[WARNING: After reading this, you may have the impression that I’m a self-important douchebag.]
There are many place-times in history in which the amount of Awesome produced spiked high above the norm: Florence, Italy in the 15th century; the Impressionists of late 19th century Paris; or early 20th century Harlem. In these eras, bright minds gather together and exhale, creating an atmosphere that, once taken back into their mind-lungs, transmogrifies their brain-mouths into new-idea-voices.
Overwrought? Definitely. But imagine what the energy must have been like in those small Harlem clubs late at night when musicians like Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, and the king of all, Sir Duke, gathered to jam after their paying gigs were done.
Some days I feel like we’re all there, right now, except it’s a kajabalajazillion times better. For we have The Internets, and collaborations great and small occur constantly, most of them right out there in the open. And with a platform like Twitter, you don’t have to be a legend to join the jam. Kinda like if Duke Ellington dropped in to play with a noodling banjo player in Oklahoma, except that it happens all the time, every day.
[WARNING: Imminent douchebaggery]
It would be folly to waste this moment in history on base frivolity. But when a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and humor writer like Gene Weingarten makes note of a Hank Ketchum “Dennis the Menace” fart joke…
…and you happen to have your instrument handy, you shouldn’t hesitate to play:
And while it certainly ain’t no Pulitzer moment, it was a fun little jam.
[Douchebaggery complete]
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