It feels good!

[Pilgrim]

This week I learned there's a Thursday night blues jam at a theater/restaurant/bar less than a mile from my house. I managed to get in a bit more than an hour of practice, which is probably more than I've done in six months, went and signed up.  Got in five tunes, of which I massacred one, booted two around but avoided disgrace, and managed two pretty well.  There were people dancing, so I keep in mind that I'm always my own harshest critic.

It was close to 90 when we played, but the stage was in shade so it worked fine. I had a good time and they'll be seeing me there again.  And yes, I'm the guy in shorts....

[TBird1958]

"Hot Legs" Al!

[morrow]

There's a little hell , and a little heaven in any good blues jam . I've been in the house band for about twenty five years now ...

[Pilgrim]

"Hot Legs" Al!

They work pretty well, meaning they reach the ground and hold me up.  I also have a nice showy scar on the left one from a 1966 motorcycle collision.

It was hot that night.  90's tomorrow and supposed to top 100 here on Monday.

[Dave W]

I'll bet it felt good to get out and play again, even considering the heat. Wish I were able to.

[Pilgrim]

I'll bet it felt good to get out and play again, even considering the heat. Wish I were able to.

It did. And since my practice habits suck when I'm not playing in public, now I have a reason to practice again before the next jam.

[uwe]

Wow, a snap-on tuner too. How modern you are! 

[TBird1958]

Wow, a snap-on tuner too. How modern you are! 

It that like a Snap-On tool?


Ok, that may be a little too "American" 

[uwe]

Tacoma - home of innuendo ...

[TBird1958]

Tacoma - home of innuendo ...

Tacoma!? No, no! 

Properly, I live in Des Moines (named after a city in Iowa, named after a city in France) , which is actually a suburb of Seattle. 

[4stringer77]

Glad you're getting out there and letting the fingers fly. The thread title brought a couple tunes to mind. Wonder if these songs just show my age or people haven't written many songs about feeling good since the late 80s early 90s?

[uwe]

   

Tacoma!? No, no! 

Properly, I live in Des Moines (named after a city in Iowa, named after a city in France) , which is actually a suburb of Seattle. 

Pah, that's like saying Flint and Dearborn ain't Detroit!

[TBird1958]

I protest!  I'm much further from Tacoma, not even in the same county! 

Surely Frankfurt has a less than desirable suburb that you'd as soon as not mention 

[Granny Gremlin]

Surely Frankfurt has a less than desirable suburb that you'd as soon as not mention 

I dunno if he has any shame in that respect - he routinely points out the former Zyklon B plant to visitors.

...Now if you called him a Municher, that might do it.

[uwe]

 

Did I really? It's gone now. Degesch (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schädlingsbekämpfung, literally "German Company for Vermin Containment") was - until 1986 - part of the Degussa Group (the ss is a coincidence!) which had its headquarters in downtown Frankfurt and mostly does chemical treatment of all kinds of metals. But it's all torn down now, it was sold for a fortune and rebuilt with posh offices and apartments.

Last I heard, Degesch, now part of another group, still exists, even in the US of A.

https://www.degeschamerica.com/

And Zyklon B is still being produced, albeit under a different brand name. It's a "fumigation" rodent killer [and always was - before it was  misappropriated to kill humans, which came about more by coincidence though, the initial gassing murders on Russian POWs and physically and mentally handicapped people were committed via engine exhaust fumes, but Zyklon B was readily available (while oil and gas were a scarce commodity in the Third Reich and devoted to the war effort), concentration camps initially stored it in large quantities to combat rats and mice]. While highly lethal, its chief advantage is the quick and absolute chemical decay of its hydrocyanic acid basis in open air. It quickly exterminates vermin in buildings, containers, ships etc used for food transport and storage such as grain silos which can then be promptly refilled without any lingering contamination.

None of the current Degesch home pages mentions any of this which I find an extremely poor handling of that part of their history even if you subscribe to "Zyklon B didn't murder people, people did!"-style revisionism. Of course, they are now in the hands of a new owner who bought the company 40 years after the end of WWII.

To be fair, the Degussa Group (= former owner) has repeatedly paid large compensations to Jewish survivors and the Jewish Claims Conference as well as Israel in its history. Some years ago, Degussa put up a large donation for the refurbishment of Frankfurt's Jewish Museum (very close to the former Degussa headquarters, very likely built on one of their areas). There was an intensive dispute in the Frankfurt Jewish Community whether "blood money" should/could be accepted. Degussa stated that they were unable to change their horrible history, but would like to contribute, yet would perfectly understand if survivors found their offer unacceptable and/or too painful. In the end, the Jewish Community sensibly said that today's Degussa was made up of people that had nothing to do with the Holocaust and that voluntarily living in Germany as a Jew today meant being confronted with the history of the Shoah again and again as it permeated the German society of the 30ies and 40ies. I believe that was the right decision.

History class over!