Joe Sullivan
FameRank: 6

"Michael Joseph" ""Joe"" "O'Sullivan" was an United States/American jazz pianist.

Sullivan was the ninth child of Irish immigrant parents. He studied classical piano for 12 years and at age 17, he began to play popular music in a club where he was exposed to jazz. He graduated from the Chicago Musical College/Chicago Conservatory and was an important contributor to the Chicago jazz scene of the 1920s. Sullivan's recording career began towards the end of 1927 when he joined McKenzie and Condon's Chicagoans. Other musicians in his circle included Jimmy McPartland, Frank Teschemacher, Bud Freeman, Jim Lanigan and Gene Krupa. In 1933, he joined Bing Crosby as his accompanist, recording and making many radio broadcasts. After suffering for two years with tuberculosis, he briefly rejoined Bing Crosby in 1938 and the Bob Crosby Orchestra in 1939.

By the 1950s, Sullivan was largely forgotten, playing solo in San Francisco. Marital difficulties and excessive drinking caused Sullivan to become increasingly unreliable and unable to keep a steady job, either as band member or soloist.

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It can't be explained. Either you get it or you don't. It amounts to an inside joke for my readers.

(The community center) is a gem, and we don't want to push our way in. We want to be invited. It doesn't have to happen immediately.

I don't think you'll see the system problems you saw four or five years ago.

It's always a good crowd, no matter what the weather is.

I'd get a sandwich at lunch and sit on one of those benches in front of the courthouse. And it occurred to me how much fun it would be to try to hit a golf ball into the river -- don't think you can do it now, it's probably about 500 yards away -- but it would be fun to try.

It seems like such a waste of energy to be fighting over something like this.

I guess I would've expected them to be a little more prepared.

It doesn't surprise me. It's a major tip of the iceberg. It never goes away. I think a lot of the other problems are also substance abuse related.

We stepped up the defense in the second and third quarters. That kind of got us to where we wanted to be.