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96 |
INTERLUDE TWO |
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family by mixing with the rough element. We worried a lot about Sidney, when he'd be out playing.
"So, when Baquet would come for Sidney, mother would insist that he be sure to bring the boy back and not lose him. Baquet would promise and he'd generally bring him back about two in the morning. Sidney would bring money home to mother and tell her don't worry, he was all right. Of course, she'd be worried, but, naturally she would feel, 'Well, that's one time. That's over until the next time come.'
"After I found out other men were so interested in his playing abilities, I hurried and organized a band to keep SidÂney. Called it the Silver Bel Band. One time we invited Bunk Johnson to play with the Silver Bell, and first thing you know, it was hard to keep Sidney with us. See, Bunk needed a clarinet for the Eagle Band, and so he enticed Sidney with him and that's how the Eagle Band broke into the Silver Bell.
"Now Bunk Johnson was one of them kind—rough and ready. You understand?" The Doctor paused, embarrassed at what he was thinking. He went on apologetically. "Fellows like that, they used to drink a whole lot and we didn't like Sidney being out with them so much, those rough fellows, like Big Eye Louis Nelson and Jimmy Noone. . . ." (Old Big Eye had said, "We never could keep our hands on that Sidney. Regular little devil, always running off down the alley after them little womens.") "Louis and them played that low-down type of music, when us Creole musicians always did hold up a nice prestige, you understand, demanded respect among the people, because we played nice music. So we didn't like Sidney playing with them.
'The pimp they call Clark Wade, he liked Sidney's music and he bought him fancy clothes. Sidney began to spread out and feel big, because he used to have a bunch of fans that followed him to know where he was going to play. Many nights he wouldn't sleep home. Then he quit school
"So, you know, I had become a voluntary truant officer, not for pay, but doing what I could in a way to help make things |
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