Milestones

Sorry, no musings on jazz, though I've been spinning some 30s Duke, some mid-40s Bird and Kind of Blue in my classroom.

Their first Basement Tape? VERY cool. It's called "Middie Island Creek".

We lost Gary Coleman, who actually was a fixture of my childhood. I watched tons of "Diff'rent Strokes" though it took growing up to see just how much of a minstrel show the whole thing really was.

And Dennis Hopper, who was such an icon. Why isn't anyone recalling those amazing shoe commercials from the mid-90s when the Buffalo Bills and Bruce Smith were hot?!?! Then there was Apocalypse Now! and Hopper's performance was the second best (next to my brother, who'd have me in stitches, man, all the time, man, you know? Man?). Of course, Easy Rider, which was good in so many ways. Plus, he was an interviewee on a video series that I use in my classroom called "The Century". Hopper shared some wonderful memories about the civil rights movement and the counter-culture. He'll be missed.

I reached my own milestone here: 10,000 hits! I know a third of them are probably me conducting repairs or checking for comments but cool to know that someone's paying me random visits.

Thank you to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice the nation demanded, even when the times and circumstances were questionable.