The Jazzonian
Jazz is Diversity. Jazz is Democracy.

#Wheelchairistocracy

From the demented mind of Rusty Taylor
Jester and Vocalist for jazz band
Southern Standard Time
A Monthly Newsletter
Special Edition

The Jazzonian is a quirky e-newsletter published monthly unless the author is somehow incapacitated. It details the growing jazz scene in Columbus, Georgia and the surrounding Chattahoochee Valley, written exclusively by Rusty Taylor, a Mercer alumnus and the quadriplegic jester-singer for the vocal jazz band Southern Standard Time. The newsletter takes a rhetorical approach to current events from the point of view of a progressive student of Life who, for thirty-two years and counting, has been unable to perform even the most rudimentary acts of daily living.

But he can write... and sing.

Salutations

Greetings!...

I first need to celebrate the fact that Tyrone Jackson is the featured jazzonian icon for this week’s jazz concert at The Loft in Columbus, GA. Tyrone Jackson! I love this guy, and I will be at Columbus, Georgia’s grooviest venue early because if there’s any good left in our national character, then The Loft will be packed to the rafters with swooning fans of his musical prowess. Tyrone Jackson is worthy of the highest encomium, a wonderful musician and dad-burned groovy human being that I’m proud to call a friend. Obviously, I commend everybody’s experiencing Tyrone’s music with the highest recommendation that I can give, which, at this moment in time, is the Ultra-Auriferous Cup of Grandiose Superlatives for Being Excellently Amazing Award of Virgin Snow Purity , an unprecedented award that I just made up, but it connotes all the positive energy I feel for Tyrone Jackson and everything connected to his quintessence. Go and see him; the jazzonian memory you make will be your own.

OK. That was important. Again, Tyrone Jackson’s musicality is worthy of the most lofty praise, but I’ve got other seeds to sow. I am at a crossroads and am considering which path to choose. One road has me continuing to write The Jazzonian as a vehicle to promote jazz and to highlight the challenges of paralysis, especially concerning my personal challenge as a quadriplegic vocalist trying to find accessible staging combined with stories that highlight the lighter side of paralysis. The other road has me doing the same thing but adding considerable content decrying the current political corruption that ubiquitously bombards our collective consciousness with violent images of the status quo.

The beauty of the latter option is that it is temporal. Trump can only be a distraction from decent civil conduct for, at most, the next six years, but, in all honesty, I don’t believe that he’ll serve out his first term. Our Democracy is in jeopardy, and I feel the need to be part of the peaceful revolution that, ultimately, will bring an end to the economic and political status quo and usher in scores of peace. The current political drama that is unfolding finds me writing ad nauseam in my journal that I share with no one. I have also submitted essays of similar ilk but less vitriol in recent issues of our newsletter.

The question: Do you, dear readers, want me to continue writing about the Revolution, or should I merely keep my comments surreptitiously in my personal journey? Keep in mind that these vituperative essays will be extant until Trump’s agenda has been vanquished and recovery is underway. I then can resume my original propagation of jazz. I need your input, and… simple majority wins.

Peace Through Music

P.S. - I have already written entirely too much anti-Trump rhetoric that I was going to post in this week's newsletter. If enough of you are interested in reading it, I can easily transcribe the essays into a special edition of the newsletter. Just let me know. Thanks.