Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946), an avant-garde American author and patron of the arts. Her Paris home was a popular salon for the Cubist/experimental artists and writers, of her time (Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Max Jacob, Juan Gris, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sherwood Anderson, Ernest Hemingway, etc.).Gertrude Stein tried to capture moments in time and streams of consciousness in her writing - she loved repetition.
"Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose"- Gertrude Stein
Speaking of roses, a Happy Birthday salute to Al Rose (February 3, 1916 - December 16, 1993), author, caricaturist, jazz historian and promoter.
Al was a delightful character. One of my fondest memories of Al was on the phone, when he said "Someone here would like to say hello" and it turned out to be Eubie Blake (to my delight). You never knew who you would meet hanging around Al. He was part of the magic mystery of New Orleans. Sometimes, memories are all we have, Hurricane Katrina washed away my signed copies of Al's books, but not my memories of Al. I will get another copy of the books; however, it will seem as if the books have never known their author.
Books by Al Rose: New Orleans Jazz: A Family Album, Storyville, New Orleans: Being an Authentic, Illustrated Account of the Notorious Red Light District, Eubie Blake, and I Remember Jazz: Six Decades Among the Great Jazzmen.
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