Aging pickers

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I saw an old friend tonight, at the grocery store. I haven’t seen him in about 14 years.

It was a drag-down - he looked like hell. I’ve recently been coming to grips with my own aging, and I can handle what I’ve seen. Scot just looked like he 's going down the pike a lot quicker.

Scot was my close friend for many years. He played both guitar and keyboards. While I managed to make it into a few commercial bands, Scot could not go there. He was talented, but you could not learn a song with him. Every moment of playing was a new thing. Drummers might appreciate this - with Scot I could play lead drums and he’d pick up on it. A true joy to play with.

But absolutely unviable, as he couldn’t play the same thing twice.

So, he became a footnote in my own footnote musical career.

Damn! It was a bummer to see him looking so old and washed out.

2

Was it the smokin’, the drinkin’, the whorin’, or the drugs that got to him?

I’m not even old enough to have been to my 10th high school reunion, so I haven’t had the misfortune to watch too many of my friends go ‘downhill.’

3

I look at many of my friends and think about how old they look. I don’t look in the mirror too often though.

4

I’m coming up to my 24th HS reunion—I won’t go because I don’t want to hang out with a bunch of old folks. Besides, I have been told that many of the guys I ran around with are D & G. I can’t believe the names I was given----guys who I thought were immortal and I’ve outlived them. Too sad.