Listening to Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz,

did I hear correctly?

The soprano sax guy said we are the youngest

of the species?

And he listens to humpback whales and other

creatures of the sea and land

for inspiration for his environmental music? He

rides the rapids

of the Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand

Canyon with his jazz

quartet recording the sounds of the river and the

soprano sax and bass

and drums and keyboard as the music echoes off

the ancient walls.

I wondered how they kept the instruments dry not

to mention kept

the stuff in the boat. At the time I was belching out

CO2 and air pollutants

on a beautiful Saturday morning drive to buy microbrew

beer and La Vieille

Ferme, a French friend of my son told him it’s a great every-

day wine, in red, rose

and white for my nephew and his family visiting from Chicago.

I’d forgotten to buy those

things along with a loaf of rye bread yesterday on another

rum run.  So there

I was, a member of the youngest of the species, doing

my part to bring

to an end the short and happy life of the youngest

of the species

while listening to the soprano sax guy’s beautiful hump-

back whale, Colorado

River, Grand Canyon environmental music. Sometimes the irony

of things just smacks

me upside the head. Do I get a pass for being a member of the

youngest of the species, and,

therefore, not necessarily

the wisest

of the

species?

I didn’t think so.