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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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Aug 26, 2014 - 07:47pm PT
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I thought I'd share this with my fellow lovers of music, the power of music.
Friends, forgive my indulgence tonight.
When I was seven or eight years old I bought my very first album. My sister Betsy had given me a gift certificate to Loco Records on Broadway and Stewart, just a few blocks from my house.
I already liked music, and having older siblings I was exposed to a lot of good stuff. Those were the days of vinyl and even more than the music itself, I loved album cover art and my siblings' massive collections provided hours of wonder.
So it was off to Loco Records to pick out a few albums. I knew I liked Elton John, thanks to my brother Jim, and I chose Honky Chateau purely on the merit of "Rocket Man".
Choosing the next record took a while. I flipped through hundreds of albums. There were familiar names like Alice Cooper and Dan Fogelberg but at this point I was paying more attention to the album cover art.
Then it happened. I came across the absolute coolest image I'd ever seen, a skeleton with big frizzy hair and sunglasses. He was wearing a robe, playing a violin and sitting on some intricately carved stone that had some lettering that I could just barely make out.
So the decision was made and I rushed home to play my new music. Boy did I feel independent! Rocking out to music that I chose, that I bought. I must have played Rocket Man twenty times!
I unwrapped the other album, excited to hear what my mystery choice sounded like. The needle hit the groove in the vinyl. Pumping bass and power chords, and then the first words, "Paradise waits, on the crest of a wave...."
I called Betsy to tell her about my purchases, how I'd spent her gift certificate. Elton John, I couldn't even pronounce "Chateau", and the Grateful Dead, Blues for (couldn't pronounce) Allah. Betsy snickered at that one.
Little did I know then that it was the moment I became a Deadhead.
Well almost 40 years later and I'm listening to Blues for Allah while my sister Betsy fills in the pages of the last chapter of her amazing, rich life. A life where she has helped and inspired countless people from Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, the backwoods hollers of Kentucky, and high schools in Phoenix. As a mother she raised three very talented and unique children that have grown into amazing adults. As an art teacher she helps plant the seed, water, and inspire many artists to flourish. As a partner she found and helps another realize true love. As a daughter, a sister, an aunt and a friend she gives, she loves, she encourages, she inspires.
The lyrics from that very first Grateful Dead song, "Help on the Way", seem especially poignant to me tonight.
"Paradise waits, on the crest of a wave, her angels in flame.
She has no pain, like a child she is pure, she is not to blame.
Poised for flight, wings spread bright, spring from night into the sun.
Don't stop to run, she can fly like a lie, she can't be outdone.
Tell me the cost; I can pay, let me go, tell me love is not lost.
Sell everything; without love day to day insanity's king.
I will pay day by day, anyway, lock, bolt and key.
Crippled but free, I was blind all the time I was learning to see.
Help on the way, well, I know only this, I've got you today.
Don't fly away, cause I love what I love and I want it that way.
I will stay one more day, like I say, honey it's you.
Making it too, without love in a dream it will never come true."
Immediately following the very intense jam of "Help on the Way" comes "Franklin's Tower", with this simple gem of a verse, so much more beautiful and full of meaning than I could have ever imagined...
"In another times forgotten space
Your eyes looked from your mother's face
Wildflower seed on the sand and stone
May the four winds blow you safely home."
Music has been such a large part of my life, and through every phase, every up and down, lyrics have found a way to say which I wish I could say myself.
So tonight I sing, I sob, in sadness, in celebration, in thanks.
Thank you Betsy.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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nita
Social climber
chica de chico, I don't claim to be a daisy.
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Aug 27, 2014 - 08:31am PT
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drljefe, Thinking about you, your family and your *sister ..sending you much Love. and a hug.
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Paz..
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zBrown
Ice climber
Brujò de la Playa
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Aug 27, 2014 - 11:25am PT
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Excuse me y'all, a little Stax
The moon when the sun goes down
That's how strong it is, eh Doc
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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Aug 28, 2014 - 06:41am PT
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^^^ !!! tnx rik ... "campaign shoutin' like a southern diplomat"
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zBrown
Ice climber
Brujò de la Playa
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Aug 28, 2014 - 09:06pm PT
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Nick Lowe, John Hiatt, Ry Cooder (King Curtis on sax)
Only two kinds of truth
the kind you believe
and
the truth in your heart
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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zBrown
Ice climber
Brujò de la Playa
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Aug 29, 2014 - 07:57am PT
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Buying cd's is OK when you're working, a little harder when you're not. I wonder how many folks are sellinbg off their collections. I'm thinking of unloading my rather large collection of Dylan boots.
Earl Palmer or Al Jackson Jr. or Jim Keltner on drums.
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