As I sit at my computer in the wee hours, because I am all about the wee hours, I realize that this issue of The Syncopated Times could be with someone who is in the audience at one of my sets at The Hot Jazz Jubilee, Labor Day weekend, in Sacramento! More than likely your copy is on your kitchen counter where the person who collects your mail put it. But, never mind—I really like the fantasy.
My introduction to Trad jazz festivals was over the Labor Day Weekend many years ago: the now defunct Sweet and Hot, in Los Angeles. The first year my mom had to prod me into going. I am not sure what I expected but what surprised me was how many of the tunes I knew. This was due to my near obsession with the MGM movie musical. The men and women Hollywood employed were straight from Broadway and before that Tin Pan Alley. I was hooked, and seeds that had been planted quite a few years before were starting to find a place to take root.
My first big film job was the Steven Spielberg film Hook. I had auditioned for the role of Pirate Wench. In truth, we were the prostitutes and thusly credited. Most of what we did in the film was cut from the final product (Spielberg chose to focus on the Lost Boys aspect and my guess is it
