My eighth grade geometry teacher Mr. Stoa (RIP) was always talking in a smooth swing-era voice. He liked to call the boys “Tiger” and the girls “Star”, which seemed rather eccentric and mystifying at the time. Many years later I heard somewhere that he had been a trumpet or trombone player (or something?) during the swing era. I guess he always kept that swingin’ feeling going.
Apparently Fargo was on the swing band circuit to some degree, or at least the great Duke Ellington saw fit to play there in 1940. It was recorded (straight to vinyl, I believe), and my dad had a copy on a set of LPs. One time our high school jazz band played a concert at the Reineke and I had a clarinet solo on “Rockin’ in Rhythm”. I modeled mine after the one on the Fargo recordings. I was super nervous and probably messed it up, but my teacher Mr. C still dug it, so I guess it was probably all right.
Keep on swingin’, all you tigers & stars!
I actually have a friend whose uncle was in the original Ellington Big Band. The same friend toured and played bass in the current lineup of the Ellington band. Groovy.
Nice story. Nice tune.
The only geometry teacher I can remember wore his pants to his nipples, was short, and looked like a toad. He had a thick German accent. His famous catch phrase was “see that door? walk through it.” Said to them who misbehaved. The point upon which he intersects with your Mr. Stoa is no where near the smooth swing-era voice. Quite an obtuse angle between them I’d say geometrically speaking.
Ok, i’m now switching to calling everyone tiger and star. It has a much nicer ring than douche and bitch.