Who do we idolize these days? What do we celebrate? Do you really want to
hear this? It’s embarrassing, but I’ll remind you.. Paris Hilton is
currently one of our biggest celebrities right now. Reality TV dominates
primetime. Fart noises are now being applauded in films as if they are some
sort of miraculous new expression of art. Are those things truly what
American culture has become? Are we, as a culture proud of this?

I would certainly hope there's more to us than that, but if you were not from
around here, say perhaps, an Alien from another planet, I don’t know, like
Neptune or something, and clicked on the TV for a second, thumbed through
pretty much any magazine, and asked around what people like to do for fun,
well!! You’re likely to find loads of women wearing Pepto Bismol pink with
their matching Chihuahuas sporting matching manicures, watching men eat
cockroaches for money and attention all the while laughing at other people’s
unfortunate public mistakes. I’m sorry. If I were an alien, I would run.
I would be all, "Oh my god, these people want to assimilate me and turn me
into an entity of blandness!!!"

BUT WAIT!!!!!!! Come back, put that space ship down. We DO have culture, we DO!!!!! It’s just that for some reason, people have forgotten, or perhaps don’t know where to look! My advice? Leave your stupid Chihuahua home for the night and go see something real, something breathtaking, something that will make you remember what the celebration of life is about. I'm talking about music. An art form deeply rooted in culture and spirit. New York is filled with it, but sometimes we can't see it, because we tend to find ourselves imprisoned by the
nothingness of the seemingly never-ending flatulation of advertising and
ratings.

Oh yes, young grasshopper, sometimes it's easy to forget that we
are truly masters of our own existence, so BREAK OUT!!! Go to Jamaica,
Queens. Yes, I said Queens and stop being such a snob about it. What else
are you going to do? Order crappy takeout, pick your nose and watch fear
factor? Come on, live a little. Go on an adventure, discover that life
DOES in fact exist, DOESN'T have to be bland, and not all of it is
enshrouded by a layer of disposable plastic.

Check out Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning's (JCAL, that is) "Liner Notes".
This is a unique jazz mini-concert series that offers some truly astounding talent. The 'Liner Notes' concert series is hosted by Clarence Irving of the Black American Heritage Foundation and has so far featured such impressive talent as Carla
Cook, Ray Vega, James Spaulding, Cecil Bridgewater and Eddie Allen. In
addition, Mr. Irving and Hilly Saunders, a former Jamaica jazz promoter, are
kind enough to provide 'liner notes' for each performance program, revealing
to the audience a little background on Queens' rich musical history.

Want to see an example of what you missed last month while you were busy
holding your breath over who the next top model will be? You missed Vanessa
Rubin. She has performed with an impressively long list of jazz greats, and
SHE's certainly not too busy taking her Chihuahua to the salon to go to
Queens. Don't MAKE me scold you next month. I better see your ass outside,
walking around, experiencing life. I mean. Remember when we were kids?
We PLAYED. We experienced. Now we work, eat, sleep and watch TV. What
exactly is that? Get out there and play. Find yourself again.

December 3, 2004 ~ 8 PM ~ Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (JCAL) ~
161-04 Jamaica Avenue
Featuring Vanessa Rubin, Jazz Vocalist ~ Jamaica's Jumping with Jazz at
JCAL (718) 658-7400 x23

"Endowed with the kind of liquid phrasing and sheer wisdom that comes from
depth of experience . . . Capable of employing the gamut of emotions, Ms.
Rubin can range from whisper to shout in the blink of an eye; from
honey-laden ballads purring like a kitten, to up tempo swinging and scatting
like a fluent saxophone, she delivers the goods." www.vanessarubin.com

Oh hell, since you're out there, why don't you just make a day of it.
Queens has a very rich jazz history, and you can find out all about your
favorite jazz legends on the Queens Jazz Trail tour van. You think I'm
joking?

The tour starts at Flushing Town Hall, where you get a souvenir map (created
by a guy named Tony Millionaire) of the jazz legends and their homes. Then
you hop into a minivan that will take you to all of the historic Queens jazz
landmarks. The first stop of the tour is the home of the late trumpet player
Louis Armstrong out in Corona (www.satchmo.net). Then you get to go see the Louis Armstrong Archives at the Benjamin Rosenthal Library. Here you will get the unique opportunity to see a collection of Armstrong's trumpets and mouthpieces, as
well as a display of black and white photographs and scrapbooks. I'm not
done, no sir, no ma’am. Next stop is Addisleigh Park in St. Albans, where you
can see the homes of jazz greats like Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald and
Billie Holiday.

Queens Jazz Trail Tour
Starting point: Flushing Town Hall
137-35 Northern Boulevard, Flushing
(718) 463-7700
www.ephemerapress.com/queens.html

You might be saying to yourself....wait a minute. Didn't most of those jazz
greats come from Harlem? Originally, yes. Brooklyn too. But in those
Harlem Renaissance years around 1920 all the way through 1940 there was a
mass exodus of a mind blowing number of jazz masters such as Lena Horne,
Fats Waller, Dizzy Gillespie, Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller,
Woody Herman, Red Nichols, Red Norvo, Nat Adderly, John Coltrane, Milt "The
Judge" Hinton, you get the picture. But why Queens, you might ask? Well.
You see, it was like this. In 1923 music publisher Clarence Williams said
to his wife and singer Eva Taylor, and this is not a direct quote, "Hey baby
I miss the country. But I don't want to haul our stuff all the way back to
Louisiana. Hey! I know!!! Let's go out to Jamaica and see if we can have
the best of both worlds." And so they found it. A place where they could
spread out, but still be close enough to the city that embraced them. And
so Clarence started a trend. Since most of his peeps from the south shared
the same love of country life, he was soon to be followed by James P.
Johnson, Perry Bradford and Fess Williams. Then came Mercer Ellington,
Billy Kenny of the Ink Spots and even James Brown eventually joined the
crowd. Even today, if you know where to look, you can still find some living
legacies that live out there, along with a new generation of extremely
talented jazz musicians now coming into their own.

Let’s just say, there are people worth celebrating in this world, and there
are people who are not. We need to remember to celebrate those people who
have a voice, a talent, a message, or even a simple song, something....anything
that can reintroduce ourselves to life's passion by the people out there who truly
have that passion. How else can we expand as a culture if we continue to stifle
ourselves with inane drivel? Get out there and live, and while you're at it, learn
some shit. Create. Play, and most of all, enjoy. May your new year be filled with
adventure and wonder!