Whipped

Just got in from Illinois (and Iowa)—big old story there, but not for tonight. Tonight’s story has to do with going down to the water. For the last several years of Scot’s life, balance was a big issue. Trusting terra firma was in doubt for him. He’d have these things that felt like a trap door was falling out from under him--just as he was walking along.

Turns out he loved being in the water. There were no trap doors in the water. For the last couple summers of his life, almost everyday, we would go down to Lake Monroe, the local resevoir, for a swim. We’d squeeze in to the cab of our 1994 Toyota truck (which we bought when James was two and was a tight squeeze then). I used to liken it to squeezing into a space capsule--one of the early ones.

ARTWORK: One of my favorites. Love the multi-dimensionalism. Love the world below, the world above, and the wobbly world in between. Another art by the ream piece—sorry Steve, what more can I say?

MUSIC: “Wade in the Water.” I ran into my friend Dan Witherd (twin brother to Dave Witherd of many a previous blog entry) last week at a Snake Doctor gig. Dan played a lot with Scot. (Scot loved it because Dan could play trombome!) Dan told me, “Scot used to want to play these songs (like “Wade in the Water”) and I didn’t take him seriously. I thought he was teasing me. Now I know. He REALLY wanted to play them.” Yes indeed. He really did. Toward the end Scot took his spirituals very seriously.

Remember what I said about the Basement Collaboration doing their own bad thing? Here is another example. Jerry Farnsworth takes the lead, both on vocals and guitar, Kenny slips in and out of sonic picture on drums and then there's Scot playing the bass.