i ain't often right

 but ive never been wrong,

it seldom turns out the way it does in a song (Hunter-Garcia)

i owe my confidence in writing and my personal style to the author Jack kerouac....sure I read Hemmingway and Salinger, Hunter S  and other unique voices, but in the end, it was Jack and the reading of On the Road that launched my own writing career. My never ending search for humor and inspiration in everyday life, a door or window to something else.... my desire to not set THE record straight.....but to set MY record straight///and it has been one of the joys of my life.......BUT

The single biggest influence on my life is without Question Jerry Garcia. Jerry has been with me basically every step of the way, every day, for as long as i choose to remember. The one constant in my life. I learned early on in life that were two types of Music....the Grateful Dead....and....everything else. It's an acquired tatse, that is for certain.....as Jerry himself said once when trying to explain Deadheads to an interviewer......."we're like licorice  .....not everyone likes licorice, but those who do....REALLY like Licorice".

He has provided the soundtrack to my life....i can't remember a day that i have not listened to at least one song of Jerry....wherever the road takes me, the music of the Grateful Dead follows me. ..( Classic Bumper sticker from the late 70's read: Who are the Grateful Dead ? and why do they keep following me ? ) ..and so today on this drizzly Monday morning, on what would have been Jerry's 80th Birthday,  i will repair to Club Gato......i will pack a cooler of Beer, i will grill steaks and listen to the Music of Jerry Garcia ALL Day and into the Night.....he has been gone an unfathomable 27 years and yet is still alive and well in this Deadheads Universe. I don't think he ever understood how many people his music influenced, but then again; maybe it was that understanding that weighed so heavily on him...who knows, who cares....today is a day of celebration....it begins what has been come to be known as the DAYS BETWEEN......his birthday of Aug 1 and his untimely departure Aug 9........for everything in between I echo the thoughts of millions......we will survive.

Once in a while

you get shown the light

in the strangest of places

if you look at it right