Saturday 9: All of Me

Sam’s Saturday 9: All of Me (1932)

On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun…

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Louis Armstrong calls his girl "baby." What's the last endearment someone used when speaking to you?

I usually don’t hear words of endearment, usually it is the opposite 

2) He sings that losing his love made him cry. Do you cry easily?

Oh yes, once the faucet turns on it is hard to shut it off.

3) Louis was born in New Orleans, a city famous for music and cuisine. What's something you love about your home town?

Well when I was growing up it was its small size you knew everyone by name, but now it has grow and it is full of strangers. However, many of my high school friends are still here.

4) At age 11, Louis unwisely fired a pistol during a New Year's Eve celebration and was sentenced to 18 months in a juvenile detention facility. It was there that he met music teacher Peter Davis, who believed in Louis and taught him to play cornet and bugle. Tell us about someone who believed in you and made your life better.

My family, they have been supportive.

5) Louis would say that arrest changed his life for the better because it was at the detention center that "me and music got married." After his release, he began playing on streetcorners, or in honkytonks ... any place he could hone his skills. What is something you have worked hard to be better at?

Photography.

6) In the late 1920s, Louis led a jazz band called The Hot Five. His wife, Lil, believed he was too talented not to receive star billing. He just didn't feel ready. She went behind his back and convinced the management at Chicago's Dreamland Cafe to advertise: "The Hot Five, featuring Louis Armstrong: The World's Greatest Trumpet Player." It worked! At the end of the gig, Okeh Records signed him to a recording contract. Can you think of a time when, like Lil, you were glad you asked for forgiveness rather than permission?

Naw I never did that, I always asked permission first.

7) In 1932, the year this record was popular, the son of aviator Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped and killed. This famous case inspired Agatha Christie to write Murder on the Orient Express. Have you read the book? Seen the movie, the remake or the miniseries?

I haven’t read the book but I saw the movie and also Masterpiece Theater.

8) Another aviator was in the news in 1932. Amelia Earhart flew 14 hours from Newfoundland to Londonderry. What is the longest flight you've ever taken?

To the west coast.

When I worked I had to get a passport and a visa for South Korea because we had contracts to build power plants there, it would have been a 22 hour flight which I avoided like the plague (Hmm… Like COVID). I talked to my primary care physician to see if there was any way that I could avoid the trips, so he said that he would write a letter saying my health wouldn’t allow a long flight.

One thing that was kind of neat, the visa was an open ended visa with no expiration date and said that I was a critical personnel.

9) Random question: You have the opportunity to travel safely in a time machine. Would you go back to the past, into the future, or say, "no thanks, I'll stay in 2022?"

I would love to go back into time, some time around the colonial times, I love Outlander series.

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!