Do any of you folks out there want to turn green with envy? Take a few hours and pry yourselves away from TV when not playing your board. Go over to the local collage or high school and listen to their Jazz band concerts. These kids will set you straight up in your seat and make your ears bleed. Great stuff! Makes me want to call all the guys from our former dance band and get together again. One problem! Most of them are dead and that is why my keyboard is so valuable to me. I think Tony has hit the nail right on the head. I am still playing all because of the arranger KB. I gave one of my boards to my grandson who wanted something in his dorm room to practice on. Why? Because some of the other guys had them to work on in private. I’ll just bet when they get to my age and maybe before, they will be jobbing like me when not playing in small groups. Ruth and me just went to another younger grandsons grade school concert last friday evening. They had to hold it in the local high school facilities because there was too many kids in the music program to accommodate all the parents. Guess what? The grade school had a Jazz band! Not bad. Not bad at all! The grandson who plays the sax like me can’t wait to qualify for it next year. Also gave him one of my former boards because he asked. From what I see there are more young kids into music than there was when I was a kid. Not only that, they seem to be more proficient for their age than when I was growing up. What kind of music do I hear them playing? Much of the same stuff I play and of course some newer also. Like when I was younger, there were the weirdoes and will always be. The Rap type for a better word. When us older guys wonder where the young players are, the answer many times is we ain’t where they are, not that there is less. If your not there how can you see them? One other thought before I windup. Now that’s strange! Can’t seem to remember what it was.

Merry Christmas, Grandpa Doug