Longleaf Trace

Two years ago today, I was pulling my miserable self into the trailhead in Hattiesburg, Mississippi at the end of the Longleaf Trace. It was a gorgeous weekend; mid to upper 70s and a fabulous ride. We stayed at the bunkhouse at Circle K Stables mid trail and spread the gentle ride over a day and a half. On the last day of the 3 day weekend Stanley, Evans and myself came back via Vicksburg and rode in the National Military Park. It was unbelievably hard, Stanley and I ditched Evans after 3 miles and went downtown to historic Vicksburg to eat and shop. We had great shrimp and grits at a roundtable restaurant and strolled the historic shops. Evans trouped through several more hours of the grueling ride through the trench hills in the battlefield.
Longleaf Trace is a rail to trail project from Prentiss to Hattiesburg and is an easy ride for anyone to enjoy. Okay, ladies... we gotta climb back on the bikes and go ride somewhere. I need the change of scenery. Game?

Harry, Harry, Harry... It Had To Be You

September 1990, I was working at KUAF radio station, Fayetteville's NPR affiliate. It was supposed to be run of the mill workstudy. You know, copying papers, filing, etc. But somehow I'd moved into babysitting syndicate feeds including "Fresh Air" and "All Things Considered" during afternoons on-air. Then, I was assigned to work on-air overnights on Thursdays. I babysat the board. This control unit was the old fashioned type with dials and buttons, no computer. All local news and feature items were on reel carts. One of the music programs I ran was "Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz". Then it was live radio. So, that first day with a whole two hour notice, I squeezed into the music library (really a hall closet in the old house holding KUAF). Panic set in. There were CDs, LPs and singles catalogued and staring at me. Strangers. I went to high school in Bergman, Arkansas. I knew NOTHING about jazz music. Then, my news director kindly directed me to Harry Connick, Jr. His first album "19" was out. He put me in a sound booth, had me listen to see what tracks I liked and then gave me excellent advice. Read the liner notes. Listen to music by the artists mentioned in the liner notes, find what you like, then read the liner notes from those artists. So, from that one album "19", Harry introduced me to jazz in many forms. That first night my live music show included Harry baby, Winton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzerald and many others. It was quite some months later before I realized there was jazz outside of those artists that influenced Harry (both contemporaries and predecessors).