LETS GET RETRO: WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT JAZZ: "A HARD DAYS NIGHT" OFF OF TONY FORTUNATO AND THE EMPERORS OF SWING 1

The ActionAide office was a small cramped suite in an anonymous brick building off Pennslvania Ave. in Washington D.C.. I haven't seen Brenna in at least 15 years. Once upon a time we were lovers or boyfriend and girlfriend or whatever it is that one is when one is in love and in college. She, at Bennington. Me, not.

The ActionAide lobby, if you can call it that, is crammed full of luggage from Iraq. A contingent of women assisted by ActionAide have come to the US to convince congress of something or other. They boarded their planes in the heat of the desert. They arrived in DC yesterday, in late January, their bags arrived today.

In her office a colleague is browsing Brenna's wedding pictures. Both of us married in the past year. She on her first. Me on my first, second, or third, depending on how you count. Brenna felt that needed explanation. My first, a notary public job was the result of a weeklong drinking binge in graduate school--anulled some months later. The second was a common law deal--two kids later no divorce was necessary. This time there was an actual ceremony.

Her husband is an environmental services engineer. He creates safety systems for hazardous materials. They live in Maryland and are planning to buy a home. The frigid air of the DC winter hunches our shoulders and makes our walk brisk. We try one restaurant but it is booked. We try another and are seated quickly.

"You know, it was just one of those things," she said. "I was just to sing one song and ended up singing all night."

"It was your old band, yes?" I asked.

"Yea, they came down for the wedding," she said. "We did one album together, Tony Fortunato & the Emperors of Swing."

"If its anything like I remember..." I smiled. We used to hang out and drink booze and smoke cigarettes together while she played piano and sang. I mean, I used to hang out and drink booze and watch her smoke cigarettes, play piano, and sing.

"It's kind of cool," she said. "You know, a lot of us are still out there, doing it.