[Dixielandjazz] Happy Birthday to Dan Augustine

[Daniel Augustine]

     Drat!  I didn't take my birthday off of my Facebook page fast  
enough.  But possibly the good Herr Professor Edgerton already knew it  
somehow (written on the toilet walls down at the Texas Home for the  
Incurably Tall).
     As i already explained privately to Mr. Edgerton, having your  
43rd birthday is really not so bad, until you realize that you started  
counting in hex (base 16) just before you were about to turn 40 (32 in  
hex).   43 is subjectively a lot nicer than 67.  (And yes, i know a  
lot of you out there are far older than i, but hey, this is the first  
time i've ever been 67, so gimme a break).
     And speaking of age, last night i played a gig at a 'retirement'  
home with some dixie buddies, and the residents were 10 and 20 years  
older than i was.  They seemed to like the music a lot, which is  
always nice, but i got out of there as fast as i could because my  
birthday was the next day and i started to imagine the cold breath of  
mortality riding his pale horse up behind me, ready to knock me and my  
tuba into the ditch (critics everywere!).
     On the other hand, this morning i was rejuvenated (somewhat) by a  
number of birthday-wishers and by a clarinet-playing friend who said,  
"How could one NOT take the "Congo Stomp" by Frank Bunch and His Fuzzy  
Wuzzies seriously, I ask."  So i went and listened to that and to  
"Fuzzy Wuzzy" (many praises to Sheik for posting the list of jazz  
solos) and i loosened my chokehold on mirth's neck.
     It's getting a little deep now, i see, so i better go.  Ice cream  
calls.

     Dan
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On Jul 3, 2009, at 4:56 PM, Paul Edgerton wrote:
And in celebration, I offer the following quote from The Devil's  
Dictionary:

    AGE, n. That period of life in which we compound for the vices
that we still cherish by reviling those that we have no longer the
enterprise to commit.

-- Paul Edgerton

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**  Dan Augustine  --  Austin, Texas  --  ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu
**             "Thank you, but I have other plans."
**     -- Response to "Have a nice day" suggested by Paul Fussell
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