Cool College Memory

I got this picture from one of my good friends, Terry Swaim. This is from the end of my freshman year at NC State. That is Terry on the Right and his roommate Bill Gramley on the left. They are holding two of the three chickens that they raised in their dorm room in the spring semester of 1988.

Another one of my suite mates, Jody Harris, brought the chickens when they were just chicks. (His family raised birds for Perdue.) Bill and Terry raised the birds in their room for the entire semester... without getting caught. Yeah, our RA was right on top of things. He somehow also didn't notice the underage drinking parties that were taking place in the suite next to ours - even though there were beer bottles piled up in the hallway 6-8" deep with only a small footpath to walk on.

By the way, they are standing in front of my room - which, incidentally, is now a laundromat. Their room was put to the same purpose. Ah, it is nice to be appreciated!

The three birds were named Thunderbird (after the alcoholic beverage, of course), Frobird (after one of our suite mates, John Froberg), and ironically, Perdue. I'm not really sure which ones they are holding. I could have told you back then, but that has been 20 years ago.

Sadly, the birds met a tragic end. Terry took them home and gave them to a relative - whose dogs promptly killed and ate them.

Those were the days... Good times. Good times.

Jazz At Dixie's

The StillWaters Jazz Band is back in action at Dixie's this Saturday. The time is different than the one shown in the picture, though. This Saturday we'll be playing from 12:00 Noon to 2:00.

I hope that you'll be able to come out. We will be breaking out some new tunes this time around, including the inauguration of my first jazz tune, Dog Days Of Dixie. It was written as a tribute to the namesake of Dixie's coffee shop.

The owners named the coffee house after their pet bloodhound, Dixie. I had the opportunity to see her at our last gig there, and didn't realize that it would be the only time that I would ever see her. Sadly, a couple of weeks after we played there, Dixie died from cancer. It was really sad.

The next time I was in Dixie's I saw a big display of cards and flowers given to the owners by their customers in memory of their pet and found out what had happened. That's when I started thinking, "I should write a song for them." I let the song roll around in my head for a couple weeks, and finally sat down and hammered it out.

Anyway, Dixie's is located at the corner of Centerview Drive and Main Street in China Grove - right at the stoplight. This intersection is kind of like the city square. We'll be there from 12 Noon to 2:00. Come on out! The coffee is great. The prices are good. The decor is inviting. The aroma is fabulous. The music will be pretty good too. And you might even get to meet some of your neighbors! See you there!

For Dixie

Sunday night I sat down and began working on a song for the jazz band. It is a tribute song after a fashion.

Last week I was at Dixie's and noticed a bunch of flowers and cards. When I looked closer it turned out that the owner's dog had died.

I asked him about it, and he confirmed that their dog had in fact died from cancer. It had been kind of hard for him and his wife because the dog was really one of the family. She was more than that too. She was the namesake of the coffee shop.

Dixie was a bloodhound. I had actually seen her once before when we did our first gig at Dixie's. She was a pretty dog. I had no idea that she was so sick.

Anyway, I started thinking about it and decided, "Man, it would be nice if we could do a song for Dixie when we play our next gig."

I had an idea of the pace that I wanted the song to go and an idea of the general feel and how I wanted it to end, but just let the ideas roll around for a couple of days until I could sit down and start putting pen to paper so to speak. I had some time Sunday night and began working on the song. It took me a little while, but by 11:30 I had something that I thought would work.

Last night I took it over to Justin and Sara's and Justin helped me to get it put on paper correctly. The title is Dog Days of Dixie. Unfortunately, we didn't get to run through it last night, but hopefully we will be able to get it ready for our gig at Dixie's on the 29th.

This is a first. It is my first non-church song. Well, I guess it would be possible to put religious lyrics to it, but this is really a gift to the owners of Dixie's. I hope it will brighten their day.