Ignored             Obscured              Restored

Now that the presidential election is over, I’ll be stepping back from the news and tuning into other things on TV — probably more sports and binge-watching some series.  Before I started a heavy travel schedule in mid-September, I began rewatching The West Wing from the beginning.  I wish Jed Bartlet were really running for president. Now that was a man of character!

One of my favorite scenes is from Season 1, Episode 18, “Six Meetings Before Lunch.”  In this episode, the White House staff successfully confirms their first Supreme Court nominee, Justice Roberto Mendoza.  The team throws an impromptu celebration party, and they coax C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) to perform her iconic lip-sync routine to “The Jackal.”

“The Jackal” is a track by British guitarist Ronny Jordan, released in 1993.  The Grammy-nominated Jordan was known for his style of music, often called “urban jazz” or “acid jazz.”

The track features a spoken-word vocal by Dana Bryant, telling the story of a streetwise ladies’ man, with heavy use of ‘70s street slang:

Fly boy was in the buttermilk, hard, livin’ fast, livin’ large, 6 foot 4 and not an ounce of fat!

When women asked, ‘is you a Cat?’ He said ‘I did more that that.

I’m the froest of the fro

And in case you hadn’t known, they call me ‘The Jackal’.

Jordan passed away at the young age of 51 in 2014, leaving behind a legacy in jazz that’s still celebrated by fans today.

Enjoy… until next week.