Friends

My old friend Sarah is in the African country of Lesotho working with an organization called Touching Tiny Lives. She's a doctor and provides care to orphaned children from the region, many of them with HIV/AIDS. Sarah and I were like peas and carrots in high school - We used to get coffee and take long walks down to the beach. Sometimes it would be dark, or wet, or cold, but we'd go anyway. We'd talk about the world and solve its problems. We dreamed how we'd fit in to it all. We talked about the future between our “I made out with blah blah...”s. Now she's out doing something she set out to do, and my proverbial hat is off. After all these years, Sarah is still a constant source of inspiration for me. Thusly, I'm caught wondering how and where my free time and skills can be used similarly. I volunteered a little while studying at Berklee. I'm glad I did. Maybe this is a fleeting moment of dogooderism, but I hope it's not.

Last night I worked The Click Five / Big City Rock show in Los Angeles. It's been a year since the two bands were on tour together. Faces had aged. Aged in a good way. Time moves faster on the road. There were hugs and stories all around. More old friends – former record label people, Eric Marcos from my old band Normal Noises (he was invited on stage and sang a verse of “Handle Me With Care”), even Eric Dill's girlfriend Lucy showed up. Both bands played solid sets. I was happy with my mix. Great night all around. I think the TC5 / BCR tour was my favorite to date. Old friends – no - brothers maybe – a family of some sort.

Tomorrow I see my new friends Teddy Geiger and Evan Voytas (Teddy's guitar player). It's a cool juxtaposition - to have parted ways with TC5 last night, and now to be here with Teddy. I can already see the inroads of a meaningful friendship developing. I love that. I have a sort-of library. I'm back in the stacks of dusty classics I can't put down. Some I have just read, others, are new paperbacks yet to be shelved.

We are collectors of relationships. We collect because of hunger. We need to talk, to touch. Sometimes we need a shoulder – it's insatiable. It's life's only collection that's not born from some stupid need to show off. We collect money and objects. We hoard. We steal. We forget. We loose track of. Things from which a real friendship is immune.

Now I'll sit and reflect. I'll think about Sarah. I'll think about touring. I'll do the show with Teddy and fly back to my girlfriend. My cup runeth over.. er... under... something like that.

Till next time, ta

-s