Connecting the Dots: Mulligatawny, Liner Notes and JT.

Georgette and I are having an "event night" tomorrow. I'd call it a date night but our whole married life has been sort of an extended date night. We are headed down I-80 to Lincoln to see James Taylor and to have dinner. It should be a great evening- good food, good music and good company.

But more than just a great night out, there will a lot of dot connecting going on...in my head at least, beginning with the pre-concert meal.

Earlier this week, GK said something about having dinner in the Haymarket, Lincoln's old historic, now turned entertainment district, just west of downtown Lincoln. "Good idea", I said as the concert arena is located just a few blocks away. The next thing I know, we've got a reservation for 5:30 at the Oven, an Indian restaurant that has been there since......I had my job interview there 19 summers ago, or longer. Actually, my job interview was right next door to the Oven, quite literally in the same building where the agency I was set to join had it's offices. The same offices where I first laid eyes on Georgette, who was part of the team that interviewed me.

Now I'd like to say it was love at first sight but that's not the case. I do, however, remember her warmth and smile standing out from the other team members as I did my best to convince them to hire me as a staff counselor. They did and 6 months later we were a couple. And often we would gather for lunch next door at the Oven where they have the best mulligatawny in Nebraska.

First dots connected. The Haymarket, the Oven, my interview and first sighting of Georgette and of course, I'll be having a bowl of mulligatawny, you can count on that.

Next it's off the brand spanking new Pinnacle Bank Arena for a 3 hour musical feast provided by James Taylor and his All-Star Band. Or simply put, to see JT. Sweet Baby James is a living legend, for sure, but I'll admit to being more excited about seeing his band, than I am JT. And it has to do with liner notes.

You see, there are a lot of things that fathers are supposed to teach their sons-- how to hit a baseball or ride a bike, the facts of life or how to stand up to a bully. I got none of those but I did the get the lesson on how to read liner notes on record albums. I remember the day when Dad came home from the K-Mart with a stack of "cut-out" jazz albums ( records that didn't sell and had a corner of the album cover cut-out or punched through signifying that it was destined for the bargain bin). He proceeded to lecture me on the art of reading the liner notes to check out "the personnel" who were backing up the featured musician. Great personnel=great album, regardless of cut-out status or not. Liner notes was a life lesson I'm grateful to have learned at an early age and  it has resulted in years of dot connecting as I scoured through record bins in search of musical bargains.

Seems that JT's "personnel" is a group of musicians probably more well-known from their liner note fame than their headliner fame. Starting with the drummer, Steve Gadd. If you recognize the opening drum riff to Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" or the Steely Dan classic, "Aja" or Van McCoy's "The Hustle" then you've heard Steve Gadd. Except that you would have to read the liner notes to know that. A truly legendary musician whose versatility and range spans pop, jazz and beyond, Gadd is the premier studio drummer of the last 40 years and I'm jazzed to hear him live again.

Next up is Lew "Blue Lou" Marini, the saxophonist on JT's tour. A member of the first Saturday Night Live band, Marini may be best known for his role in the Brothers Brothers movie, where he plays the short order cook in the scene with Aretha Franklin and Matt "Guitar" Murphy, featuring the song "Think". You may also recall the Steve Martin "King Tut" sketch on SNL...yep, that was Lew playing the saxophone in full Egyptian garb. No slouch on the saxophone though, Marini has made the rounds from Blood, Sweat & Tears to the original Blues Brothers band and now his current gig with JT.

If connecting those dots weren't enough, this last one will invoke the 6 degrees of separation theory, only the dots will get connected in 2 degrees, not 6.  

Jimmy "Flim" Johnson is JT's bassist and musical director. Back in the late 70's while working as a musician in Minneapolis, Flim formed a quartet called "Flim & the BB's" and they partnered with 3M who was developing the first full digital recording equipment. Early adopters of CD technology will know of this group as they released several critically acclaimed jazz CD's that were full digital and engaged a following of musicians as well as techheads. The saxophonist in "Flim & the BB's" was Dick Oatts, a classmate of mine for 2 years in music school. Oatts left Drake after his sophomore year and moved to the Twin Cities. He is now a musician in New York City.

If by some chance, I was to participate in the "hang" (musician-speak for hanging around on tour when not performing) with Gadd, Blue Lou and Flim, I'm sure we would have lots to talk about. And Flim, being 2 degrees separated by our shared connection to Dick Oatts, might have the most to talk about.

Speaking of the "hang", JT had a series of posts on his FB page about his upcoming tour where he introduced each of his band members to his fans. When asked  what they enjoyed most about the tour, almost all referred to "the hang". "It's a great hang", Gadd said.  If you spend weeks on a bus, grinding out a long, demanding tour, with lots of downtime, it matters if the "hang" is good.

There you go, liner notes,  mulligatawny and JT. Lots of connections, if only in my head.

But the most meaningful part will be who I "hang" with. She doesn't care as much about the liner notes  as I do, but we do love hanging with each other and that alone, should make it a night to remember.