 |
|
|
|
That Rebel
Yell-Jay
Vaquer
|
- During the past year, three events have evoked that Rebel
yell. Each time I called the Ledger-Enquirer promptly and they
told me someone would call back. None of the stories reached
print. Now, thanks to Playgrounds, I can share my observations
with the public and offer this trilogy of ignored information.
Several weeks ago on a clear and warm late summer's night, I
was watching three T.V. sets, simultaneously, when a deep toned
explosion rocked me right out of bed. The intense magnitude of
the shock wave vibrated the entire house and knocked out the
electricity. After a few seconds, the lights came back but the
T.V. sets irradiated a strange green glow, as if a stream of
alpha particles was passing thru my room and my body. I sprang
from the bed, grabbed the portable phone and ran outside. When I
saw the street lights and traffic signals out, I dialed 911 and
they said someone else had already reported the blast and a
firetruck had been dispatched. I saw my next door neighbor,
Floyd Day, up on the street. As I went to meet him a Sheriff's
car and the firetruck arrived. Mr. Day had served in World War 2
as an Army pilot and told the firemen that a 70mm cannon had
nothing on this explosion and that it was definately not a
transformer on a power pole. He said as soon as he heard it, he
looked outside and saw a shower of sparks falling from the sky
above Brookstone school. Mysteriously, the street lights and
traffic signal came back on line. Everyone looked around but
could find no evidence of the explosion. The anomaly remained
inexplicable until the following morning when I went across the
street and discovered the charred remnants of the culprit. A
lightning arrester, installed for the Achievement Academy still
under construction, sprayed an area with a 30 yard radius with
its lethal shrapnel. I found pieces of its metal core and
sizable sharp edged fragments of its deceivingly innocent
ceramic exterior blown in every direction. The effect was
identical to a hand grenade with the added electrical surge
emission. These things are all over the city and it's only a
matter of time until a jogger crossing the street or some kid at
the park gets killed. Alert the public to the potential danger
imposed and maybe someone will redesign these bombs and make our
community a safer place.
- This next Rebel yell deals with cultural ignorance. Again I
called the Ledger and this time spoke to Sandra Okamoto who
obviously deemed this information useless. Earlier this year, I
received a phone call from my cousin in New York. He had just
heard on the radio that an old friend of mine had died while in
New York that day, but there were no details of his death. Later
that day, another friend from Huntsville, Alabama called and
heard the same thing on CNN. The next day I searched the Ledger
but found no information. I thought they must be preparing a
feature story for the Sunday edition. On Monday, after finding
not one word, I called the Ledger and the guy I spoke with asked
me if my deceased friend had anything to do with Columbus. I
told him who he was but the name did not ring a bell so he
suggested I call Okamoto. She listened to my story but never
mentioned his name. My late friends name is Tom Jobim. He lived
a few blocks from me in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He
wrote a song for my ex-wife Jane Duboc to record for RCA and
taught me how to play the piano inversions on guitar. We hung
out quite a bit and became good friends. He was honest, humble,
humorous and a musical genius. Tom's real name was Antonio
Carlos Jobim, and there were other Americans who had heard of
him. Like Frank Sinatra, whose real name is Francis Albert
Sinatra, who recorded two L.P.s of Tom's music immortalizing
Girl from Ipanema as a standard. "Dude, like its even in
Waynes World." Stan Getz did an L.P. of Tom's music and
Ella Fitzgerald recorded a double L.P. of Tom's music. Of course
Tom recorded many L.P's in America with Creed Taylor, who, by
the way, is not a chewing tobacco, and many of the worlds best
jazz orchestral arrangers and musicians- Ron Carter, Don Sebasky,
Claus Ogerman, Hubert Laws, Airto Moreira, the list reads on
like a Who's Who of contemporary jazz. In all, Tom left a legacy
of nearly 500 compositions recorded and 34 personal albums. So
what does all this have to do with Columbus, Georgia? In the
land of three chord harmony, I suppose nothing. Maybe 50 years
from now, when local musicians and the general public burn out
on dominant chords in 1-4-5 progressions with boring melodies,
they will discover the treasures Tom has left to humanity
including Columbus. Whenever I'm in an elevator and I hear those
rich dissonant chords, interesting melodic intervals and
sixteenth feel rhythm patterns, I smile with contentment knowing
if its not Cole Porter, its Tom Jobim and I'm about to
experience another of life's pleasures.
- Which brings us to my third and final Rebel yell. Last spring
I turned left off River Road onto 52nd Street. When I got to the
railroad tracks I stopped and looked across the street and saw a
large metal building with garbage trucks and heavy yellow
equipment parked around it. Behind the building some guy in what
looked like a space suit was sand blasting the old paint off the
vehicles and inside the building they were painting them. As I
turned onto Alexander Street I saw the Beallwood School. Behind
the school were about 30 young children on the playground which
was totally engulfed in the dust from the sandblaster. I also
noticed the windows in the school were open and the dust was
going inside. I thought that dust is most likely lead based
paint and the long term effects of inhaling it could seriously
affect one's health. I was shocked at my discovery and felt I
should warn those people of this possible health hazard. No one
that I spoke to seemed to care. Their attitude was "oh,
they're just a bunch of poor Black kids, who cares?" Well,
this ole Rebel cares. Remember, first they are Human Beings and
secondly they are Americans and members of our community. If
their parents and teachers want to ignore their health then its
up to us to stand up for those kids and protect them from harm.
The alleged Black community leaders seem too preoccupied with
whether or not Samuel L.Clemens said "nigger" than the
clear and present dangers facing their children. Particularly
single parent households need to teach their children love and a
fundamental respect for human life. Then keep their kids
healthy, in school, off drugs and unarmed, and the American
system will work for them like anyone else. I thought those
teachers at Beallwood were required to have college degrees. Do
they think all that dust came from the dust fairy? Come on
people, let's clean up our act and give them that Rebel yell-
"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LEGAL
DISCLAIMER
All sounds, images, video, and graphics are a Copyright ©
of Jay Vaquer Press. Any use or reproduction without
expressed prior written consent could result in legal action or an
extensive full-body cavity search.
|
|
|