"JOJO THE DIXIELAND JAZZMAN AND DA GATOR"

               

JoJo has been in these parts of Florida all his life.  He was born in a small town just off Alligator Alley.  For those who don't know Alligator Alley it's a highway in southern Florida that runs from near the Florida Keys to the Gulf of Mexico, straight across the state.  JoJo is probably the finest Dixieland jazz man left on earth.  There isn't a musical instrument he can't play. He is one talented soul and soul is what you get when you hear JoJo play!

He plays baby grand pianos just as easily as he    plays Dixie jazz pianos.  JoJo can excite a crowd as a solo performer or he can easily fit right in with a group of other musicians.  JoJo often goes to some of the local clubs at night to sit in with some of the performers.  There is always a lot of excitement when JoJo walks through the door.  Especially the performers are glad to see him.

JoJo has a way of fitting in with the young electric guitar     players and their rap songs.  He also has their respect.  There isn't one who doesn't wish they had JoJo's talent.  Then he heads on down the street and drops in to some of the other clubs to see who's playing.  Sooner or later he always comes across some of his old friends and plays for awhile with them.

JoJo loves that because during their breaks they all sit and talk   about old times.  They all have some wonderful memories of days gone by.  JoJo then picks up his guitar at closing and heads for home.  JoJo has a terrific family including a sweet grandson he is extremely proud of named Jamal.  Some of you may remember Jamal from a story a few weeks ago.  Well JoJo is his grandfather.

Jamal is just as proud of his grandfather.  He is known all   over America as one of the greatest jazz men alive.  Someday Jamal hopes to be just like him.  Right now though, Jamal likes to play a lot!  One day Jamal was out riding his big wheel bike down a dirt road when all of a sudden a big gator jumped out of some palm trees and scared Jamal very badly!

Jamal turned around fast and headed for home     but the gator wasn't giving up.  He thought he had supper in his sight!  He took off after Jamal. That big wheel was hauling as fast as it would go!  This was one big ugly gator.  He even had two different colored eyes.  One was blue and the other red.  It made him look extra scary! 

As Jamal neared his home he heard his grandfather practicing his sax.  He looked back behind him and saw something very strange happening.  The gator had stopped and was doing a dance in time to his grandfather's music.  From that day forward whenever Da Gator, as he came to be known, got out of control everyone would just call JoJo to calm him down.

Down south sometimes people say da instead of the, so that is why   everyone named gator, Da Gator.  It kind of became Jamal's job to keep an eye on him and let his grandfather know if he needed to get near Da Gator and play some music to calm him down.  One day after Jamal finished playing on his trampoline he headed off to see a friend of his.  Along the way he had to pass a golf course. 

He saw a golfer about to tee off but there was a big problem!  Not far away, all decked out for a big dinner, complete with fork and knife and a big bib that said, I love golf with a heart was Da Gator!  Jamal knew what he really meant was, I love to eat golfers!   He ran to get his grandfather as fast as he could!

Jamal and his grandfather figured they had better hurry, so they took JoJo's classic pink '57 Chevy.  JoJo had that car since it was brand new and it was his pride and joy, next to Jamal who came first of course.  JoJo played his guitar and soothed Da Gator. The next thing Jamal and his grandfather saw was Da Gator headed back for his swamp and leaving behind one very lucky golfer!

Da Gator's swamp was a pretty nice place and he had plenty of frogs for his dinner waiting there.  Jamal liked to go to the swamp and play with the frogs sometimes.  Of course he knew he had to watch out for Da Gator.  He could be a sneaky fellow and just pop up out the water when you didn't expect him at all!

The next morning Jamal woke and did his usual jumping up and down on his bed.  Jamal's mom could never figure out why he thought that was so much fun.  After breakfast he went to his back yard.  His grandfather had put up a tire swing in a tree for him.  Jamal loved to swing circles in it. He was a lucky boy and even had a nice size pool to cool off in on hot days.  In Florida almost everyday is hot!

One day JoJo got an emergency call that a park ranger  was in a wrestling match with Da Gator.  JoJo took his cello along.  He knew Da Gator liked the mellow sound of the cello more than any of his instruments.  JoJo thought it was going to take something special to settle down this dangerous fight!  The soothing sounds from JoJo's cello did the trick.  The fight ended with a mellow Da Gator going home.

That night JoJo headed down to the clubs to see who was playing.  When people saw him walk by they always commented on how much rhythm he had, even in his walk.  He was simply one of those genius people born full of music!  JoJo didn't know it but many nights Jamal would follow along, sit outside the clubs and listen to the jazz and blues music.

Jamal had never told his grandfather but he was taking   music class in school.  He wished one day to be almost has good as JoJo. As Jamal walked home that day he remembered this was the weekend of the big football game.  The Florida Gators would be playing.  Everyone got so excited about the game.  People planned for these games for a long time and there was always a lot of excitement.

People would dress up and have tailgating parties.  Jamal was     very surprised when he saw Da Gator.  He was decked out for the ball games and cheering right along with everyone else!  He was so excited it seemed he was the teams biggest fan!  Jamal thought it was all pretty funny seeing Da Gator with his big #1 glove on! 

Unfortunately, the Gators didn't win that day which set Da Gator off into a fit.  Grandfather JoJo got out his trombone and they told Da Gator to get in Jamal's back yard pool and cool off.  With JoJo's soothing music and the cool swimming pool, Da Gator calmed down very quickly.  Finally Jamal felt brave enough to show his grandfather what he had been doing.

He got out his trumpet and started to play.  Grandfather   JoJo was so impressed!  He had no idea that Jamal was even interested in music.  He grabbed his trumpet and the two of them started playing a duet together.  JoJo couldn't believe how good Jamal was.  All those nights outside the clubs listening to all the groups and his grandfather had sure paid off.  He was on his way to learning from the very best and someday maybe he'd be teaching his grandson to play as well.  One thing for sure that proved Jamal was getting very good, Da Gator was doing his gator jig.  That settled it, Jamal was on his way to becoming a great jazz man too!

IF YOU WANT SOMETHING BADLY ENOUGH AND PRACTICE HARD ENOUGH, THERE IS ALMOST NOTHING YOU CAN'T ACHIEVE!