David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Glenn Frey, Paul Kantner, Maurice White, Harper Lee, Sonny James, George Martin, Keith Emerson & Greg Lake, Patty Duke, Merle Haggard, Prince, Guy Clark, Muhammad Ali, Ralph Stanley, Gene Wilder, Leonard Cohen, Leon Russell, Gwen Ifill, Sharon Jones, Florence Henderson, George Micheal, Carrie Fisher (and her mom)…
And that’s not ALL of them. People die. Of course they do. There’s surely a notable list similar to this one every year but why does this one feel so potent? The bolded names above were HUGE influences on me – some from very early on and some much later (too late). I included others, some non-musicians, because their names were part of the fabric of my history. Heck the early Star Wars franchise lost 3 of its characters, Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), Admiral Ackbar (Erik Bauersfeld), R2 D2 (Kenny Baker). I know I’m not alone in this. Whenever an artist of note passes on we are compelled to revisit their art. Millions of people take another listen or look and all the memories we associate with that art come flooding back. Thank goodness for my CD collection.
But wait… who is that guy in the photo? The list above is of famous people I didn’t know personally. That guy… probably one of the most notable losses to me and many others in our music community. His name is Tom Saunders (or as his dear departed partner at A3Radio “Nearly Normal” Warren called him, “little Tommy Saunders”). Tom and Nearly came into our lives nearly 15 years ago as Djs and champions of local musicians. Tom was a Dj, musician, book publisher (Glendower Media), father, husband, friend and all round great guy. A3radio was a labor of love and Tom’s live one-hour Folk It! show brought musicians in from the emerging unknown all the way up to Arlo Guthrie to perform live on the air. Tom was able to make every one of us feel special and never skimped on the praise, often comparing us nobodys to the likes of Paul Simon. He’s espoused dozens of times over the years that “Rod Capps was the greatest guitar player on the planet!” and we knew he believed what he was saying. Even though he might say the same thing to someone else. :) I was asked if I wanted to say a few words at the service. Problem was, I had way more than a few words. I got some of them out but the rest of it is here. Miss you so much dear friend.