[Dixielandjazz] The Under Cover Spy & Muskrat Ramble

[Stephen G Barbone]

The following excerpt is from a New York Times Article about the  
recent Russian Spies and their attempts to get close to Americans who  
might someday be someone.

Excerpted from "Under Cover of Ineptitude" by Charles McCarry - NY  
Times July 11, 2010

" . . . If you are the head of the Russian intelligence service it  
must be heartwarming to realize that any Russian boy or girl can grow  
up to be the best friend of say, Sarah Palin - or even with the right  
forged identity, the next Sarah Palin.

That kind of wishful thinking has always been a component of the Great  
Game, if not its very basis. In the early days of the cold war, a  
colleague of mine who had worked his way through college playing the  
saxophone was recruited by a certain United States Intelligence  
Agency. For his first assignment, he was posted to Cambodia and told  
to find an apartment near the royal palace, open the windows at night,  
and play "Muskrat Ramble". Prince Sihanouk, the eccentric ruler of the  
country, was reputed to be an amateur musician who loved jazz and had  
his own band. Who knew but what he might hear that plaintive sax in  
the jungle night and invite you young american to come on over and sit  
in? Alas, this never happened."

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband