In addition to being a mellow genius, you are a mad tease.
Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan all played the harmonica. Though only two of them later recalled this fact.
Harry Truman invited the harp virtuoso Larry Adler to the Casa Blanca. Truman, at the piano, accompanied Adler on "The Missouri Waltz". Adler to President, after the performance: "You're a hell of a lot better president than you are a pianist."
(A brilliant turn of faint praise.)
Abraham Lincoln wrote:
“Two of my favorite things are sitting on my front porch smoking a pipe of sweet hemp, and playing my Hohner harmonica.”
(From a letter written by Lincoln during his presidency to the head of the Hohner Harmonica Company in Germany.)
Then, by a process of historical inevitability/elimination,we come to... Bill Clinton.
Some say he gave up the sax after Kenny Loggins gave him a harmonica.
But a better explanation for that act of abandonment, perhaps:
Not wanting to sully the strains of all those celestial harps, but...
When I get into the White House, the first thing I'm going to do is send Air Force One over to pick you up, bring you back as an Honoured Guest of State, and personally deliver to you, in memory of your lifetime of distinguished occupations, this humble token of service (which actually has your name written, if not all over it -- no, that might be even worse -- at least in small type at the bottom):
I accept your most gracious invitation but there is no need to saddle the American people with further economic burdens by sending over Air Force One--I'll just hop on Pegasus and before you know it, I'll be there for less than the cost of a song. I hope it won't cause too much of a stink, though—we both know how the White House can’t stand scandals!
Vassilis,
ReplyDeleteIn addition to being a mellow genius, you are a mad tease.
Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan all played the harmonica. Though only two of them later recalled this fact.
Harry Truman invited the harp virtuoso Larry Adler to the Casa Blanca. Truman, at the piano, accompanied Adler on "The Missouri Waltz". Adler to President, after the performance: "You're a hell of a lot better president than you are a pianist."
(A brilliant turn of faint praise.)
Abraham Lincoln wrote:
“Two of my favorite things are sitting on my front porch smoking a pipe of sweet hemp, and playing my Hohner harmonica.”
(From a letter written by Lincoln during his presidency to the head of the Hohner Harmonica Company in Germany.)
Then, by a process of historical inevitability/elimination,we come to... Bill Clinton.
Some say he gave up the sax after Kenny Loggins gave him a harmonica.
But a better explanation for that act of abandonment, perhaps:
Harmonica Lewinsky.
V,
ReplyDeleteNot wanting to sully the strains of all those celestial harps, but...
When I get into the White House, the first thing I'm going to do is send Air Force One over to pick you up, bring you back as an Honoured Guest of State, and personally deliver to you, in memory of your lifetime of distinguished occupations, this humble token of service (which actually has your name written, if not all over it -- no, that might be even worse -- at least in small type at the bottom):
Shoeshine
Tom,
ReplyDeleteI accept your most gracious invitation but there is no need to saddle the American people with further economic burdens by sending over Air Force One--I'll just hop on Pegasus and before you know it, I'll be there for less than the cost of a song. I hope it won't cause too much of a stink, though—we both know how the White House can’t stand scandals!