Mick, thanks. Me too.
I know I've exceeded my own expectatations because Rick believed I could and made me believe it too. After all, he ought to know!

Rick's grandest works aren't easily recognized. Musical skill is easy to see and hear, but how many people have been inspired by Rick's belief in them. He looks at you, sitting there with a guitar or a banjo or a you-name-it in your fumbling fingers. You don't move down the musical hallway because you don't know where you want to go or how to get there. You see closed doors that have "Competent Players Only!" written on them and know they're not for you. You sit there, knowing those doors will never open for you until Rick walks up to the door, rips the tape off the bottom of the sign, and you read "(And Those Believe They Can Be)".

If you're like me, you still sit in that chair right up to the point where he yanks it out from under you, spins you around until you're dizzy and you accidentally stumble through the doorway. Bewildered, you still realize where you are and think "Damn...that wasn't so hard. I bet other doors work the same way, although I could go through those on purpose!"

If you're really paying attention, you realize how unspecific the lesson learned is to music. The best teachers teach Life, no matter what the subject appears to be.

I sing because I BELIEVE I can, and because there are songs worth singing and things worth singing about.