Meet Jazz Guy, the Internet's most fascinating Aggie Ring photographer

But hey it’s one of the most popular podcasts on iTunes, so I’m hardly alone here. And a lot of their stories remind me of some TexAgs classics — I’m convinced they could do a four-part series on mfbarnes alone.

(Sidenote: if you’ve never gone down any of the classic TexAgs rabbit holes, you should find some time and start here.)

The most interesting part of Reply All's stories, for me at least, is the uncovering of something that has largely been undiscovered — something great or weird or confusing that’s been happening under the radar for months, or even years.

So you can imagine my excitement when my coworker, Alex Parker, and I accidentally stumbled upon such a thing: Jazz Guy.

Jazz Guy is the man behind one of — nay, THE! — greatest Flickr photo gallery in all of existence: Texas Aggie Ring Photos.

The gallery's name may sound ordinary, but all it takes is one click to realize that these are, in fact, no ordinary Aggie Ring photos. And if you really want to take a deep dive, just click one more time, because every fascinating Jazz Guy Aggie Ring photo has an equally fascinating story to go along with it.

Like the time “Aggie Ring” (the main character in Jazz Guy’s fictional stories) trapped a “dirty damn chipmunk” — also referred to as “Satan’s rat” — and guaranteed that it “will not see another sunrise.”

Or when Aggie Ring was acting paranoid because “strange things were afoot at the Circle K.”

Or that time Aggie Ring got a history lesson when he wanted to (foolishly) steam a Polish kielbasa with a German beer.

Oh, and by the way, Aggie. Ring. Loves. Himself. A. Good. Kielbasa.

So after navigating through all 16 pages of his gallery and reading at least that many stories, I just had to know more. How long has this been going on? When did this start? Why did this start? And WHO ARE YOU, JAZZ GUY?

So I did what the Reply All guys would do: I contacted him.

And as it turns out, Jazz Guy, also known as Ron (Fightin’ Texas Aggie Class of ’84 and ’87), is just as fascinating as his photos. I mean, was there any doubt this would be the case?

A now-retired, 20-year military officer from Houston, Ron has spent the last 17 years on the Jersey Shore — where he was last stationed — and owns three Aggie rings: his original (which broke, and may have jump-started this entire journey), his replacement Class of ’84 ring and a Class of ’42 ring that he bought at an estate sale in Galveston.

He attached “42” (as he affectionately calls it) to a string of leather and wears it around his neck on a daily basis. And even though it’s not his own, he cherishes this one more than the other two.

“If there were a fire and I had to save one Aggie Ring, it’d be ’42,” Ron told me over the phone earlier this week. He’s done plenty of research on the original owner of the ring, Paul W. Stanley, who Ron explained was a Singing Cadet at A&M and classmates with Buck Weirus. He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his time served in World War II when he, according to Ron, “killed a lot of Germans in Italy." So I can see why this ring is important to him — Paul W. Stanley is an downright American hero.

It didn’t take long before I realized there was a theme running through our half-hour conversation: the military. In fact, Ron’s entire Aggie Ring photo series was inspired by a tradition that made its way into military headlines a few years ago: Flat Stanley.

If you’re not familiar, Flat Stanley is a children’s story about a boy who gets flattened by a billboard and goes on adventures by mailing his new 2D-self to friends all over the world. And in 1995, a third-grade teacher started the Flat Stanley Project, where students would mail their own Flat Stanley to friends, who would then take them on adventures and report back, usually with photos.

So, to sum it up: Aggie Ring is Jazz Guy’s Flat Stanley.

The only difference being ... Jazz Guy’s Flat Stanley might have a drinking problem.

(By the way, that photo marks what I consider to be the birth of the “Aggie Ring” character, as it’s the first instance I can find where he…she?…it?…was personified. And this one, posted that same day, marks Aggie Ring’s first sentence — a bad pun made by “42” while hitting on a jar of hot sauce.)

“He’s mostly a Bourbon ring,” Ron told me, clearing up the he/she/it confusion. “But he’ll dive into a craft beer every now and again.” It should also be noted that Ron, like Aggie Ring, is a Bourbon man himself, having opted to dunk his original ring in three shots of it instead of the more traditional pitcher of beer.

But it doesn't end at Bourbon. You’ll find that Aggie Ring has also had run-ins with Irish Whiskey, Tito’s Vodka (who was later murdered), single malt scotch, Scottish Ale, tequila and something called “Prison wine.”

So yeah, Aggie Ring likes his booze. “What Aggie Ring doesn’t?” Ron asked rhetorically. At least I’m pretty sure it was a rhetorical question.

But while there’s plenty of drink-related images, Jazz Guy’s gallery is really about two main things: "Aggie Ring" ... and food.

Aggie Ring has been photographed on food, in food, around food, on top of food, above food, covered in food, before food, during food, after food and often makes the food himself.

“An Aggie Ring has to eat,” Ron told me at least twice during our conversation. And when we began discussing food in more depth, he hit me with one of the most scorching hot takes I’d ever been a part of: “I enjoy good Mexican food, and I have to say, we’ve got a lot better Mexican food in Jersey than you do in Texas.”

[pause for outrage]

Rest assured, I nearly hung up the phone right then and there, but I laughed it off as best I could and continued through gritted teeth. After all, I hadn’t even asked him why he calls himself “Jazz Guy” yet.

Unsurprisingly, Jazz Guy is, indeed, a jazz fan. And a musician, at that.

He owns a trumpet, which makes several appearances in his gallery, and has played the baritone, euphonium, tuba and fife, but Ron opts for a different instrument these days: “The Aggie Ring and I will go down to the piano and play the Aggie War Hymn at night,” he told me (and the world). “That’s something my Aggie Ring has always enjoyed.”

He also threw out this nugget: “Every Aggie Ring has a key signature, and my Aggie Ring’s key signature is B Flat Major, because that’s what the Aggie War Hymn is in.”

This is where I made the "not sure if serious" face and as my brain was trying to process what exactly he meant, I realized that I had yet to ask him about one of my favorite details of his photo series: the Aggie Ring selfie stick.

“It might be the first Aggie Ring selfie stick ever…I got it at Home Depot,” Ron explained. “And I’m not a fan of getting my picture taken, so it allows me to hold up the Aggie Ring and get pictures of him at interesting places.”

Well…surprise everyone, I found it! And it can be yours for the low low price of just $8.97, plus tax, shipping and handling. Please buy this. Please buy this and use it and send me the pictures.

In my opinion, Ron’s best use of his selfie stick also accompanies his best caption (PUN ALERT) at the Wampum Brook Dam. So many puns.

As our conversation neared an end, Ron left me with a story about his time serving in the military alongside “West Pointers” and “VMI’s” (Virginia Military Institute): “One thing I found interesting is that when they found out I went to Texas A&M, so many of them wanted to try on my Aggie Ring. I never felt the need to try on anyone else’s school ring, but I had so many people wanting to try on mine.”

I thought that was really cool and was impressed at how widely-recognized the Aggie Ring really is.

And after pondering that for a sincere moment, I went back to staring at his ring on a pile of raw meat. Cause hey, that's why we're all here in the first place, right?

I really enjoyed talking to Ron, and want to thank him for providing me with my first ever Internet deep dive — maybe yours, too? — and allowing me to tell a part of his story. I also want to thank him for his 20+ years serving our country both at home and overseas.

Ron says he likes to tell people in New Jersey that he’s “an Aggie of one” because the only other Aggie he knew up there passed away a few years ago. There’s also no Jersey A&M Club or Jersey Muster, which was really surprising to hear, and such a shame. So hopefully someone who's reading this in the Jersey area will shoot Jazz Guy a note on Flickr or Facebook, and maybe they can start their own together.

And if they ever do, we want pictures.

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You can follow “Aggie Ring” on Facebook, Ron’s photostream on Flickr or his Aggie Ring Flickr gallery, which is open to all contributors. So feel free to start your own series, and then let's talk in a few years.