[Dixielandjazz] Re:George Rock/Spike Jones

[LeslieMRag at aol.com]

Hi:
 
Don't have much time to read or post to this list, so I apologize about if  
these comments are a bit out of date. I finally had a chance to read a  bunch 
of old digests today and saw that people are curious about George  Rock. The 
next Mississippi Rag (Sept. issue) is running the fourth part of our  Jazz and 
Novelty Music series, and Rock is pictured along with other City  Slickers in a 
great photo of Spike Jones' band. Don Ingle from this list kindly  identified 
the musicians in the photo for me, including Rock and Don's own  
multi-talented father, Red Ingle. If my memory serves me right, George Rock  continued to 
play for quite some time in the Midwest, and I believe he played  regularly at 
the annual Thanksgiving jazz weekend held in Rhinelander, Wisc.  Eric 
Schneider and Chuck Hedges were also regulars there, and they could say  whether or 
not that was the case. I've been a Spike Jones fan since childhood  (my dad 
used to wander about the house, calling out "Choe"), and I still fall on  the 
floor laughing whenever I play the "Hawaiian War Chant." For Mother's Day  some 
years ago, my kids gave me the complete Spike Jones collection, along with  
Ernie Kovacs and Stan Freberg recordings -- I guess that says something about me  
as a mother, though I'm not sure what!
 
Leslie Johnson
_editor at mississippirag.com_ (mailto:editor at mississippirag.com)   OR
_lesliemrag at aol.com_ (mailto:lesliemrag at aol.com) 
 
P.S. I also saw Steve Barbone's note about non-coverage of Jonathan Russell  
in a rather ancient posting. Steve, the RAG doesn't ignore suggestions...we  
simply have to depend upon freelancers to write articles, and though we try  to 
follow up on suggestions, we aren't always able to find the right writers to  
do the stories. The administrative staff of the RAG is 1-1/2 women, and we  
definitely don't have money to send reporters out in the field. (As Don  Ingle 
noted in a followup posting, we do pay freelancers a modest fee, all we  can 
afford.) Quite frankly, many more people read the RAG than pay for  
subscriptions, so though the RAG is well known worldwide, it's not well funded,  a common 
problem with special interest publications. Our coverage has never been  
based on who subscribes or advertises--we determine coverage based on  
newsworthiness, space available, and availability of good writers who will do  justice to 
the piece, and we devote a good share of the RAG to free  listings to support 
musicians and jazz events. (Far more content  is devoted to jazz of the 
present than to historical features,  although the latter are actually the most 
popular articles we run.)  Anyhow, this is a long-winded way of saying that we 
haven't forgotten about  Jonathan Russell--we just haven't found anyone to do 
the story and we have a  pile of other manuscripts that need to be published 
first. This isn't meant to  be a plug for the RAG--I just felt a need to respond 
to criticism regarding  our coverage (or non-coverage, in this case). That 
being said, thanks to  those of you on this board who have been such loyal and  
supportive subscribers (including Steve). You're wonderful!