By Guest Blogger Eleanor Traubman, Editor in Chief of Creative Times

The day before the heatwave started, I told Mike about a memory I had
of a blind Osmond brother who used to play the vibraphone on the Donny and Marie
show, or at least on their holiday specials. Does anyone else remember this guy
or am I imagining that he existed?

The next day, when the heat wave
first started, I passed by a small porch sale in Park Slope. Something
brightly-colored caught my eye. I stopped to take a look; it was a child-size,
8-note rainbow xylophone. Better than a xylophone, really, because it was metal instead of
wood. So the sound was richer, more like that of a vibraphone. The Park Slope mom offered it to me for a
mere dollar. I snatched it up in a hearbeat.

This is a small instrument
that brings a big joy to our small apartment. I play it when I get up in the
morning and at night before I go to bed. There’s something about the
light-heartedness of the sound that brings my attention right to the present. I
always tell Mike that I have to come home for xylophone practice.

After
we’d had the xylophone for about a week, Mike handed it to me to play while he
put on a CD called Soul Sauce (say it five times, fast). He ordered
me to play the rainbow xylophone to accompany the late great Cal Tjader on the
vibraphone. The best number is the rough mix of Soul Sauce (Guachi
Guaro!), the song.

The text on the back of the CD reads: […]
as the years wore on and band personnel came and went, [the song Guachi Guaro!]
got funkier and greasier – so that by the time it was recorded for Verve in
1964, producer Creed Taylor dubbed it Soul Sauce. The single was a bigger hit
than it had ever been and the LP became an instant classic.


So I played along with Cal and danced around the livingroom.
You can’t help but grin when you’re playing a rainbow
xylophone.