Tuesday, September 30, 2014
My Dad's Awesome Blog
Wow! I think I am now the second-best blogger in the family. My dad has been running a blog called Upbeats on the website of the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe, and it is full of both great photos and wry observations.
Looking at past posts, I see that much of it is marked by one of my Dad's best qualities: His unfailing (and often fulfilled) optimism, which sometimes takes the form of his trademark Trailing Edge Philosophy. As just one example, he had this to say in a recent blog post about Detroit:
I still can’t get my mind off the Detroit Jazz Festival. The festival is appropriately held on Labor Day weekend. However, Metropolitan Detroit doesn’t take that weekend off. Everyone has a venue to go to and they are all terrific. There is little reason to go out of town. The jewel is The Detroit Jazz Festival, where our community puts its soul on display. We show off what we do best, the roots of our music, Jazz. For some reason the 2014 festival added some extra zest to its Jazz. This was more than planning. There was something palpably hopeful in the air. The crowd got it and showed their appreciation. The musicians caught the fans vibes and used them. Something beautiful was going on.
It didn’t go unnoticed. Mark Stryker of the Detroit Free Press was in all the right places and reported what he saw and heard. He described a moment when “Barry Harris was singing a song of deeply personal expression. “See, Jazz is beautiful” he told the crowd.” Mark went on to say, “Beauty – not in the colloquial sense of “pretty”, but in its broader meaning of pleasuring the senses – was spread throughout the downtown festival.” ….
There is something special when we find beauty in familiar and unexpected places, like the flowers that insist on coming up in the cracks in our sidewalks. Thank you Mark for seeing the beauty and alerting us. Thank you Barry Harris for coming back and reminding us why you do come back. Thanks to all the staff and the volunteers who are often too busy to enjoy their own efforts.
It didn’t go unnoticed. Mark Stryker of the Detroit Free Press was in all the right places and reported what he saw and heard. He described a moment when “Barry Harris was singing a song of deeply personal expression. “See, Jazz is beautiful” he told the crowd.” Mark went on to say, “Beauty – not in the colloquial sense of “pretty”, but in its broader meaning of pleasuring the senses – was spread throughout the downtown festival.” ….
There is something special when we find beauty in familiar and unexpected places, like the flowers that insist on coming up in the cracks in our sidewalks. Thank you Mark for seeing the beauty and alerting us. Thank you Barry Harris for coming back and reminding us why you do come back. Thanks to all the staff and the volunteers who are often too busy to enjoy their own efforts.
Also on the blog: My Dad's poster for this year's Detroit Jazz Festival:
Please... check out the rest of it!
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This is pretty amazing, thanks for sharing. How badly I wish now I should have acted upon my intention to go to Detroit Jazz Festival on Labor Day this year!!
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