Thursday Live March 6

The March 6th Thursday Live! will be a tribute show to Jazz legend, and former Davis resident, John Tchicai. Thursday Live! will honor his music and spirit.

Two groups will perform that evening. Tony Passarell, Keith Cary and Kerry Kashiwagi; whom are well respected former Tchicai sidemen and will be performing as a sax, cello and bass trio. Mark Oi, Jeff Simons, and Andrew Enberg will perform compositions by John and some original compositions of their own.

We hope you will come feel the spirit of Maestro John Tchicai at this event.

John Tchicai live in Davis from 1991 until 2001. Born in 1936 to a Danish mother and Congolese father, John started out playing violin, but eventually switched to alto saxophone at age 16. New York City called in 1963, and John embraced the jazz avant-garde. While in New York, John recorded on 11 records during his 4 year stay. He was recorded on John Coltrane’s Ascension LP and Albert Ayler’s New York Ear and Eye Control LP. Two seminal groups were co-founded by John during this period, The New York Contemporary Five (with Archie Shepp and Don Cherry) and the New York Art Quartet (with Roswell Rudd, Milford Graves , and Reggie Workman). The NY Art Quartet’s record, Mohawk, is considered a classic recording from this period. In 1969, John performed on John Lennon’s Life with Lions LP.

Early in the 1980s, John switched to the tenor saxophone as his main instrument. John was accomplished on all of the saxophones, as well as the bass clarinet, and wooden flutes. During this time, John was very busy performing with Cecil Taylor, Lee Konitz, Misha Mengelberg, Johnny Dyani, and Pierre Dørge’s New Jungle Orchestra.

The Danish Ministry of Culture awarded its first lifetime grant for Jazz Performance to John in 1990. His 1991 move to Davis was meant to be temporary, but John fell in love with Davis and became a part of the Davis musical fabric for the next ten years.

The first band John formed in Davis was the Coyote Ensemble. Shortly after this, he formed John Tchicai and the Archetypes, a band that fused Afro jazz with blues rock. John took his spirited ensemble to the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Knitting Factory in New York City, and two tours in Europe.

In 2001, John and his family left Davis to settle in Claira, France. John continued to perform all over Europe and made yearly visits to perform in New York City and Chicago. He passed on October 8, 2012, from complications of a stroke he had suffered. John was on his way to perform at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival when he had the stroke. The world lost a kind gentle soul who contributed so much. His smile and sound are missed.

You won’t want to miss this stellar show! Open your minds and your hearts and try something new. You might surprise yourself!

Davis Odd Fellows Classic Film Fest

It was a success! We counted 150 community members who attended our three screenings of classic films.

The third and final film of the series, “The Apartment, screened on February 16, drew 62 guests. The Apartment is an irrepressible comedy-drama starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine and Fred MacMurray. Billy Wilder directed and produced this film, coming right after his critical success in directing “Some Like It Hot.”

The first featured film in the series was “You Can’t Take It With You,” shown on February 2. Fifty attendees viewed this screening of the 1938 classic comedy romp by the legendary director Frank Capra. That film won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The second film in this series was “All About Eve” from 1950, shown on February 9, and attended by 38 guests. The film stars Bette Davis and George Sanders, and is a classic drama directed by Joseph L. Makiewicz and produced by Daryl F. Zanuck. It was nominated for a remarkable 14 Academy Award categories, and actually won in six, including Best Picture.

Local film critic Derric Bang introduced each film and gave the audience the “back story”.

Because of the popularity of this first festival, the Davis Odd Fellows Lodge Film Festival Committee – a fixture in Davis since 1870 – is already planning the Second “Davis Odd Fellows Classic Film Festival.”

Rebekah Crab Feed

The Davis Rebekah Lodge had a very successful Crab Feed on February 8 – raising funds to help foster children, recently emancipated foster youth, and children from very low income families.  Over 150 participants chowed down on salad, garlic bread, pasta, fresh cracked crab and homemade desserts.  The Davis Rebekah Lodge also held a raffle, a silent auction and a chance auction with many happy winners.  Two bars were open and “Cold Shot” entertained.  Co-chairing the event were Jeannie Pytel and Lea Rosenberg.

Here’s a photo early in the evening.

DavisRebekahCrabFeed20140213

50 Million Steps

We have issued a challenge to the Lodge to get healthy and to walk. The challenge is for the Lodge members to walk 50 million steps in the next 6 months (that’s the equivalent of one time around the Planet Earth). We can do it, if enough odd Fellows and Pledges participate. We already have 33 signed up! We really should have at least 50. So, if you are interested in this fun challenge (honor system only – you keep track of your own steps) and haven’t already signed up, please e-mail Sharla Cheney at shcheney@gmail.com to get signed up! And if you need a pedometer, we have them for you.

Please see Sharla’s message, below.

F – L – T

Dave Rosenberg

Hello Davis Odd Fellows Walk Challengers!

Here is a weekly log that will help you keep track of your steps. You can use the pedometer provided or one of your own.

1) Just put the log in a convenient place or use the .xls spreadsheet to log in your steps on your computer. You can also use your own system of keeping track.

2) Send me an email once per week with your steps.

I will keep everyone briefed on how we are doing every few weeks!

We have 33 participants. We would really like 50 people, so spread the word on what we are doing.

Walk a little, walk a lot. It all helps. We just want to see everyone out there walking!

Quaint Historical Relics

Today, I would like to talk about “Quaint Historical Relics”. Odd Fellowship, as you know, has many of them.

Today’s quaint historical relic can be found on the back of the “official certificate” of the Encampment. The “official certificate” is just the Odd Fellow’s way of saying “membership card.” Parenthetically, the membership cards used by Odd Fellowship, in all it’s branches, is itself a quaint historical relic. Rather than having them computer generated, the cards are only available in hard-copy and are painstakingly hand-written. Plus, they are so small that the type is virtually invisible. A magnifying glass is needed to read some of the 2-point type. But, I digress.

Today’s quaint historical relic is printed on the back of the Encampment membership card. Found there is the “telegraphic cipher and key”. Now, if you were to ask potential new members of the Order in their teens, 20′s and 30′s, I imagine very few would know what a telegraph or a cipher is. Telegraphs and telegrams were used extensively a century ago. Yet, being outmoded or superseded has never stopped Odd Fellows. There, on the back of the card is the telegraphic cipher and the key to it’s interpretation.

The cipher and key harkens back to a time (in the late 1800′s and early 1900′s, I imagine) when telegraphs and telegrams were the major method of communication, and when Odd Fellows would travel from town to town and community to community in search of work. Sometimes, Odd Fellows in the new town or community would help the traveling Odd Fellow with work or housing or money. Sometimes, the traveling Odd Fellow would become ill or pass away. And sometimes, the traveling Odd Fellow was not an Odd Fellow at all – but rather a charlatan who tried to get some free food, housing or money. Hence, the telegraphic cipher and key. Odd Fellows Lodges used telegraphic codes to communicate with each other about these travelers. Let me give you some examples from the back of the membership card.

“Black” – If that cipher was telegraphed, it meant: “He is a fraud, and if he has a card or other papers from this lodge, they are forgeries.”

“Boat” – That means: “He is an expelled member, and has not been in good standing for ______.”

“Doubt” – “Identity in doubt. Wire description.”

“Green” – “Wire instructions to us at once as to the disposition of his remains.”

“Help” – “Will your lodge pay nurse hire, and how much per day?”

“House” – “Is in our city, holding a visiting card from your lodge and asking of us financial assistance.”

“Secretary” – “He has a fraudulent card.”

“White” – “We don’t know of any such party, and he does not belong to our lodge.”

“Yellow” – “Is in our city and very sick. Claims membership in your lodge. Shall we give him attendance on your account.”

These and other ciphers and keys are contained on the back of the Encampment membership card – holdovers from another time and another age. Yet Odd Fellows has not caught up to the 21st Century. Other examples abound. Odd Fellowship still uses hard-copy application forms. In fact, the forms use slick paper so that if the wrong pen is used, the writing will smear. Odd Fellows still requires annual reports to be painstakingly filled out by hand. Most Odd Fellows Lodges still distribute their newsletters in printed form, mailed to the members.

But change is coming. Here’s a positive example of that change: For the past 161 years, voting at Grand Lodge sessions has been a slow and laborious process, subject to human error, of counting votes by hand. At the 2013 Grand Lodge Sessions, I (as the newly elected Grand Warden) suggested that we revise our voting methodology and use electronic voting. Newly elected Grand Master Rick Boyles enthusiastically supported the concept and I am delighted to note that the Grand Lodge Board of Directors, unanimously, approved electronic voting. And the 2014 Grand Lodge Sessions (the 162nd such session) will – for the first time in our Order’s history – have such electronic voting. The voting will be swift and accurate, and instantly displayed for the session. This sort of movement into the 21st Century is a healthy sign for this Order, and long overdue.

F – L – T

Dave Rosenberg
Grand Warden