Watching paint dry (1959); The Hawk Talks (1952)

Wilson Gray wilson.gray at RCN.COM
Mon Feb 7 03:29:04 UTC 2005


On Feb 6, 2005, at 3:44 AM, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Bapopik at AOL.COM
> Subject:      Watching paint dry (1959); The Hawk Talks (1952)
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> WATCHING PAINT DRY
> ...
> (PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
> ...
> _'The  Shrike' Offered at Horseshoe_
> (http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?
> index=0&did=464284862&SrchMode=1&sid=9&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=
> 309&VName=HNP&TS
> =1107673743&clientId=65882)
> GEOFFREY WARREN.  Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles,
> Calif.: May 19, 1959. p. 28 (1 page)
> ...
> Sitting in attendance at the Horseshoe Stage Theater presentation of
> Joseph
> Kramm's "The Shrike" is as exciting as watching paint dry.
> ...
> ...
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> -------
> --------------------------------------------------------
> THE HAWK TALKS
> ...
> Thanks, Wilson.
> ...
> I've tried all sorts of search terms for THE AFRO AMERICAN (Baltimore,
> but
> national coverage), Newspaperarchive, and ProQuest Historical
> Newspapers. If
> Down Beat doesn't come through, we'll have to wait for the complete
> digitization  of the Chicago Tribune. It's now at 1958, but in the
> 1960s and 1970s, "The
> Hawk"  was probably discussed at least once and readers probably wrote
> in.
> However,  with ProQuest, that could be this year, or next year...
> ...
> ...
> (PAPER OF RECORD)
> 27 December 1952, THE AFRO AMERICAN, pg. 16, col. 4:
> (The story is from Chicago--ed.)
> Woody Herman led the jazz fields with Duke Ellington in third and
> fourth
> places, respectively, with his "The Hawk Talks" and "Jam With Sam",
> "Johnny
> Hodges", "Castle Rock," fifth, and Illinois Jacquet's "Port of Rico,"
> ninth.

Now, that's odd. I'm familiar with the names and the music of everyone
on this list, but the only title that I definitely recognize is "Castle
Rock" by Johnny Hodges. I bought a copy of it when I was a second-year
student in high school. At the time, I fondly imagined that my future
career would be that of jazz alto [saek'sOf at nist].

And I'm really, really amazed by the number of citations in the
material quoted below that make it appear that the use of the term,
"The Hawk," as the name of a cold winter wind is restricted to, or a
peculiarity of, Chicago. I've been to Chicago only once and that was
during the summer. So, the subject of the wind didn't come up.

-Wilson Gray

> ...
> ...
> ...
> (PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
> ...
> _BAND  BEATS JIVE AS PEARL BAILEY WEDS DRUMMER; London Crowd
> Jitterbugs at
> Ceremony _
> (http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?
> index=8&did=498931892&SrchMode=1&sid=10&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT
> =309&VName=HNP&TS=1107677785&clientId=65882)
> Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1963). Chicago,  Ill.: Nov 20, 1952. p. A1
> (1
> page)
> ...
> As they came to the door, there was an outburst of jazz music. Outside
> the
> jimmy Walker band was playing Bellson's song, "The Hawk Talks."
> ...
>        18.
> _JAZZ  STYLES REVIVED; JAZZ MAESTRO _
> (http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?
> index=17&did=95811234&SrchMode=1&sid=12&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT
> =309&VName=HNP&
> TS=1107678274&clientId=65882)
> By JOHN S.  WILSONJoe Covello from Black Star. New York Times
> (1857-Current
> file). New York, N.Y.: Sep 23, 1956. p. 138 (1 page)
> ...
> COLEMAN HAWKINS: The Hawk Talks (Decca).  The elder statesman of the
> tenor
> saxophone is plagued by strings and steel  guitars throughout most of
> this disk,
> but he manages tgo break through  occasionally with some of his
> customary
> strong, striking statements.

COLEMAN HAWKINS: The Hawk Talks ... "[t]he elder statesman of the tenor
saxophone ..."

and, FWIW, there was also

LESTER YOUNG, who recorded Lester Leaps In and was known as "the
president of the tenor saxophone," later shortened  to "prez."

-Wilson Gray


> ...
> ...
> _The  New Steelworkers; The New Steelworkers-'No Pride in This Dust' _
> (http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?
> index=3&did=119453908&SrchMode=1&sid=5&Fmt=10&VInst=P
> ROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1107675565&clientId=65882)
> By BENNETT KREMEN. New York Times  (1857-Current file). New York,
> N.Y.: Jan
> 7, 1973. p. 159 (2 pages)
> First page:
> The sun isn't up yet and the "Hawk," Chicago's cruel wind, lashes down
> on
> the thousands of workers huddling at bus stops.
> ...
> _CHICAGO'S  RAW NERVE_
> (http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?
> index=6&did=115510434&SrchMode=1&sid=4&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=
> 309&VName=HNP&TS=1107675180&cl
> ientId=65882)
> By Dirk Johnson. New  York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.:
> Feb 19,
> 1989. p. SM34 (6  pages)
> First page, first paragraph:
> IN THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO, in the lobby of a former union hall,
> there
> hangs an old photograph. Striking stockyard workers, blacks and
> whites, are
> huddled together for solidarity, and perhaps for warmth, against the
> fierce
> winter wind that whips off Lake Michigan, an infamous gale known here
> as "The
> Hawk." Across the photograph is emblazoned the slogan, "Negro and
> White--Unite  to
> Fight!"
> ...
> _Once  Stolid and Big-Shouldered, Now a Cinderella on the Lake_
> (http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?
> index=7&did=117371465&SrchMode=1&sid=3&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VTy
> pe=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1107674999&clientId=65882)
> By DIRK JOHNSON. New York Times  (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.:
> Jul 15,
> 1997. p. A10 (1 page)
> ...
> But not even the infamous winter wind, known here as The Hawk, appears
> likely to chill the property market here.
> ...
> ...
> ...
> (NEWSPAPERARCHIVE)
> ...
>      _Daily Intelligencer _
> (http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Viewer.aspx?img=WzJJ0cfXWDaKID/
> 6NLMW2ueuV6jcLHxVxx4Q2VSrmvmWSDIoRKdgCkIF+CsZYmrz)  Sunday,
> January 12, 1986 _Doylestown,_
> (http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Search.aspx?Search=city:
> doylestown+the+hawk+and+Lake+michigan+and+wind)  _Pennsylvania_
> (http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Search.aspx?Search=state:
> pennsylvania+the+hawk+and+La
> ke+michigan+and+wind)      ...a HAWK. THE  HAWK is what THEy call THE
> WIND
> that screams  in off LAKE MICHIGAN.....on Page B 10 Rams meet Bears
> but  'THE
> HAWK' won't fly CHICAGO Barely a  week..
> ...
>      _Daily Herald _
> (http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Viewer.aspx?img=KVP2nb8FYnqKID/
> 6NLMW2ug58hDIVYU1l4JdXWwSbvhcRaRK/rDzJ0IF+CsZYmrz)  Tuesday, October
> 29, 1985 _Chicago,_
> (http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Search.aspx?Search=city:
> chicago+the+hawk+is+the+wind+and+Chicago)  _Illinois_
> (http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Search.aspx?Search=state:
> illinois+the+hawk+is+the+wind+and+Chicago)
>  ...s last couple weeks.  CHICAGO's mighty HAWK blew off THE lake  AND
> right
> on down.....to find he was tradin' against  THE WIND. THE Sox were
> ready to
> wheel  AND..
> ...
>      _Daily Intelligencer _
> (http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Viewer.aspx?img=WzJJ0cfXWDaKID/
> 6NLMW2ueuV6jcLHxVxx4Q2VSrmvnovlBIiVNHPUIF+CsZYmrz)  Sunday,
> January 12, 1986 _Doylestown,_
> (http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Search.aspx?Search=city:
> doylestown+the+hawk+and+Lake+michigan)  _Pennsylvania_
> (http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Search.aspx?Search=state:
> pennsylvania+the+hawk+and+Lake+michig
> an)      ...THEy call THE  wind that screams in off LAKE MICHIGAN AND
> swirls
> through Soldier.....was 74. Almost hot enough to roast a HAWK.  THE
> HAWK is
> what..
> ...
>      _Syracuse Herald Journal _
> (http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Viewer.aspx?img=3vaM+qTkZ6GKID/
> 6NLMW2irVfGke03XYUXnd6keGXZjE20/2yzabr0IF+CsZYmrz)  Monday,
> September 30, 1991 _Syracuse,_
> (http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Search.aspx?Search=city:
> syracuse+the+hawk+and+chicago+and+wind)  _New York_
> (http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Search.aspx?Search=state:
> new_york+the+hawk+and+chicago+and+wi
> nd)      ...ORCHARD PARK THE  Bears call it THE HAWK THE WIND coming
> off
> Lake Michigan.....well in his first two seasons with CHICAGO's  Bears
> He spent
> most of  his..
>



More information about the Ads-l mailing list