Roy, it’s one of the most trite phrases in the world, but I’m sorry for your loss. Your reminiscence made me cry, you have a great talent for writing about love and loss in a way that touches the same soft spot in others.
I'm so sorry for your loss. You put my own feelings about death into words. As for the mystery, I'm reminded of Iris DeMent's "Let the Mystery Be," which we played at my sister's funeral. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlaoR5m4L80
I really like the wide variety of your writing, from Trump fantasies to elegies for life as it was (and is). There is so much that could be said about death but for now I echo your observation that we live on in others’ memories. That is the only honest consolidation for survivors. Being remembered by someone with your gift of imagination increases Skinny’s immortality.
Well this one touches home for me. In 2019 my sister died and two good, close friends that I had known for 40 years also died. Like you I'm older and used to folks passing on from time to time but jesus, that was a bad year. Oh, I got cancer too... I get to the point where I think at the very least I'll finally get a good night's sleep when I'm gone. Condolences.
I am proud to be in the RMF family but I don't think I could take TOO many Thanksgiving dinners with each member in attendence...could be a famous RMF fist fight waiting to happen! thx Ray
That fits well to my own experience, so I speak the names of many long gone souls who added small but forever appreciated jewels to my life experiences. Thanks for sharing one of yours.
Very good...RMF family chooses at random some funeral. We all meet there...You can add a fictional memory the their memorial. Nice lunch together after! Very dark...LOL. I would like to be with Skinny John when they scatter his ashes....any news on that timing? RIP Skinny John...such a shocker...
I like how you tactfully described a feeling I had which was how close I felt to John but from a previous era of his life. I am still sad and processing the reality of it all. It was nice to run into friends who made me laugh and take some of the sting away.
Thank you for another piece of lovely prose, Roy. It's especially poignant/wrenching because I learned yesterday that my 58 yr old brother has a brain tumor. It's not in a good place to operate and we're in a sepia fog waiting to see how malignant it is. Your words made it somewhat easier to breathe today.
A beautiful remembrance Roy. The older I get the more impressed I am by the persistence of emotion associated with memory, and how, together, they can seem to serve as a sort of time machine, returning us almost whole, somewhere in our mind, to moments that occurred years before. Being a human is weird. RIP John.
> I certainly liked some of early Sonic Youth, the intensity of Rat at Rat R, the art-garage crush-ductions of Pussy Galore, and early Swans (before they switched to easy-listening yacht rock)
This was a beautiful remembrance, and thanks for linking to it, but that bit made me laugh.
I never knew much about the Reverb Motherfuckers beyond the music and the childish yet sincere delight I took in pulling out their / your records at 2nd Avenue Records in Portland and showing them to my friends. RMF and Alien Sex Fiend's "Bad Acid? No Such Thing!" were my go-to records for fucking with my squarer friends. It is bittersweet to learn this late in the day exactly how much my kind of people you all were. Thanks for this. I really enjoyed it and am very sorry for your loss. Death is the real motherfucker.
Wonderful, Roy. Thanks.
Roy, it’s one of the most trite phrases in the world, but I’m sorry for your loss. Your reminiscence made me cry, you have a great talent for writing about love and loss in a way that touches the same soft spot in others.
I'm so sorry for your loss. You put my own feelings about death into words. As for the mystery, I'm reminded of Iris DeMent's "Let the Mystery Be," which we played at my sister's funeral. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlaoR5m4L80
I really like the wide variety of your writing, from Trump fantasies to elegies for life as it was (and is). There is so much that could be said about death but for now I echo your observation that we live on in others’ memories. That is the only honest consolidation for survivors. Being remembered by someone with your gift of imagination increases Skinny’s immortality.
Great elegy, Roy. A nice mix of personal history and the common sharing of life and death.
"Goodbye, Cruel World" indeed. My condolences, Roy.
Well this one touches home for me. In 2019 my sister died and two good, close friends that I had known for 40 years also died. Like you I'm older and used to folks passing on from time to time but jesus, that was a bad year. Oh, I got cancer too... I get to the point where I think at the very least I'll finally get a good night's sleep when I'm gone. Condolences.
I am proud to be in the RMF family but I don't think I could take TOO many Thanksgiving dinners with each member in attendence...could be a famous RMF fist fight waiting to happen! thx Ray
According to the ancient Egyptians, a man dies twice.
First, when his soul leaves his body and
a second time when people stop speaking his name. Puddle Dancer Press sent this, remembering their founder Marshall Rosenberg. https://www.cnvc.org/about/marshall?mc_cid=435c6cce7e&mc_eid=d3580124f8
That fits well to my own experience, so I speak the names of many long gone souls who added small but forever appreciated jewels to my life experiences. Thanks for sharing one of yours.
Very good...RMF family chooses at random some funeral. We all meet there...You can add a fictional memory the their memorial. Nice lunch together after! Very dark...LOL. I would like to be with Skinny John when they scatter his ashes....any news on that timing? RIP Skinny John...such a shocker...
I like how you tactfully described a feeling I had which was how close I felt to John but from a previous era of his life. I am still sad and processing the reality of it all. It was nice to run into friends who made me laugh and take some of the sting away.
Re RMF thanksgiving:-)
"So I sat there in the freshness of their grief holding my stories like a clutch of faded flowers."
I put it to you that you can't beat that.
Thank you for another piece of lovely prose, Roy. It's especially poignant/wrenching because I learned yesterday that my 58 yr old brother has a brain tumor. It's not in a good place to operate and we're in a sepia fog waiting to see how malignant it is. Your words made it somewhat easier to breathe today.
A beautiful remembrance Roy. The older I get the more impressed I am by the persistence of emotion associated with memory, and how, together, they can seem to serve as a sort of time machine, returning us almost whole, somewhere in our mind, to moments that occurred years before. Being a human is weird. RIP John.
'So I sat there in the freshness of their grief holding my stories like a clutch of faded flowers.'
That one sentence justifies my subscription. Thanks Roy, and commiserations.
> I certainly liked some of early Sonic Youth, the intensity of Rat at Rat R, the art-garage crush-ductions of Pussy Galore, and early Swans (before they switched to easy-listening yacht rock)
This was a beautiful remembrance, and thanks for linking to it, but that bit made me laugh.
I never knew much about the Reverb Motherfuckers beyond the music and the childish yet sincere delight I took in pulling out their / your records at 2nd Avenue Records in Portland and showing them to my friends. RMF and Alien Sex Fiend's "Bad Acid? No Such Thing!" were my go-to records for fucking with my squarer friends. It is bittersweet to learn this late in the day exactly how much my kind of people you all were. Thanks for this. I really enjoyed it and am very sorry for your loss. Death is the real motherfucker.