Dear Friends:
 
At Mezzrow earlier this week a young man approached me.  He said he had something to show me and that I might be interested in buying it from him.  "What is it?", I asked suspiciously.  "It has something to do with Charlie Parker", said he.  My eyebrows raised - he had my attention.  "In what sense?", I asked.  "Well, a photograph - he's not in it but he signed it.  An autograph."  I have to admit that I was very interested at that point and asked him to show me immediately.  What he had was a souvenir card with a photo in it from The Royal Roost.  The Royal Roost was a fried chicken joint on 47th st and 7th avenue that began hosting modern jazz as their regular programming.  It soon became a vortex point for the burgeoning be-bop scene.  Miles Davis did his first "Birth of the Cool" at The Royal Roost.  The other main denizen was, of course, Charlie Parker, who played there for years and many radio broadcasts exist from "the Roost".  I looked at the photo and there was two young couples - one being his grandparents on a double date with another young couple.  Seated with them, with a michevious look on her face, was Dinah Washington.  On the back of the photo was the price of the souvenir, $1.50, which was pretty expensive for 1949.  Anyway, these young people (now his deceased grandparents) were jazz fans and had some of the musicians in the house sign the card - this included Charlie Parker, Teddy Wilson and Charlie Ventura.  I asked the guy what he wanted for the autograph and he mentioned what I thought was a very fair price considering it's historical value.  So, I wrote him a check and the autograph now belongs to Mezzrow.  When you come in you can see it framed right near the entrance - Bird signs it; "Regards, Charlie Parker" - and I felt like he was speaking to us - from back in time to this future time - from the Royal Roost to Mezzrow in a transmission from past to future where the spirit of this music is unchanged.  Regards!  Hello, Bird - great to see you there and welcome to our club!

We've got some amazing shows coming up at both of our clubs - Smalls and Mezzrow.  Please come by and visit us - walking back and forth between the two clubs is easy and fun.

My best wishes to you and your loved ones.

Regards,
Spike