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McTaggart, Eddie
30, Hick's father; "headed West and went silent" after his wife Grace left him for an elephant trainer
McTaggart, Grace
29, Hick's mother and Peony's sister;
McTaggart, Hicks
1, Detective at Unamalgamated Ops agency in Milwaukee; "long flagged by the police at all levels as Uncooperative," 26; "a big ape with a light touch," 20; "a corporate thug," 30; Hicks taunted by "four-eyed troublemaker" and his sap disappears, 32; an emerging "spiritual heavysetness" (Oriental Attitude), 36; "safe in the featherbed of your destiny," 37 (Aunt Peony); dream about Stuffy, 60-61;
the Majestic
38, historic Majestic Theater in Milwaukee, opened as a vaudeville theater in 1906 until 1929, then became a movie house, and closed in 1973. The building is still there today, having been converted into condominiums in 2005. Cagney danced at the Majestic, as did Fred Astaire and his sister, Adele. Harry Houdini became a star there in 1908 when he escaped from a milk can while handcuffed. Jack Benny (performing as Benny Kubelsky) did his violin and comedy sketches on that stage, and the four Marx brothers perfected their split-second timing and rapid-fire gags there long before they became movie stars. More...
"Midnight in Milwaukee"
24, April Randazzo's trademark song which she sings at midnight at Arlene's Orchard Lounge, composed by Pynchon
Milwaukee
"Jaywalkee," 56;
Moten, Bennie (1893-1935)
Bennie Moten was an American jazz pianist and band leader born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. He led his Kansas City Orchestra, the most important of the regional, blues-based orchestras active in the Midwest in the 1920s. The real revolution came in the early 1930s when he recruited Count Basie, Walter Page and Oran 'Hot Lips' Page. Walter Page's walking bass lines gave the music an entirely new feel compared to the 2/4 tuba of his predecessor Vernon Page, colored by Basie's understated, syncopated piano fills. This riffing style came to define many of the 1930s big bands. Wikipedia
