a modest suggestion

I can go for weeks without blogging, but the destruction of New Orleans and other coastal communities has really grabbed my attention, for a variety of reasons. I think I've finally discovered the real purpose of a blog - it is a place to vent, like a letter to the editor, but it won't be used the following day to wrap old fish and coffee grounds.

New Orleans has grabbed my attention because we went there for our honeymoon. I see U.S. Highway 90 torn up and I think, that's the road we took from Tallahassee. I think of the French Quarter and I think of Preservation Hall, where we saw old jazz musicians whose careers started back in the 1930's (this was 1972). I hope the current crop of jazz musicians were able to save their musical instruments as well as their lives. The fortunes lost in the flood included ancient instruments and old sheet music and old photos of the jazz greats in their prime. Good news: Fats Domino has turned up alive and well, after being unaccounted for.

Now, my modest suggestion: Is there anybody who doesn't like Dixieland jazz music? You can be down, your car's broken, your dog's run away, your mortgage and your girlfriend are overdue. . .but five minutes of Dixieland will have you tapping your feet and realizing the sun will rise tomorrow like it always does and life will go on. So -- what if everybody went to the music store and bought up all the Dixieland jazz recordings? The musicians should get a royalty. The record stores will make money. Here's the challenge to the industry: Wouldn't it be great if the music industry, inspired by the sudden sales of Dixieland jazz, pumped money into the recovery efforts to help bring New Orleans back on its feet? Yes, it would be great. Why should that not happen?