John Durang, Lancaster, Lancaster County

This week's post is brought to you by Edgar Winter. No, not the musician; I'm hanging out with my parents' cat this afternoon. He is a very unusual cat, who wags his tail when he's happy and loves to be vacuumed. I'm supposed to also say that he is exceptionally handsome and intelligent. He wants you all to know that he actually has his own Facebook account now, so if you'd like to enjoy his antics, you can find him at Edgar Winter the Cat. (Yes, I am his social media manager. The price of being one of his favorite humans is feeding his ego.)

Of course, this post is not about the cat. I'll let him think it is, since one thing he can't do is read - at least as far as I know - but in fact we're going to talk about someone who was born a couple centuries before him. This Lancaster native has the very interesting distinction of being remembered as George Washington's favorite entertainer, and his performances were as varied as they were memorable.

John W. Coltrane, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County

I'm back! It was a very lovely vacation - I can say now that we were on a cruise to Bermuda, thanks to the generosity of my parents, and it was exactly what the doctor ordered. I've been feeling kind of run-down and burned out in recent weeks, so this did me a world of good. It was my fourth time on that beautiful island, but we've already picked out one or two new things to do if there's another visit in our future. 

I hadn't decided what my topic would be when I returned to the blog, but I sort of had the decision made for me thanks to a new addition to the list of guest photographers. Kevin's brother Darren sent me a photo of a marker I didn't have in Philadelphia. (I considered saving it until September, for the 100th birthday of the gentleman in question, but knowing me I'd forget.) My prior knowledge of John Coltrane was extremely limited; it mostly stemmed from having seen the movie Mr. Holland's Opus in my late teens, in which the title character names his son Coltrane after the musician. While researching this quest, though, I learned a lot of things, some of which surprised me. For one, this is the first time I'm writing about a canonized saint, although it won't be the last.