BS: Auld acquaintances & lost friends

Subject: RE: BS: Auld acquaintances & lost friends
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 12:14 AM

Spaw try not to read in any motive for this topic. I don't think it maudlin or sentimental but rather refreshing to stand in the warmth of memories and recall some of the smiles we knew that seemed to go on for miles.

I only met Bill D once but most of all I recall how his eyes got wet when he began to recount the great people he knew via mudcat who have now passed away. I have a feeling, perhaps a superstition, that remembering these friends empowers us, the living.

So comon get happy, get happy for the... no I'm going there. I'm jus goin down memory lane.


PS I did not mean to imply that Bill D is driving the wooden Buick. He's fine.   I think.

Subject: RE: BS: Auld acquaintances & lost friends
From: catspaw49
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 11:47 PM

Not a great topic Donnie although I know what you're after..........

I got a note from Mick today and his troubles keep compounding and while they do, like me, he thinks often of those we've lost just lately around here........Barry, LaMarca, Sandy...........Plus Jean's stroke, the recent death of Utah Phillips and so many others on the folk/trad scene. I can only echo his feelings and think back not so very far to Rick, Mole, Little John, WintersWages.........geeziz, the list is just too long.

I guess its part of getting older but some of it is this place. Had I never stumbled in here, I would never have known these people, at least no more than a name in passing. It is the penance we pay for the fine and wonderful friendships we have here.

I'm not going any further with that as it gets way too mauldlin and nobody needs that..............Maybe I'll be back later and celebrate some lives and all.......Or tell you about how Christmas goes for us or something.......

Much Love to You All


Pat/Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Auld acquaintances & lost friends
From: CarolC
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 11:31 PM

And LR Mole, the anniversary of whose passing was just a few days ago.

Subject: RE: BS: Auld acquaintances & lost friends
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 10:41 PM

For some reason, I was thinking today of Rick Fielding and Sandy Paton. Both were wonderful musicians, but what struck me both about the both of them was their passionate belief in the gentle side of life. Both of them had their rough, burly sides - but both overcame that and chose to pursue all that is best in this life. I can't think of two people who lives their lives better and more fully than Rick and Sandy.
I miss them.

-Joe-

Subject: BS: Auld acquaintances & lost friends
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 10:32 PM

Tis the season to remember friends, some are alive and some are gone.
Some who have read mudcat for 10 years or more, have seen the brightest and kindest stars wink out.

I recall a friend who never wrote on mudcat but can be googled none the less. I remember him sitting on his living room sofa one night and then a flood of memories of friends and strangers sitting on sofas poured into my visual memory.

There is a great expanse of forgettable time lounging on the couch but sitting on a sofa for special events like family pictures or sitting more than the standard two people per sofa looking at the empty chair after a funeral, these memories last forever like an indestructible crystal as clear and hard as diamonds.

The most incredible encounter of the sofa kind, occurred sitting beside my good friend Roger McCall and passing a skinny joint of unremarkable homegrown among the five of us.

Roger had the most expressive face and gregarious laugh I have ever known. The joy and freedom in his eyes flowed directly into his command of a rich fascinating voice, which was probably why he was a famous radio personality. In fact if it were not for his intense joie d'vivre, you might notice that he was perhaps one of the most homely people alive.

Suddenly after holding his breathe for a few seconds Rogers's eyes were stuck in a fixed glare. His mouth contorted into the most horror driven shape I had ever seen. He seemed to cast his sight down an a look of ice cold fear surrounded him. People called to him but he was not with us. While we could see him he was far away seeing something that raised the hair on my neck.

"Roger, Roger" we called him, nudged him and knew something terrible had happened. His wife Denise thought it was a heart attack or seizure while I saw that he was completely disassociated as if he was in some sort of fugue state. I was imagining that he had stumbled over some dark memory of his past when he was a small black child in Alabama witnessing some unspeakable torture with surprised shock. Roger still pinched the joint in his slightly quivering fingers but never had I seen any kind of smoke effect a person like this.

Gradually Roger began to notice his surroundings and the deep expression of horror slowly melted over the next few minutes. A few weak words managed to escape his still gaping mouth while his eyes still gazed at a landscape far from the sofa of friends.

When we sensed that the unknown emergency had passed we all asked if he was OK but he still could not look at us directly. I asked him were he was and what he saw but he would not or could not tell me. My questions seemed to bolster his will to come all the way back and he put on a face that seemed to say nothing had happened and he didn't know what I was talking about. Ed dismissed the incident with a simple, you better watch your dope and laughed knowing full well the smoke was probably all males and wouldn't get a fly high.

I visited him at his night shift on the radio and did a few shows with my Star War voices like Vader's "LUUKE I yam your faaaather" for fun which was about the last I ever saw him. I moved to Boston and after moving a couple more times, someone found me on the internet and told me Roger had been Shot with a shotgun at close range in his chest.

I felt as though I had already witnessed his last moments on Earth all those years ago on that sofa. If I had not experienced another strange occurrence of time distortion precisely next door at 23 Strathallen Park, I would never entertain such an occult thought.
The killer was never sought or found and Roger is survived by his wife and child.Roger was a testament to the peace and love era and was not capable of making an enemy, except for the evil of someone else's greed.