Dear Friends,
On this eighteenth day of March, some normality returns to my schedule. No, it is not the use of a shower in my own home. It will be a couple of weeks, at best, before that happens. I can deal with that, though.
School is back today. The stretch run. 10 straight weeks of relatively uninterrupted readin’, writin’, and arithmetic. Forty-nine days to go, but who’s counting?
I am, that’s who.
But this is just life. It’s what I quite literally signed up for as teachers have yearly contracts. I promised to be there and do it, so I shall. I have 10 weeks to get these little dudes and dudettes ready for 5th grade.
I’d feel stupid, though, complaining about it after yesterday.
St. Patrick’s Day started off just fine. I woke up too early but fiddled around for a good long while. I went down to the school because I was sent an email saying they had replaced the carpet in my classroom (they had not), but Teresa was kind enough to go with me in case I needed help.
Then I went to Doug’s and showered. While I was doing all this, I missed watching the Suns getting their dicks knocked in the dirt by the Bucks. I am continuing to believe that my thoughts on them being fool’s gold is accurate.
I didn’t even bother to try and get home in time to see the game at all. Teresa and I went to Target to get a few things and while I was there, I saw the news that my friend, Jim S., who I have known for years and years through skateboarding and shows, is in the process of leaving this plane.
Now, Jim and I haven’t been the closest, but we were definitely friends, and he and his wife, Stephanie, have always been super supportive of my music. He was also one of those guys that I loved to see at the skatepark because of his smile and encouragement. He was just a great guy.
I’ve been so lucky to be in a position to have people support my music for decades now. It’s such an honor and a privilege. I never got to tell Jim to his face what seeing him at my shows over the last 30 years has meant to me. It has meant so much and Jim is someone that even though I didn’t have to reach out to him and say, “Come out to the show,” I expected to see him, especially when Hillbilly played.
If he missed a show, he would always apologize the next time he saw me. He didn’t need to do that, but I wish I could have had the chance to tell him that I always wanted to see him because it made me feel like I was doing something good to see him there. I liked sharing the experience with him and Stephanie because of who they are. I can’t imagine not thinking about Jim when I play music moving forward.
My heart goes out to Stephanie and his large family of loving friends. The music and skateboard scene in Phoenix just got a little less bright. I will miss seeing you, buddy. I hope there is music and skateboarding where you are headed. If not, there will be soon.
*****
And universe, I am pretty fucking pissed at you right now. Just so you know. Why do you need to take people before their time?
I mean, we went to two memorials this weekend. I am so bummed about Jim that I didn't even mention that I said goodbye to my friend, Ed, yesterday, too. It was a lovely ceremony, but my mind was elsewhere. It was good to be with Mark and Mo and Felix, though.
I'm asking you nicely, you stupid universe, to keep them safe on their travels today.
*****
I’m a sucker for cheap music. I used to peruse the $3 bins (then they were $5 and I’m guessing they are $7 or $8 now) at Walmart whenever I happened to be in the store. Sometimes, Walmart is a necessity, you know. I’m not a fan of many things about the national chain, but if you need something for your house, you can probably find it there.
It’s odd how you sometimes end up in a Walmart when you are on a trip, too. Not THAT kind of trip, but when you’re traveling. In some towns, a Walmart is a fascinating place to people watch. At the one closest to our house, for example, I used to swear on the fact that there were “theme” days.
Sometimes the theme would be “people with weird things growing on their faces” day. Other days it would be “midget rodeo cowboys.” I know “midget” is not a word that many little people enjoy, but when I was there for that day, it wasn’t taboo yet. Apologies to all little people.
Either way, I have found music in Walmart every so often that I needed to have. Back in 2018, I was digging through the bin one day and found a $5 CD called An Introduction to Gordon Lightfoot. I didn’t necessarily need an introduction to the Canadian singer/songwriter and underrated guitar player. Most people in my age range don’t need that.
Gordon Lightfoot’s music has been a radio staple for my whole life. Sadly, I never got to see him perform live. We had tickets to what was his final tour, but the Phoenix shows were postponed and then, after his death, cancelled.
What I needed that day in Walmart was something new to listen to in my car and the track listing was a bunch of songs that I knew I liked. There are ten tracks on this compilation of his hits on Rhino Records and whoever curated it did a pretty fine job. Sure, there could be a few others or things I would have replaced, but like many CDs I buy, this one didn’t leave my CD player for a long, long time after I bought it.
“If You Could Read My Mind” starts things off. These lyrics haunt me. I don’t know how many times I have had tears rimming my eyes as I have sung along with Lightfoot on this one. It evokes so many things for me and is the kind of song that if you have a tough thought bouncing around in your head as you listen, it is suddenly amplified by 1000.
Please don’t misunderstand, though. It’s a beautiful piece of writing.
“If I could read your mind, love, what a tale your thoughts would tell/just like a paperback novel, the kind the drugstores sells/when you reach the part where the heartaches come/the hero would be me, but heroes often fail/and you won’t read that book again/because the ending’s just too hard to take.”
Those words always get me.
“Summer Side of Life” is up next. This one had to grow on me after buying this CD. I was already a huge fan of “If You Could Read My Mind,” but at first, I had the urge to press the forward button a lot when this one came on. Over time, though, it grew on me. I think, with Gordon Lightfoot, you learn there is lot of layers to the man. This song is about getting older, I think, and seeing the world through eyes that continue to mature and see the mistakes you’ve made.
Tough lessons, for sure, but Lightfoot did not shy away from these things. He strode ride into them and faced the lessons life had in store for him. If you haven’t seen the documentary that came out a few years back, I highly recommend it. It came out in 2019 and it’s called Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind.
“Beautiful” is one of the loveliest love songs I’ve ever heard. I wonder who he wrote it about as he had some tough luck in the love department. One of his girlfriends was the lady who gave John Belushi the shot that killed him, for example. Why people play around with heroin is just beyond me on many levels.
“Sundown” is another one of those songs that I just can’t help but sing along with when it’s on. The song is one of those perfect songs. It just does what it should do. Apparently, Cathy Smith (the Belushi lady) was the inspiration for it. I choose to look past that as a Belushi fan.
“Carefree Highway” is a point of pride, of course, since we live near the actual stretch of road, but according to an article my buddy, Ed, wrote it wasn’t written about our Carefree Highway specifically. That’s ok. It’s a nice song and a nifty guitar riff. People forget that Lightfoot was a really good guitar player. Throughout the record, there are really great riffs that tell me that I would have a lot of work to do if I wanted to cover one of his songs on guitar ever.
“Rainy Day People” is one that has never really grown on me. I have to be honest here. Something about the song just doesn’t jive with me, but I do remember it being on the radio a fair amount when I was young. Maybe it was a song that my mom liked. I don’t know. The one redeeming quality of the song that I enjoy quite a bit is the nice pedal steel guitar on it courtesy of a man named Pee Wee Charles.
The Butthole Surfers do a wicked cover of “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” I appreciated it before I really got into the original. Lightfoot just kills this song. It’s so freaking bad ass. You just have to listen to it.
I can pretty much live without the rest of this compilation. “Daylight Katy” is kind of a cool sounding song, but it doesn’t do a lot for me. I think it was probably influential to country and Americana bands, though. “The Circle Is Small” is another one that is nice, but I don’t pay it much attention. It sounds a little like easy listening Christian music to me.
The last thing on the CD is “Baby Step Back” which is a good song. I like it just fine, as they say. I probably would have replaced “Daylight Katy” and “The Circle Is Small” with songs like “Gotta Get Away” and “Drifters.” The latter just sounds so Canadian.
I know I need to dive further into the Lightfoot canon. I have picked up a couple things on vinyl, but I have only spun a few of the hits while dj-ing so far. I haven’t just thrown’em on and dove in. One thing is for sure, though, this Introduction CD has certainly been a good companion on many a drive for me in the past six years.
*****
See you tomorrow.
I stole this picture from Jim's Facebook page. He's with two other really good dudes, Craig (red shirt) and Tobe (one pad on, one pad off). I wish I would have been there that day. I don't think I was...
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