“TIL” – are you familiar with this bit of internet shorthand? Not to be confused with TMI (“too much information”), TBH (“to be honest”), or the ever-popular TGIF, TIL is shorthand for “today I learned…” and it’s one of my favorite expressions online.
Inevitably, “TIL…” is followed by a juicy tidbit of information. Something too short for a Wikipedia article, but too interesting to not share with everyone you meet, whether online or IRL (“in real life”). A fact that sticks in your head because it seems too weird, entertaining, or implausible to be true. For example, now you can tell your friends, “TIL that Anne Frank, Martin Luther King, JR., and Barbara Walters were all born in the same year!”
So, here’s a fact that has been rattling around in my brain: TIL that the original drummer of the band that would go on to become Steely Dan was none other than…Chevy Chase?? That’s right, the comedian, actor, and original SNL cast member Chevy Chase was almost the drummer of a legendary jazz/rock superduo! The story goes that in the late 60’s, Chevy Chase was a film student at Bard College. He also happened to be a drummer, and played in a “bad jazz band” (that’s how Chase described them in his book) called Leather Canary with a few of his college buddies: Walter Becker and Jewish musician Donald Fagen! Chase had perfect pitch and excellent rhythm, and Fagen later described him as a “very good drummer.” So why do we associate Chase with comedy and not Yacht Rock? The story goes that Chase was expelled from school for bringing a live cow up to his 4th-floor dorm room, and Fagen and Becker moved on with their musical careers without him. Chevy Chase was in one more band (a psychedelic rock band called Chameleon Church), then had a string of jobs (cab driver, truck driver, motorcycle messenger, construction worker, waiter, busboy, fruit picker, produce manager in a supermarket, audio engineer, salesman in a wine store, and theatre usher) before launching his comedy career as a writer for National Lampoon and then joining the original Not Ready for Primetime Players in 1975.
What I love about this TIL is the delightful surprise in discovering a hidden talent and facet to someone whose persona I thought I knew pretty well. So my charge to all of you, as we enter the month preceding the High Holidays, is to discover a TIL about someone you know! Celebrities are one thing, but imagine how meaningful it will be to discover a hidden talent, childhood dream, or first career of a friend or loved one! Elul is a time of reflection, and certainly, it is important to search within ourselves. But it is also the ideal time to deepen relationships with those closest to us, so that we enter the New Year not only spiritually strengthened but supported by those who join us on this journey towards Renewal!
Cantor Eric Schulmiller
