Monk

Today I dropped Gina off at the train station in Rocky Mount, North Carolina as she begins her travels, first to Fredricksburg, Virginia.

Rocky Mount is somewhat depressed, having been a tobacco growing center, and much less so in the most recent decades. It is also a railroad hub. It lies on the north-south Amtrak routes. In 1999, Rocky Mount suffered from a tremendous flood caused by Hurricane Floyd, suffered a severe exodus, and is just now trying to restore and refurbish. the downtown area.

A group of some of the most famous jazz musicians and innovators grew up in this region. They include trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, saxophonist John Coltrane, drummer Max Roach, pianist Billy Taylor, bassist Percy Heath, Duke Ellington's alter ego Billy Strayhorn, and from Rocky Mount itself, Thelonious Monk. A plaza has been named for him and this sign has been erected there. I drove to the approximate location of his birth, but it was just fields.

I hope in the future to blip from each of the home towns of the greats mentioned above.

'Round Midnight

A visit to Peace Camera and the Apple Store in Raleigh followed and I arrived back home just after sunset.