Rewriting history one billboard at a time.

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

“Specifically, we are interested in any comments on the second page under ‘Why are the glaciers shrinking?’ and ‘What can be done?’” – A comment from the Trump administration flagging several items in Glacier National Park for review, likely because they deal with climate change and its effects on glaciers.

Columnist, former legislator and gubernatorial candidate Dorothy Bradley writes about the selfishness of some recreation groups when it comes to saving the environment or endangered species.  

I doubt if my kids or very patient spouse will read this, or remember this, especially because it’s probably written for the future as much as it is for the present; however, when they’re cleaning out stacks of books and music, wondering, “Why on earth does he have all this?!?” I hope they’ll remember something along these lines: It was the thrill and joy of discovery. That’s it. In addition to finding familiar favorites, or owning a piece of musical or printing history, as much as anything, it was the thrill of finding some forgotten or obscure track that has been there all the time.

And so today on “The Hook,” I am going to share one of the songs that I found. I got a stack of 45s, some of them in pretty rough shape. I did notice the Blue Note label, and I was intrigued because it is primarily a jazz record company known for recording some of the best jazz artists of the mid-20th century, including John Coltrane. I was intrigued because it was a 45-RPM single, something kind of rare in many cases because jazz is especially known as a genre for albums, as opposed to, say, rock-and-roll, which had a really strong single culture largely being fueled by teenagers who may not have had enough interest or money to purchase entire albums, but could scrape together enough for a 45 single. This single featured the great Jimmy Smith, a great cool jazz, bebop-era artist, and said “Promotional Copy — Not For Sale.” You can find a fair number of those, usually distributed to radio stations or as give-aways to promote artists or songs. On one side it featured “Pork Chop (Part I)” and on the other, “Pork Chop (Part II).” That is also an interesting feature of longer jazz music because often longer, complete pieces could not be squeezed on single, 45 records, which were usually (but not always) limited to around five to six minutes.

The cool, slow organ music was both hypnotic and soothing, and it makes me realize that even though I cannot by any stretch of the imagination consider myself a jazz fan or even a mediocre student of the genre, nevertheless I love stumbling upon a piece of music that I tend to fall in love with. It reminds me not to be so rigid. It emphasizes just letting whatever music is out there come to me. It seems like the perfect piece to play to start another work week — slow, soulful and soothing.

As always, remember that we can’t get to Friday without going through Monday.

If you have a song that you’d like to share, or would like to get in touch with us, please send us a note at [email protected]

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