"It profits me but little that a vigilant authority always protects the tranquillity of my pleasures and constantly averts all dangers from my path, without my care or concern, if this same authority is the absolute master of my liberty and my life."

--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Monday, September 19, 2011

Doctor Jazz

The old man passed away a year and a half ago, and we miss him every day, but particularly today, which would have been his 81st birthday.   Grandpa is much on the minds of the Regular Guy and, especially, the Regular Son, who has mythologized his grandfather to the point where nearly every situation involving a choice of how to act requires us to ask the question WWGD... What Would Grandpa Do?   Many a hard day would have been better over the past eighteen months with his wise counsel, and many a good day -- like this weekend's excellent cross country race by the Regular Son, or the Regular Daughters' Irish dance triumphs -- would have been made brighter by being able to tell him the good news.  

Anyway, not to wax too nostalgic, but here's a casual film made of one of Dad's favorites, Turk Murphy, playing at a house party in 1981.   The song is one that Dad occasionally would sing when I was a kid, "Doctor Jazz":

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