Posted by Art H on October 31, 2001 at 23:29:44:
In Reply to: Hoagy Carmicheal posted by Tony on October 31, 2001 at 11:02:11:
two silly stories about Hoagy:
(1) A young man I know grew up in connecticut and taught himself to play piano pretty well. We'll call him "David". After he drew a lucky draft number he moved to New Orleans to live the good life as a musician, but he still had a lot to learn back then. One night he was working in some dive and an elderly gentleman asked if he could play "Stardust". Young David admitted sheepishly that he had never learned that song. The man said "That's a crying shame, 'cause I wrote it!" (It was Hoagy.)
(2) My own band had a steady Sunday night gig in Connecticut back then. (Still does.) After we had played "Georga On My Mind" for the hundredth time or so somebody asked if it was written about the state or the girl. This question came up every time we played it after that, until finally one of the loyal patrons wrote to Hoagy to ask. He got a nice reply, and brought it down to the Tavern one night and read it to everybody. We all congratulated him for his fine piece of musical research, and we still talk about it to this day. Unfortunately, nobody can remember what the answer was.