(PR photo of Dave Brubek in 1956. Photo AP).

I was thinking about the passing of Dave Brubeck, whose astonishing syncopated time-scales links me back to the little dining room in the house on Chester Street in Birmingham, Michigan.

Dad was an aficionado of cool jazz, and I recall dancing with my brother and sister to “Take Five” in 1959- I would have been eight then- and the 45rpm record of “Hound Dog” by Elvis which was getting scratchy from play in the RCA portable record player since it was released in 1956.

What a different world it was! Modern style had leapt across the War from the elites of the 1930s and finally percolated down to suburbia. The WWII vets were just hitting their stride- Dave Brubek had done his time in the Army, like just about everyone.

I know every generation has its challenges, and the Eisenhower years were by no means as placid as we like to think. But to have come from there to here in one life…well, it boggles the mind.

I will miss Mr. Brubek. He was so cool.

I almost slipped this morning- it was so tempting to pick at the story about the First Family’s Winter Holiday extravaganza in Hawaii. The lurid account of the logistics of the holiday got me going.

Some GOP operative in Hawaii counted the expenses and estimated it will be $4 million for the jets and hotels and security and armored limos and the ambulance and a separate jet for Bo-the-dog.

When I was living on the other side of the island, we were required to put our canines in doggy-jail for six months. It was part of the quarantine that kept rabies out of the lovely islands. Bo may be able to duck the requirement, if he is required to be there on official business.

It doesn’t seem fair that some dogs get out of jail free, and other dogs are confined longer than they would if they had stuck up a Zippy’s restaurant in Waikiki.

You can tee off on me for not approving of the astonishing luxury in which we keep our Chief Executives- This is not a partisan issue, as far as I am concerned. Hell, let’s give a nod to George W. Bush, whose extended vacations on a sand-blasted ranch in Crawford Texas used to irritate the Washington Post so desperately.

What causes me consternation is the fact that we are supposed to be worried about that “fairness” thing.

(Larry Ellison is going to make ‘his’ island ‘green.’ Like it wasn’t already. Photo Oracle).

Of course this is not fair. Larry Ellison, CEO of the Oracle software empire, just bought the entire island of Lanai. I don’t know what the residents think about that. It is not like a President showing up for a few weeks R&R after a tough campaign. It is more like an occupying army. Certainly not fair, but at least it is Larry’s money and I can’t get too worked up about it.

Course, it is not fair that the antics of our elected officials is going to smack my little industry like a OB smacks the butt of a newborn, with the same yelp of sudden awareness. But what the hell.

Life ain’t fair, is it? I wonder why Washington seems to think they can make it so. Blows my mind.

(Somewhere, it is always Christmas for the Presidents. Photo AP.)

Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com