I find it hard to believe that it has been two years since my older brother passed away.

Tweet

George would be 79 if he were alive today. He was.a major influence in my life. Because he was "older," I looked up to him. His musical tastes were a powerful force in shaping my musical tastes. He introduced me to the music of John Prine, Jesse Winchester, The Band, and Mason Proffit. He was an Army paratrooper who served in Vietnam. He was on, and survived, what came to be known as "Hamburger Hill." He came home with a Purple Heart, but, happily, no "monkey on his back." He taught creative writing upon his return to the US. I suppose there is some irony in the fact that the anniversary of his death coincides with the "military parade" that occurred yesterday. He was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam, and that led to health issues later in his life, and ultimately his death. I spent a Summer with him and his girlfriend in Galena Illinois in the late 1970s. He and I build a stone wall behind his girlfriend's Summer house there. It was slow and meticulous work, and really satisfying. A metaphor for how I have tried to live my life, I suppose. More recently, he and his former housemate, Ed Holstein, would take me out to dinner when I visited Chicago. Ed is the former Earl of Old Town bartender who wrote "Jazzman," a song that appeared on the flipside of a Pure Prairie League album called (I think) "Bustin' Out." That album featured "Amie," a song that got some radio play here in the US. I bet @FourWalls has heard it. A band I'm in actually covers it. Listening to sacred music makes me wax sentimental. It is Sunday, and I do not have to work today. I will head to the pool later In the day.