I'VE GOT THIS COPY OF SABBATH VOL. IV ON CASSETTE IN THE TRUCK...

I'm pretty sure I covered this way back when when I was writing my autobiography, but it's part of the folklore of the band and in my estimation, worthy of retelling.
I hired this guy when I was the milieu Coordinator of TTC, he had considerable experience and presented himself as the kind of guy I was looking for to complement my team. I was right, he was a good addition to the mix...he had a kind of down home sensibility that blended well with the rest of the team.
He also had a history, like most of us in the biz, a history of substance abuse. He was a hardcore drinker and a pill head. Two habits that far outweighed his talent as a social worker, because he LET it. To his credit, he left the field before his habits destroyed his legacy...he was good at what he did, it just consumed him to do it I guess.
Anyway...He shows up at the house one night...already drunk with some fajita meat and a sack full of pecans...he's gonna smoke some fajitas for us. So...he fires up the grill and we sit down at the bar for some conversation.
I've got a CD of Black Sabbath Vol. IV playing and the conversation goes as follows:
Him: ( pulling a packet from his jacket pocket ) "Hey man...you want some rupies"?
Me: " No thanks man...I don't do pills".
Him: " Hey man...I've got a cassette copie of volume IV in the truck...you want me to go get it"?
Me: " This is the CD playing now...."
Him: " Oh...cool...( pulls that packet again ) You guys want some rupies"
Me and Ann: "No thanks...don't do pills...."
Him: checks the fire and dumps some more GREEN pecans on a wimpy fire...throws the meat on.
This exchange went on for at least 2 hours,and I mean the exact same exchanges...the rupies finally caught up with him and he went home. The fire never grew and the meat never really got hot enough to cook...it was raw skirt steak HEAVILY smoked in green pecans.
We joked that he was making jerky. But oddly enough, the next morning, the fajitas were still raw. But our deck was permeated by the smell of roasted pecans.
I've got this copy of Sabbath Vol. IV on cassette in the truck...priceless.
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AND THIS JUST IN...

Our drummer, and dear friend Badger is having cataract ( and all this time I thought he drove a rincoln!!!) surgery this wed.. He wanted to have this jam we had yesterday beforehand. I'm not sure why the two events are connected. I guess maybe he was worried. He's funny like that, sentimental and shit. But that's why we love him. We've known each other since we were kids. And while the definition of what makes a friend has changed over the years, he has been a constant in my life...often taken for granted as the other bullshit about life got in the way, but never forgotten. Always in my thoughts, between today and tomorrow. And when we get together, it's like no time has passed. We pick right up where we left off the last time, and we've got the pictures to prove it.
I'll be thinking about you Billy...I got your back. :)
See you at the shop in a couple of weeks...