Apropos the last post, a quick story on liquor and big band jazz:

The year is 1938, and a young Doc Cheatham (trumpet) and Chu Berry (tenor) are on tour with Cab Calloway. Each night they get rip roaring drunk, play a swinging show until the early hours of the morning, and then pass out on the train until they wake up in the next city on the tour and repeat the cycle. After nearly a year, the two decide it just isn’t healthy for them to drink like this, so they make a pact to quit. While the rest of the band is boozing it up that evening, they stick to water. They play the show, and afterwards, Cab calls them backstage. “I see you boys played the show sober for a change,” says Cab. “Yes sir,” they tell him. Cab pauses for a moment, then says: “Well never do that shit again. Or you’re fired.” The next evening, they drink like fishes.