For our happy first-two-nights Hanukkah celebration, CultureSpouse and I traveled with CultureSon and Daughter-in-Law to CultureDaughter‘s university, where by next summer she will (we hope) have her acoustic engineering PhD. At a used books-and-records store in College Town, I got myself a present—a three-record set (notwithstanding my high-tech daughter, I still own a turntable) of classic Louis Armstrong performances.
I’m still absorbed in Terry Teachout‘s biography of Satchmo—a rags-to-riches-through-music story—which constantly frustrates me because I want to hear the brilliant performances that Terry so vibrantly evokes. If there was ever a book that should have been released with a companion CD or DVD (or even vinyl!), this is it.
Maybe they will eventually do an e-book with an audio component. With all the great reviews the book has been getting, I suppose it’s only a matter of time before Terry begins writing the film treatment.
For me, there’s now a record number of ads (three) on CultureGrrl, for which I’m very grateful, as well as CultureGrrl Hanukkah Donors 94 and 95 from Northfield, MN, and Pittsburgh, PA, to whom I extend my warmest thanks.
But wait! The Festival of Lights is not over until next Friday night, so there’s still time for you to help me celebrate my holiday.
This is an ecumenical blog: The “Donate” button in the middle column will change from Hanukkah colors to red-and-green next week (if I can figure out how to do that)! Christmas donations will be gratefully accepted. What’s more, here’s an offer you can easily refuse: CultureGrrl Donor 100 (if there ever is one) will be sent (like it or not) an autographed copy of my out-of-print, out-of-date book, The Complete Guide to Collecting Art (Knopf). What a deal!
I really should start working on that biography that I keep saying I’m going to write. I need to ask Terry how he manages to keep writing, speaking and traveling without taking time out for sleeping and eating. I don’t see how he manages it all!