[Dixielandjazz] Re: Doctor Jazz - Jelly Roll Morton.

[Nancy Giffin]

> From: Stephen Barbone <barbonestreet@earthlink.net>
>[snippets] 
> ...It would have been unthinkable given the times for a black man
> to publicly accuse a white man of stealing from him. Perhaps even
> hazardous to one's health...
> ...One thing for sure, Jazz and mind altering substances were
> roommates for a long time. Even in the 1940s/50s/60s, most
> jazz musicians, OKOM and otherwise, in NYC that I knew
> were either smoking pot, shooting heroin, sniffing cocaine, taking
> bennies and a host of other pills or heavily dependent upon alcohol.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve (Jazz is not for sissies) Barbone
>
> PS. And since the word "Jazz" is reputed to have had a sexual
> connotation in those early years, it could also be about doing the
> nasty.  ;-) VBG

Dear Steve and Listmates,

In this modern day of mass media, where children no longer seem so innocent,
I find it charming and refreshing to see so many who cannot imagine Dr. Jazz
being about anything other than happy music. :)
Regarding Melrose buying songs and taking credit (hence, money) from JRM, I
wonder if perhaps drug-using musicians weren't easy targets for exploitation
due to shortsightedness ('fix' first) and being too 'flaky' to be good in
business. Of course, as Steve points out, being black didn't help.

For those who love conspiracy theories:
(Note this is hearsay.) My friend who is a music composer (who also played
OKOM professionally all his life) told me that, among his music-composer
colleagues, it was 'known' that Johnn Lennon did NOT write most of the great
Beetles songs that were credited to him and Paul McCartney. (No surprise
with "Norwegian Wood"?) Furthermore, John Lennon was murdered because he had
let it be known that he was prepared to reveal this truth to the world.

Cheers to charming, refreshing innocence.
Love and hugs,
Nancy

P.S. Speaking of Beetles, does anyone play "When I'm 64" as an OKOM tune?