Category Archives: Scribbles

Harlem Air Shaft

No luck finding a YouTube of Duke’s band charting HAS, but this cover outfit has the talent and spirit.

UPDATE:  Good quote here, which I will lift:

"And take my Harlem Air Shaft. So much goes on in a Harlem air shaft. You get the full essence of Harlem in an air shaft. You hear fights, you smell dinner, you hear the radio. An air shaft is one great big loudspeaker. You see your neighbor’s laundry. You hear the janitor’s dogs. The man upstairs’ aerial falls down and breaks your window. You smell coffee. A wonderful thing, that smell. An air shaft has got every contrast. One guy is cooking dried fish and rice, and another guy’s got a great big turkey. Guy-with-fish’s wife is a terrific cooker, but the guy’s wife with the turkey is doing a sad job. You hear people praying, fighting, snoring…I tried to put that in Air Shaft…." Duke Ellington, quoted by Dr. Ron Pen of the University of Kentucky.

The bear of small brain

Winnie the Pooh is now banned in Russia. Winnie the Pooh with a swastika, that is. Huh? The lunatic Musselmen already were giving Pooh and Piglet a hard time.

The Ellie Rucker Chair?

There is life after journalism. Especially for the deep of pocket.

Ellie, consumer columnist for the daily many years ago who is now retired in San Antonio, apparently has endowed an academic chair: The Ellie Rucker Clinical Psychology Professor in Psychotherapy Training. Way to go, Ellie!

Thought for the Day

"The bad news is that North Korea can hit the U.S. with nukes. The good news is that they can only hit San Francisco and Seattle."

Via Premier Betty.

Mr. Boy’s MRI

He had one this morning, at the Dell Children’s Hospital, in search of something that might, or might not, be wrong. They put him under anesthetic so he could hold still inside the hole of the big donut for thirty minutes to an hour. He came out of it okay, just groggy and dehydrated. They gave him a popsicle and let him sleep a while. At home he lay on the couch and watched cartoons all afternoon.

The worst part, for us, was waiting in the outpatient-surgery waiting room. There were several other couples, presumably waiting out something more serious than an MRI. One couple I remember especially. The woman looked stunned. The man looked angry, which I took to be anger at fate. Another man was crying. He had his head down by his knees, trying to hide the fact. The woman was stroking his back. Tough morning. Tougher for them. We got off easy. This time.

The Little Debbie Death Match

What lengths some people will go to revile a mere confection. Me, I still prefer Twinkies. There’s no indigestion quite like the one they perpetrate.

But anything has to be better than these Japanese candy drops that taste like, wait for it, hamburger.

Via Dustbury.

Seedy cruise ship

I habitually avoid enterprises that charge for water, as all cruise ships do. In fact, having heard the expression "cruise ship prices" this doesn’t really surprise. Sounds awful. Especially the lack of soda pop machines. How declasse can you get?

Via Simply Jews.