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That there's Mr. Hank on the sax. Yep, you
probably remember him as Honky Hank. See, when he was just a young
clown he had high hopes of playing in an American jazz band. Problem
was... he couldn't seem to find that silky brass tone, when he practiced,
it was just "honk, honk". A bit annoying if you ask me,
and the neighbors felt the same way. They threw rotten tomatoes
at him and yelled, "Quit honkin' Hank!". Hank had heard
of Honky Tonks, so he proudly took the name as a compliment. He
thought to himself, "if people are throwing rotten food at
me here, maybe they'll throw fresh food, or better yet, MONEY at
me elsewhere." And you know it's true that you can never be
famous in your own town, so Hank set out on the road. The portrait
above is from many years later in his life. It is a painting of
the first moment he hit a silky brass tone that could melt butter
and make the birds stop singing so they could listen. As you can
see from the portrait, at that moment, two young and beautiful clown
ladies came dancing out of their houses and down the street with
umbrellas in hand. I happen to know that this is true, because one
of those clown ladies was my Aunt Beullah Blue! That is how The
Honky Stomps through the streets came to be a tradition in these
parts.