energy into what is essentially my idea. Lessee, where to start . . .

misplaced this. Here’s the thing. I want to do this when I’m in NC in July, but it means that I have to have the cooperation of the ex-Zippers. And one of them, last I heard, had a small child battling leukemia. Not a good time to make lots of light-hearted plans, but on the other hand, not a time to put everything on hold either. Also, it has been some time since I have had an update. I don’t want to be tactless, so I will try to find out what is going on from a third party and then contact him.

is my Mildred Bailey boxed set?

I got in touch with Hazen and went over to visit him. It was grand to see him and Rusty again. Mom had told me that he looked rather frail (he has emphysema) but in fact I thought that he looked pretty good, particularly when one realizes that he is over 80! He did not realize that I had recorded with the SNZ, and that I had a gold album from that disc; he asked me about Caspar Reardon, and he brought up Junk Man, so I told him my secret desire to record it, and that I had just ordered the Mildrid Bailey version. He had another version on some CD that featured Dapogney on piano so he played it, and then he gave me the CD! It’s a much more mournful than vengeful version though.

I did order a big boxed set of Mildred Bailey’s Columbia recordings, which includes Junk Man on it. It won’t ship until after Christmas, but that’s ok.
Tom M. says that this version is amazing (although he misidentified the singer!) and that it makes an interesting contrast (vengeance vs. sweetness) with the Jack Teagarden/Casper Reardon version.

The most important thing about it, though, is not that it affects this particular goal; but for this goal I am dependent upon a couple of very talented friends of mine. And I found out today that the three-year-old son of one of them has Leukemia. I feel very far away, too—they are having a huge benefit concert for him back in NC. Wish I could be there.

I heard a story today on NPR about Frank Loesser, which made me think of this goal (he wrote the lyrics). But really, one step at a time. If I want to achieve this goal I have to a) start practicing; b) buy that Mildred Bailey CD to give me more ideas; c) contact Tom and Ken and tell them that I want to do this at the end of March and d) buy a plane ticket to Raleigh. Also e) make sure I have a harp available to do it, although that should be a piece of cake, really, considering how many harpists owe me one.