So I have seen many music acts play live.  A few of them I could have done without.  I saw George Thorogood once.  Wow.  LOUD!  LOUD!! and LOUDER!  The room was small.  That did not help.  I was there at the behest of a buddy of mine I have not seen in nearly twenty years.  It has probably been near fourteen years since we have talked to each other on the phone.  Well…you can’t keep up with everybody, can you?  And don’t start in on that facebook phenomena with me.  Mullcat (that is what I called him) and I were quick on the phone.  Get the message…hang it up.  If we found a comfortable spot, however, we could sit and talk about the ills and the victories of life for hours.  That I miss.  Thorogood?  I only stuck around for six songs.  During those six songs I got kicked, pushed, beer spilled on me, and I think my left ear started to bleed.  I was out of there.

Phil Collins, as a solo performer or a member of Genesis, is one guy I never heard perform live.  His song “Against All Odds” was all over the radio the radio in the mid-80s.  In fact he had a slew of hit songs that, when folks stop and think about, are startling in number.

I had a Phil Collins 45 RPM record in 1985.  Singles is what we called them back then.  Singles is a silly name for the 45.  After all, there were two sides to it.  There were two songs.  Okay…I just looked it up.  The song “We Said Hello, Goodbye” was the B-side of the 45 I had.  The A-side…which means the most popular of the two… for those of you attending vinyl school here….was “Take Me Home”.

“We Said Hello, Goodbye” is a tune I fell for in a hurry when I was seventeen or eighteen years old.  There is an intro to the song that includes strings and piano and it is one of the most beautiful things I have heard to this day.  The song is an inspiration.  The song is a song of hope.  Though things don’t always work out the way we want them to, we can always set our sails for a new horizon.  We can and we will press onward.

I recently found a copy of the album it was on.  The album was called “No Jacket Required”.  Yes, I still call them albums when I feel like it.

I had not heard the intro to that song in over twenty years.  I have no doubt it has been that long.  Did I still like it?  Would I be writing this if I was disappointed?  Man…it was good.  It was real good.  It was better than I remembered.  The intro was a few seconds longer than I remembered.  Then, with piano leading the way, Phil Collins and his distinct voice made some simple words turn into a message with the tone of his awkward voice alone.  That is a special talent.

Understand, when I was growing up we did not know what the folks we heard coming from radio speakers looked like.  I did not know what Phil Collins looked like when I first heard the song “Against All Odds”.  My mind’s eye had a burly guy with a Grizzly Adams-like beard throwing his head back when he came to the high crescendo.  When I saw Phil Collins on TV singing the song I was taken aback.  That little pipsqueak sings this song? No.  Can’t be.  He did.

Thanks to all that have asked about my Uncle Roger.  His surgery was a success. I am most thankful.

Our dear friends from New Hampshire, Bob and Michelle and their three youngsters,  are in town.  Michelle flew in on Thursday.  Bob and the kids came in on Friday.  Michelle’s mother is not doing too well.  Our prayers continue to go up with them in mind.  Seems we have reached the point in life where we see too much of each other during difficult times and don’t take the time to see each other before hard times catch up to us again.

We’re all so busy.  Isn’t that the standard excuse?

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson