Blasts from the past

This has been one of these days that you can't just let go without writing about it.

I received an email from Wheelie's ex (we are still good friends, as you know)
She forwarded me a letter from a radio person in San Mateo, California. An old friend of us, a guy who Wheelie worked with a long time ago, was a famous record promoter and Jazz DJ (KJAZZ) for years in the SF Bay Area.

check this out to get some info on him:

http://www.afm6.org/archive_JohnRodgersInterview.htm


Apparently John broke his hip and he and his wife are not doing too well financially. So the radio station is asking people to send them money for their medical expenses, food, rent. etc.

I forwarded the request to some of our old friends, and replied to the radio station lady.

I also asked her (while I was at it) if she knew the whereabouts of another friend of mine from the record business, a fellow named Ralph Parsons.

Big bruiser of a guy, huge handlebar mustache, LOUD rough voice, BIG ego.

I first met him during a promotion event for the pop star Melanie (I've got a pair of brand new roller skates) We sat next to each other at dinner. He was boisterous, drunk and loud and at one point I told him he was full of shit. I was fed up with the drinking and the rudeness.
Now mind you, I was a fresh import from Holland in 1968, green/shy/not a clue about this new 'record' world I was in.

But he looked at me, laughed, and we became instant friends. Along with a few other couples we hung out and went to other events and concerts for the next few years.

Then we all got divorces, pretty much all at the same time. I went back to Holland.

Ralph remarried and on a trip to Europe he and his new wife came to Amsterdam to spend the day with me. It was the last time I saw him.

When I was back in the states again in 1981, living with my son in Oakland (this is right before Wheelie and I got it on), I was listening to the local jazz station. The DJ sounded familiar.
Puri, who must have been visiting, looked at me and said: that is Ralph!

That...was the last time we heard his voice.

So the radio lady emails me back. She doesn't know Ralph, but will spread the word that I am looking for him.

I have been searching for him on the internet for years, and always found it frustrating not to be able to find him, or any information about him. Like he vanished from the face of the earth.

The next email I get is from a fellow who said this:

Hi. Melanie sent along your note,part of which had to do with Ralph Parsons. Ralph was one of my best friends of 30--40 years back. We had both been part of the jazz record/radio/club/media scene and at one time, 1981 I think, Ralph even subbed for me, while I was in Europe, on my KQED program, The Annals of Jazz. It was during these years that Ralph discovered that he was Jewish on his mother's side. My wife and I put together a Bar Mitzvah for him at our home. As a record collector Ralph was pretty serious: I think he may have had a complete Frank Sinatra collection! We spent wonderful times at parties tossed by Ralph and his spouse, Barb Hauser. Usually good jam sessions at those affairs.

I will call Barb and see if she minds giving out her phone number. I imagine she would love to hear from you.

Regards,


And then, the next email from the same guy:

Hello again. It just dawned on me that I left out something very important: Ralph Parsons died years ago, maybe in 1990 or so. Sorry.

Talk about shock!!!

Of course the memories started coming, how when I announced that I was pregnant with my son, Ralph's son Bret told me that if it was a girl he would marry her. And if it was a boy, he would just live with him. The kid was 8 or so, I'll never forget that, he was so sweet.

How Ralph had a huge record collection ( little did I know that I would marry a guy who had even more LPs than Ralph had)

His wife Bonnie was my role model when it came to clothing and home design/style. I loved their house, their stuff. So unlike the Dutch things and way of life I grew up with.

Of course in those day there was a lot of grass around, (not the kind you mow, he he) especially in the record business circles.

When Ralph found out I knew how to roll cigarettes, he handed me a brick of weed and told me to start rolling.

I remember getting a little high at one of his parties. How much fun it was to watch TV commercials stoned. How embarrassed I was another time when a famous photographer visited the party and all I could do was giggle and snort.

Ah the good old days. Ever seen the movie: Putney Swope? Stoned? It's very funny.

At one New Years party at midnight, he opened all the windows and turned up the speakers and played Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heartsclub Band. So loud, I'm sure the entire East Bay could hear it.

Ralph was the one who visited Puri and me in our little cottage one day and exclaimed:
Holy crap! Sirhan Sirhan has a bigger place than THIS!

Ohhh those were the days....meeting and dining with big stars like Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles, sitting on a sofa with B.B.King at the Fillmore...meeting Cannonball Adderley at another couple's house, I had NO clue who the heck he was...and so many more wonderful evenings with music and friends and famous people.......

So here I am, overwhelmed by memories and thoughts of old friends and people we knew way back then.
How we're all getting old, and feeble, and needy.

A few years ago I jokingly suggested to Wheelie and Puri that we should buy a huge house for old and decrepit record people, so we could all be together.

I can't believe that we knew these folks 40 years ago.

A lifetime.........

SGMKJ!