My dad and his twin's bdays were yesterday. Dave Brubeck's 85th bday is today. Dad and my uncle aren't as old as Brubeck, but they're in the same decade these days.

My dad has plans to celebrate his 100th bday. He keeps doing things to make his life interesting, like taking a creative writing class last year, getting published in the junior college's literary magazine, and jumping (tandem) out of a plane at 10K feet to celebrate his 80th bday, despite his fear of heights.

100? I'm encouraging that ambition.

When I wished my dad a happy bday yesterday, I told him about the article I'd read in the Chron yesterday about Dave Brubeck.

At eighty-five (as of today), Brubeck is still playing eighty (THAT'S EIGHTY!) gigs a year. Today, in honor of his bday, Brubeck was scheduled to play with the London Symphony Orchestra at Barbican Hall. How cool is that?

The Chron had another article today, reminiscing about Brubeck and all the things he's done, including his stands against segregation. In the summer of 1958, Brubeck refused to fire his black bassist Eugene Wright despite that refusal meaning 23 out of 25 colleges cancelled concerts scheduled for the summer. In 1976, Brubeck turned down a $17K concert gig in South Africa, because the concert promoters required him to have an all-white band.

Brubeck walked the walk and we're lucky to have had him in our lives.

Live long. Prosper.

   posted by Sal Towse at  5:04 PM|| |