A26 FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2016
RICHMOND-NEWS.COM
VOICESin the Community
The night I met Duke Ellington Details sketchy but not impression of jazz icon leading charity band
The slogans you live by may be due for rebranding DAVIDICUSWONG Healthwise
Nadine Jones Contributor
I
n Nadine Jones, left, chair the 1970 Salvation Army funding drive, managed to get Duke Ellington to lead the Salvation Army band at it`s open air concert. Evelyn Caldwell (Miss Sally Ann) left and Jones`` two daughters were also on hand. Photo submitted
his flair for style and his gentlemanly cashmere coat, polo style. And Chrismanner. He broke the racial barrier by tine remembers him saying “I wish playing for years at the all-white Cotthey’d hurry, I’m going to get Fresh ton Club. He married his high school Air Poisoning.” The girls are now both sweetheart in l916, and they were still grandmothers. married when he died in l974. They Duke couldn’t have been nicer had one son, Mercer, and that’s where or friendlier. We had his company I come in. I had read somewhere that for only a few minutes and then he the Duke had a soft climbed the stairs spot in his heart for and led the Salvathe Salvation Army. tion Army Temple Mercer was with his Band in a rendidad on that l970s tion, of what I don’t I wish they`d hurry. I`m gig to the Cave Night remember. Club, so I took a What I do regoing to get fresh air leap of faith. I got in member is that he poisoning. touch with Mercer invited my then– Duke Ellington, and asked him if husband and me he thought by any to his show at the Prior to leading the chance his dad might Cave and backstage Salvation Army Temple give a few minutes to to his dressing room Band on the grounds the Salvation Army. at half time. He of the old vancouver Mercer got back to was 71, no kid at Courthouse me and said yes. So the time, and had the time and place spent most of his for a meeting was life in second hand arranged….in the smoke so when we courthouse grounds went backstage at a given time. My two pretty young he was lying on his back full length, daughters brought the Duke down resting between appearances. Since I from his suite in the Hotel Vancouver was sitting behind him, I held his head and he crossed Hornby Street and met up while he signed autographs. Maybe me and Evelyn Caldwell, Miss Sally that`s why I was born? To hold up Ann, (who actually was great and did Duke Ellington’s head? a tiny bit of cheesecake when asked… As Ed Sullivan would say, introducnot much). ing his popular show for the night, My two girls were duly impressed. “It’s a really big SHEW,” and it was. I When I asked them now as I write this, trust the Army made a lot of money what they remembered of the evening, because it was a lot of work….but my eldest girl, Lynnette, (whom I’m certainly rewarding. Nadine Jones is a retired journalist. hiding with my head in the picture) said she remembers he had on a
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he year was l970. The event was the annual Salvation Army’s Red Shield Appeal. I happened to be the pro bono chairperson of the event that year, so it fell on my shoulders to make it all happen. The grounds of the then Vancouver Courthouse were secured. The respected and usually staid CBC Television News anchor, Lloyd Robertson, delivered the 6 p.m. national news wearing a Salvation Army Hat and suggested that his viewers go to the show... A lighting firm in Burnaby loaned sophistication by criss-crossing huge light beams back and forth across the sky over the area. (They did it for free but I can’t remember their name.) Salvation Army ladies served coffee from hastily erected kiosks….coffee I had mooched from Murchies. Jack Webster (a well-known Scottish news personality whom many of you will remember with a smile), Sweeney from Sweeney Cooperage on Granville Island advertized (From logs to Barrels. Now defunct), Gordon Wismer, (twice Attorney General of B.C. l93741 and 1946-52), Grace McCarthy (well-know lady of many hats) and other dignitaries were “one, two, three, kicking in a snaky Congo line, much to the amusement of crowd. The grounds were packed. The Salvation Army is a very popular organization and most people I contacted were delighted to become involved. I’m sure I’m forgetting lots of important people and happenings but, after all, it was 46 years ago. So, being that long ago, there must have been something very impressive for me to recall the evening. And there sure was! Duke Ellington, some would argue, invented jazz. His orchestra was the first Big Band Sound to jump on the jazz bandwagon and it brought Duke fame and fortune. Among his honours were receiving a life-time achievement Grammy award and receiving 16 honorary doctorates. He was presented with, not one, but two, gold medals from reigning presidents. He wrote songs such as Mood Indigo, Sophisticated Lady, Don’t get Around Much Anymore and hundreds more songs many of which are still played today. Born in l899 in New York as Edward Kennedy Ellington, he was christened “Duke” by his friends because of
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n business, branding is everything. A lot of thought goes into a company’s choice of name, trademark and slogan, and that slogan — the catchy way that it expresses its values, vision and purpose — influences how the organization is seen by its employees and customers. Well-chosen slogans are sticky. We automatically associate them with the brand. Nike: Just do it. Kentucky Fried Chicken: Finger lickin’ good. Coke: It’s the real thing. Those sticky ideas get into our heads — sometimes through creative commercials and advertising campaigns; often through shear repetition. They can have greater impact when spoken by charismatic or influential personalities. Over time, we just accept them as part of our daily landscape, soundscape and mindscape. We eventually stop questioning their validity. Therein lies the danger of slogans. We quickly adopt them as habits of thought. They shape our beliefs and influence how we see the world. As children, memorable phrases can help us learn important rules and good behaviour. “I” before “e” except after “c.” Look both ways before you cross the street. Use your eyes and use your ears, before you use your feet. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. . . Through the power of habit, what we repeatedly think becomes our inclination. The connections between specific neurons are reinforced over time and like a welltravelled path become engrained. This is fine when those habitual thoughts are true and useful. Unfortunately, we all carry personal slogans adopted from the past. They may have been said first by influential people, like parents or teachers, or you may have come up with them through past experiences. They are reinforced by self-talk: what we say to ourselves that shapes our opinions, feelings and actions. Negative self-slogans that are never totally true and don’t help anyone include: “I’ll never be happy.” “I can’t control myself.” “I’m a loser.” “I can’t win.” “I’m not good enough.” “There’s something wrong with me.” “Those people are different.” Negative self-slogans can limit your thoughts, narrow your perspective, shape your emotions and keep you from trying. What are your limiting beliefs about yourself and others? In what ways are you heeding the slogans of past advertising campaigns of companies long out of business? Some of the things we bring forward from the past no longer apply or may never have been true. If you need help identifying negative self-talk, do what businesses do. Put together a small focus group of your best friends. Ask them what negative phrases you regularly use. Try out some new slogans. Here are some of mine. “Be an agent of positive change.” “We were made to move. When we don’t, our health suffers; when we do, we thrive.” “Of the things within your control, the best predictors of your future health are the habits you practice today.” “Help yourself to happiness by helping others.” “Give more than you get.” Davidicus Wong is a family physician and his Healthwise columns appear regularly in this paper.