I heard a Dixieland band at Dollywood today. They were from Russia. I am not making this up. As a part of their Festival of Nations, Dollywood has imported some great tallent. We went up there today and saw five shows. It was a blast.

The Russians, I would guess, fell in love with an American named Louis Armstrong. Louie went over there for a tour during the Cold War and he wowed them with his music. On returning home, he said, "Them cats dig me the most." OK, it was a few decades ago, and a guy who was often called "Satchmo" could talk like that.

Two members of the band did Louie Armstrong impressions. One did it in English and the other in Russian. Don't strain your brain, but can you imagine Louie Armstrong singing in Russian? "What a Wonderful World" or "Mack the Knife." He probably never did.

Toward the end of their program, they seemed to run out of Dixieland numbers so they played a little big band music. One number was "In the Mood." That song is the all time leader of great crowd pleasers. People cheer when they hear the first few notes and then they can't sit still. It's a foot stomper and a toe tapper.

We saw some other shows, which I will probably mention on my blog in a day or two, and we also went back to hear that steel band from Trinidad. They call themselves "Sticks on Steel." We just had to hear them play "In the Mood" again.
Howard