I’m going to veer wildly off-format here in order to fulfill a promise I made in this column last month. Last year, a subscriber named John Gahan sent me a manuscript. Much to my surprise, it was written out by hand, just the way Charles Dickens or Edgar Allan Poe used to do. In fact, most editors would never consider such a contribution. I remember reading a writers’ guide from the 1920s (I believe it was a Little Blue Book) that suggested that handwritten manuscripts are read about as enthusiastically as Etruscan novels. But I am not most editors, even if I am a procrastinator. I might here suggest that if you’re feeling brave you could send me such a document; just be aware that I’ll read everything else that is sent to me before I get to your calligraphy.
When John called our office to wonder about his story, I realized it was time to type it up and print it. That took only another month to occur. In formatting the story, I realized that it resonated closely with our March Jazz Birthday of the Month, Jean Goldkette. It also recalls a previous March Jazz Birthday honoree, a very special one who will shortly be named. And thus, in the interest of keeping my word, fulfilling an obligation, and being somewhat timely, I here present John Gahan’s story exactly as he worded it:
My Pilgrimage to Hudson Lake to ‘Hear’ Bix
(A Journey Back in Time)
by John Gahan
I’m no
