Chas graciously emailed me saying that I could dedicate the small donation made to the New Orleans Habitat project to a favorite musician. He thought it would be Ray Brown or one of my friends (George Gentry or Winston Walls) who died last year.

The proper person to recognize was Chas. See, he and I are crusty old "jazz dudes". We're opinionated, hard-headed and come across as less than friendly, sometimes.

Look beyond some of the superficial stuff and you find Chas and others (Diki, for instance)
to be serious individuals who have "paid their dues" and who are committed to musical excellence and other serious life-issues and causes.

The identification of the Habitat-New Orleans project by Chas was one of the most thoughtful ones proposed.

That's why I'm pleased to recognize Chas with my small donation.

Thanks also goes to Don, Rory, Tony, Donny, Jerry and others for donations completed and to Bill (Bebop), DanO,Mike and others who have helped identify other great causes in their areas for January and beyond.

It's an honor to know you folks. And this makes some of the pettiness that surfaces occasionally so silly.


Russ




[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 10-29-2008).]

I am humbled, but we all know who the real hero is, here. I am also very, very embarrassed (to the point that I failed to notify Russ via email) that I jumped the gun on mailing in our donations and was unable to honor his request to name myself as the honoree on the donation form (it was his fault, he procrastinated 24hrs before responding to my request to name an honoree ). I took it upon myself to name the fine musicians of the Synthzone as the named honoree on Russ's donation. FYI, I named Johnny Adams, a (late) local New Orleans singer and second degree friend (I knew/know some of the fine musicians that worked on his great album) on my donation, and my church named our late former chorus director (and well known opera singer) who died last spring at the age of 93 (active to the end).

Russ is like so many of the fine musicians I've had the honor of meeting and knowing thru the years, a sucker for a good cause . I hope this spirit of good will, generosity, and 'giving back', will always be a big part of what identifies this wonderful community of people who worship the music god.

chas

Robbe52

[This message has been edited by Robbe52 (edited 10-29-2008).]

Chas, it really is the "thought that counts".

Thanks, friend,


Russ