Spirit of 78s

He shakes his head, paces back over to the phonograph and gets the needle down on another record, Fats Waller and his Buddies doing "Lookin' Good But Feelin' Bad." When Holthus is really listening he jams his hands down into his pockets and hunches into himself, scowling, his head cocked toward the phonograph. "Jack Teagarden," he says to himself, nods, "Red Allen." A moment later he places the record back in its sleeve and returns it to its place in the racks. "That's the thing about these records," he says, "one side, two-and-a-half minutes. When you put it on you sit down and you listen to it. You really do listen."