My how things were different then. 5 short years
ago, Christmas season of 2003 into 2004.
I got a call from my friend Helyn and she was inviting
me over to try to cheer up her husband Rich, who was
just starting to feel the effects of Huntingtons
Disease, by celebrating our birthdays together.
Since Danny Gallagher's birthday was also in January,
she invited him over also.
At the time Danny had a small folk ensemble together
that had been performing at the Berkeley in Asbury Park,
among other places. This consisted of Lee Hefter and a
singer from Pennsylvania whose name escapes me.
We all piled into Helyn's home, which as usually was
full of food, and still decorated for the Christmas of a
couple of weeks ago. I hadn't seen Danny much, although
I had heard his folk ensemble a few times (they also
played at the Clearwater Festival, which Helyn and I
were still in charge of booking).
As they broke into song I was moved by their tight,
fluid harmonoies. Danny never sounded better, and having
a female voice to sing against brought out the rich
fullness of his voice. He was playing his National dobro
that he had played so many times with me way back when,
and though he was using a cane to get around, he had
lost none of the fire that I had enjoyed so much back
when I was in his band.
Richie even managed to sing a few songs with us, though
he stayed in bed a lot of the time. This was an omen of
things to come, as he would spend the last few years of
his life in that bed, getting up only to eat or when his
caregiver arrived.
At one point we broke into "Four Strong Winds" and I was
nearly moved to tears by the full four-part harmonies we
were creating. Last week I sang this same song at a
holiday party and I WAS moved to tears by the words:
"Four strong winds that blow lonely, seven seas that run
high
All those things that don't change come what may
If the good times are all gone, then I'm bound for
moving on
I'll look for you if I'm ever back this way"
Sadly, this was the last time we all were together.
Helyn would spend the last years of her life in and out
of nursing homes. Danny moved out west, where he
perished of pneumonia in early 2007. Rich's last years
were spent in a semi-comatose state, initiated not only
by the Huntington's that was ravishing his body and
mind, but also by the medicine he had to take to control
it.
But I am left with 20+ years of memories of the good
times, and left with the knowledge that I had the honor
and privilege of knowing these great people. Friends, I
am only 5'4" but I have truly walked amongst giants in
my life. Giants who made me feel like I was one of them,
who held me up on their shoulders high above life's
pettiness and small-minded worries and showed me that
something better was to be had. And not to be paid for
with money, these people, including Danny, were only
rich with each other's love and company. And a greater
treasure this world will never know.
I write this not out of some desire to live in the past
(though at my age that has a tendency to become a highly
contagious disease in itself), but to let you know that
no matter how bad life gets, and how much you win and
lose, there is one thing no one can ever take from you,
and that is the love and comfort we share with our
family and friends.
"Feed the birds, tuppence a bag"
Walt Disney said that 44 years ago in Mary Poppins. How
inexpensive are the real treasures. A little kindness
here, a little generosity, a little forgiveness there,
shared memories, shared songs. Costs us nothing, yet we
fill our lives with Plasma TVs and expensive cars and
McMansions, which can be gone in a flash.
These memories of Danny and Helyn's and Rich's
friendship and music and love will stay with me forever,
recession or depression be damned. Those "good times"
will never be gone as long as we remember to cherish
them and find room in our hearts to create more.
My New Year's resolution will be just that, feed the
birds. Costs so little. Lasts forever.
For more on Big Danny visit
www.BigDannyGallagher.Com
and see my picture albums and blogs on
MySpace. To learn how
you can volunteer for the Clearwater Festival visit
www.MySpace/NJClearwaterFestival
or
www.MCClearwater.org.
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