Reduced booze = increased music

An alternate etymology, according to a jazz history book I'm reading, says that "on the wagon" refers to the jazz musicians in the early part of the last century, who, in order to ply their art had a horse pull a flatbed wagon around town with a band on it, playing tunes as it plied its way through the street. The junior musicians were (apparently) often stuck with this task, so the senior musicians would stay back at the speak-easy and - of course- drink. So, if you were "on the wagon", you couldn't drink, and obviously, for jazz musicians who drank too much but suddenly stopped drinking, it would make sense to say, "I'm on the wagon."

I mention this because I started cutting down on my own booze intake this week, simply so I could get longer, more coherent practice time in. I was therefore struck by the amazing coincidence of Stanley Bing (who's blog I'm a big fan of) making the same resolution - albeit for a different reason - at the same time I did. What are the odds?

Unlike ol' Stan, however, I'm not going completely dry. Something about that whiskey with big ice cubes in a crystal glass on the end of the piano, just keeps me going.