Tony Ultimate

Hy Alterman would have been 110 today. I guess no one expected him to live that long, but he died at 63, young even for his time. The son of first generation Jewish immigrants, his family was dirt poor. But he was good at math, so as a boy he earned money setting odds for a gambling syndicate that hung out in pool halls. He became both a pool and a card shark, though he developed a lifelong antipathy to gambling. The family could not afford the 5 cents carfare for him to go to City College, but after fighting on the front lines in World War 2 he got a scholarship to the Sorbonne Institute in Paris and earned a Master's Degree. He became Chief Research Statistician for the NY State Labor Department, wrote a book on statistics that was praised by Isaac Asimov, and then wrote a foundational work on the census, called Counting People. Taught economics and statistics at Adelphi University. That leaves out a lot, including training to be a cantor, and three decades as a political activist. He raised 3 boys, one of whom is going to turn 70 in a few days, and is still trying to catch up with his Dad.

Classical musicians, string players, jazz historians, Jewish history buffs - a summary of my research on violinist Alex Drasein was published in The Strad in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the Rhapsody in Blue premiere. It will be re-published around Gershwin's birthday, September 26.

My great-uncle Alex, his violin, and the premiere of Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ When Anton Alterman acquired his great-uncle Alex Drasein's violin, little did he know that it was the instrument Draesin played for the 1924 world premiere of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. The discovery spurred on the writer to find out more about the violinist.

On my THIRD trip to Shenandoah National Park it was finally clear enough to actually see the Valley - on a day when they were predicting thunderstorms all day.

Jason Blume, author of a number of musician self-help books, wrote a post for BMI with a list of "10 words to avoid in your lyrics". I've added my favorite songs which failed to avoid them. What are yours?
It's a BEAUTIFUL morning
Brown-Eyed HANDSOME man
SEXY Sadie
Wouldn't It Be NICE
SWEET emotion
"I'm SPECIAL, so SPECIAL" (Brass in Pocket)
Cruel to be KIND
ANGRY young man (plenty more to choose from here...)
UGLY (Okay, I don't have a favorite song with "UGLY"...)
Mr. Dieingly SAD

Midnight just passed out here and dis not disappoint! We all got champagne in our hair, jackets and cell phones, but after a great dinner with 4 local wines it was OK that they missed our mouths.