oh, marie

so kate got a bunch of us talking about names a little ways back. well, I have something to add. I'm sitting here at biggby coffee (formerly beaner's, though lindsey and I still call it that... the rebels that we are) and while they typically play THE SAME THING ALL THE TIME over their loudspeakers, I heard something fun: a song called "Marie". It's an old jazz song, and the lyrics go something like this: "Oh, Marie, my heart is breaking, Marie..."

I used to have the song on cassette tape... one of those random jazz compilations you can get at Wal-Mart, and I always imagined it was sailor men singing. (don't ask me why. I guess they just sounded like sailors. obviously in their white sailor suits, of course.)

another fun song I DO hear often here at beaner's is "salt peanuts." we played it in jazz band in high school, and the best part about the song was I played keyboard bass (that's right. I'm awesome.) and at the end of the song we had to yell, "salt peanuts! salt peanuts!" and of course it had a very specific rhythm to it, which I will gladly demonstrate for you on demand. the first time I heard it inside beaner's I nearly freaked out. the first couple measures are unmistakeable, and I IMMEDIATELY CALLED MY SISTER, who would understand my excitement and delight in the random memory, because she was there for it.

that's right, while I played the uber cool keyboard bass (dude, I rocked on Mack the Knife and the Pink Panther theme), piano and one vocal song (Summertime), my super cool sister, lisa, played the trumpet. jazz band is probably what really united us as friends when she was a freshman and I was a senior.

we have many ridiculous memories from the jazz band days. what's more, jazz band is THE ONLY THING I miss from high school. wierd, huh? I have some fun memories from choir, and the musicals, and honors english where I did practically nothing, but jazz band was sooooo the highlight... it was laid back musical fun.

from our santa-hat elementary school tour, to our high-strung chain-smoking director, to the annual craft show concert (when steve wore his speckled tie with his striped shirt because the colors matched), to all the crazy members of our band which consisted of jocks and music nerds alike...

my least favorite memory is screwing up on the keyboard bass at the crucial beginning measure with JUST ME PLAYING THE BASS at state festival and getting THE LOOK from mr. whitmer. I WANTED TO DIE. RIGHT THEN. RIGHT THERE. ON STAGE. AT THE KEYBOARD BASS. granted, I did not continue to suck for the rest of the song, and the rest of the bands were way better than us anyway, but it was not a good moment for me.

and thus concludes today's rabbit trail.

which reminds me. in the sixth grade at camp rotary, one of the teachers pretended to eat rabbit poop. we all believed he really did it. I mean, survival is survival; right? but it was really raisins that he ate. totally faked us out.

aren't you glad you stopped by?!