Ain't No Drag . . .

Bassist Larry Ridley recalls . . .


(from Straight No Chaser; The Life and Genius of Thelonious Monk by Leslie Gourse)
". . . He was cool with me.  We'd talk about a lot of things. He would always have interesting kinds of ways of being very succinct and candid about his insights. One time someone made a comment to us-during the civil rights days, and things were pretty touchy, black power and all.  I had a big Afro and dashikis. We were very conscious of this whole movement. This white guy said something about "you boys" this and "you boys" that to me. I turned to Thelonious and said, "I'm tired of these motherfuckers calling us boys. They don't have to go through all that. We're men." Thelonious said to me, "Ain't no drag, Larry, because everybody wants to be young." I said, "Okay, I'll think on that one." So he could really turn things into nothing with a few words. And there I was, upset, with my fist up in the air about respect. It was interesting. . . "

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Is This Draggin' You, Man? . . .

(from Straight, No Chaser; The Life and Genius of Thelonious Monk by Leslie Gourse)
". . . Invited to witness a rehearsal with Monk and Charlie Rouse, (Robert) Kotlowitz (for Harper's) wrote:

Monk feeds . . . Rouse . . . a note or phrase at a time, a mouthful to be digested to bewildered shakings of the head. It can take the entire two hours to get one full minute of music set between the two. Monk and Rouse say their notes, as though music were the simplest, most direct language available to man, and even more, as though B-C sharp, played on an instrument, means something as precise and unmistakable as C-A-T. Throughout the rehearsal, Monk directs with short comments. "You're not making it," he says placidly after the seventh repetition of an octave jump. "Dig it" Well into the next phrase, Monk says, "Don't tough the note, hit it.  And when you it it, augment it."

When he was satisfied, Monk said slowly, "Solid"  To Kotlowitz, who was listening to the repetitions, he said, "This dragging you?" . . . "

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Yes. . .

. . . we can . . .

(By Martha C. White)
". . . With its “Legalize Love” campaign, Google became the latest in a growing number of companies to publicly take a position in support of gay rights.

Far from being simply feel-good initiatives, these moves are highly calculated, marketing experts say. Companies may be embracing the rainbow, but the motivating color is still green.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is a huge market with buying power of some $790 billion annually in the U.S. alone, according to Witeck Communications. And gays have influence among the straight consumers who are their friends and relatives.

For many marketers, that is too much to leave lying on the table, even if they risk some backlash from consumers opposed to expanding gay rights. Companies “have to satisfy shareholders at the end of the day,” said Bob Witeck, founder and president of Witeck Communications.

Target is selling these T-shirts to raise money for a group working to defeat a gay marriage ban in Minnesota.

Google’s campaign, announced last week, comes on the heels of Mother’s and Father's Day promotions by J.C. Penney featuring same-sex parents, a Gap ad featuring a male Broadway performer and his boyfriend, and Target selling t-shirts as a fundraiser for the Family Equality Council, a group lobbying against a same-sex marriage ban in the retailer’s home state of Minnesota.

Last November, four dozen companies ranging from Nike to Microsoft signed a statement essentially supporting gay marriage by objecting to the Defense of Marriage Act. In February, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein participated in a Human Rights Campaign web video in support of marriage equality. “There’s no doubt that American businesses will be central to the dismantling of DOMA,” Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese told Politico last month. . . ). . . "

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