I’m on a jazz kick these days, and so when I saw an article in this morning’s New York Times about Hank Jones, (pesky free registration required, or BugMeNot) I jumped in with both feet. Toward the end of the article, there’s this exchange…

When a jazz musician reaches his 60’s, the race against time begins. In his mid-80’s, Mr. Jones is still racing. “I know I can do better than I’m doing now,” he commented, casually, toward the end of our talk.

You really mean that?

“Oh, yeah. There’s another level that’s reachable. I think it’s just a question of time, perhaps, or dedication. I know it’s there.”

Wow! Here’s a guy who’s 87 years old, who refuses to rest on his laurels. He wants to continually get better than he is right now.

The push for excellence must be ongoing. You can’t ever quit. Not to keep up with the neighbors or the new kids, but just for your own sense of doing the best you possibly can with the tools God gave you.

So sang the Beatles years ago. And you can’t buy “good marketing,” either. So says Steve Yastrow in a post about Sprint/Nextel over at Tom Peters’s place…

You can’t buy great marketing, no matter how big you are. You have to do great marketing. You can’t say “Yes, you can” if your employees and customers think “No, we can’t.” Marketing can’t be a big game of fakeout, no matter how big your checkbook is.

This is one of the – if not THE – biggest obstacles most of us who are trying to lead/transition organizations face: The “doing” doesn’t always match the “saying.” There is a tension between where we want to go and where we’re stuck, hanging out. This usually leads us to over-promise and under-deliver, in marketing terms. Which means not only do we have a problem with what we can and can’t offer, but it also means we have a serious credibility gap. Which just seems to conspire to keep the vicious cycle spinning.

I wish I had gotten this quote in my Inbox yesterday, instead of today…

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.
� Antoine de Saint-Exupery � Aviator, Author

I first heard this music late-late one night last week, while watching the movie Unfaithful. I tracked down the group, and it’s been on my playlist almost every day since. You may recognize the tune “Nara” if you watch Cold Case on CBS. It’s the opening theme.

Cool stuff…just what you need on a Sunday night…

See that street? Yep, that’s the world-famous – or infamous – Rue Bourbon in the Vieux Carre, New Orleans, Louisiana. Now, imagine that street with anywhere from 8-20 feet of water standing there. That’s what might happen in the next twelve hours when Hurricane Katrina blasts through the Gulf Coast.

We spent two years in N’awlins. For a city that we hated the first four months, it sure has grown on us since then. My professors told stories of live fish in the lobbies of on-campus apartment buildings when one Category 3 storm came through in the 1960s. Local lore holds that a little boy drowned while riding his bicycle. “Drowned while riding his bike? Well, that’s tragic, but not highly out of the ordinary, right?” Well, the boy was riding his bike on a railroad bridge. The bridge is over US Hwy. 90 in front of the Seminary. Lots and lots of water.

Now I know some folks would say that the best thing that could ever happen would be that New Orleans just washed away. I say pray for the safety of the people there. Pray for those who’ll go in to help out in the aftermath. I say pray that God will be glorified in the middle of a difficult and stressful time. I say pray that Jesus would be lifted up in the Crescent City.

…the way it should be!

Yesterday, the lovely and gracious “Mrs. Just Charlie” and I went to Atlanta on a quest to buy her a dress. (No, that’s not her! The lovely and gracious “Mrs. Just Charlie” makes the dress look much, much better!) We ended up at the Talbots store in the Peachtree Battle Promenade.

A great woman named Kathy helped us. So many times, “customer service” is a misnomer. Not with Kathy. She knew her stuff and more importantly, she knew people!

Thanks, Kathy! And thanks, Talbots!

In my South, there’s just one true Sport…(and it ain’t hockey!)

…the way it should be!

Yesterday, the lovely and gracious “Mrs. Just Charlie” and I went to Atlanta on a quest to buy her a dress. (No, that’s not her! The lovely and gracious “Mrs. Just Charlie” makes the dress look much, much better!) We ended up at the Talbots store in the Peachtree Battle Promenade.

A great woman named Kathy helped us. So many times, “customer service” is a misnomer. Not with Kathy. She knew her stuff and more importantly, she knew people!

Thanks, Kathy! And thanks, Talbots!

…but at least he didn’t beat me up. With an iron. A hot iron, at that! Go figure!

I got this in my Inbox yesterday (it was a personal e-mail, “from Diana Krall!” Yeah, right…!)

Dear Diana Krall Fan Club Member,

It’s the experience of a lifetime: an intimate evening with Diana Krall at a private residence in the hills of the Bay Area on Saturday, September 24th. Diana will share dinner and a very special performance with a small group of only 40 guests in support of the cause to cure multiple myeloma, an incurable bone marrow cancer that took the life of her mother, Adella, in 2002.

Since then, Diana and her sister Michelle have partnered with Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), the world’s largest nonprofit foundation dedicated to the single mission of accelerating the search for a cure of multiple myeloma, to create the MMRF Krall Family fund.

This “Evening of Jazz with Diana Krall” will benefit this fund entirely. This incredible opportunity to be a guest is being offered to you as someone who truly appreciates the beauty of Diana’s voice; both as a musician and advocate for this incurable disease. An extremely limited number of tickets remain at $5,000 per person (USD), with 100% of the proceeds going to the cause of curing multiple myeloma.

Don’t miss out on this chance to be part of Diana’s most intimate performance ever. For further event details and ticket information, please contact the MMRF today at 203-972-1250.

I promise I’ll behave! And I’ll even mention your name to the lovely and gracious Mrs. Costello – and her our hosts – if you pony up the five grand so I can go! I promise! It would be for a good cause…’cause I’d like to go!