The lives we live...

My friend Smiley called last night and told me that a friend of his, a musician known as Ransom, had been murdered. I expressed my shock, offered condolences, and wondered if I'd ever met this person. Then Smiley and I began to recount all the dead bodies in our pasts.

Both of us are ex-bikers with a lot of old hippie and musician friends. Neither one of us has lived a very "normal" life, and both of us thought we'd be gone long before this, so we stand amazed, looking back on the long list of the deceased.

This blog entry is a small memorial for a man I'm not sure I ever met. He was a good guitarist and a nice guy, from what I hear. William Ransom Hobbs Jr. Rest in Peace.

But it is also a memorial to the others who passed in the last three years, especially: Big Danny Gallagher - the Burl Ives of the Blues and good friend; Bernie Brausewetter - best, most fluid guitarist I ever knew; Bobby Alfano - harmonica player and super good guy; Chris Barry - gonzoesque music writer and great friend; Tony Guadagno - bassist and good guy; Scotty "BamBam" Bigelow, former roadie and pro wrestler; Helyn Chrobosinski - Queen of Clearwater; and the list goes on and on... Friends dropping all around us.

Which should serve as a reminder that...

We're all gettin' older and the road is gettin' harder, but when we get where we're going, I think we're gonna find that Heaven rocks and that there's a lot of dope-smoking hippies and bikers up there waitin' for us!