it's official. 8th October has been banned. It has been replaced by 11th November. If only starting with four people. His partner Helena, his two daughters Lauren and Adrienne and myself. On the 8th October, there is no demise, witnessed or understood, that way we all get to celebrate two birthdays. I'm sure when the phenomenon takes hold, many more will embrace this. How can they not? At this point I guess I should go into some detail.
Forget playing the guitar. He can play it like a titan, but there are so many other factors to take into consideration. I'll start with his train of thought. He embraced the writings of George Orwell. Not the obvious works, like 1984 and Animal Farm, but all the others. The novels that led up to these famous works, that contain themes and ideas in the developing Orwell's 2 "greatest hits". I would think of the craziest ideas and we will talk them through until they made sense.
One thing I wrote was a book about scale patterns. Not only did he tell me what components to reject, but how to develop it further. He uses it to practice on his Chapman Stick.
There is an overall feeling about the way he approaches things. From teaching himself to read music; to dropping everything to focus on not just something else, but to the unknown.
The same phenomenon is more than apparent in his daughters, with an emphasis on Adrienne. Dropped whatever she was doing in her life to become a solicitor. Lauren took up the flute. When she dropped that to do whatever, he isn't happy, but took it in his stride. Maybe the most annoying fact was that she is so damn good.
The whole thing reminds me of my tabla teacher. I have never referred to her as my "former" tabla teacher. Every time I see her I learn something new. From the coincidental to the monumental. plus another thought about now. Not can, but how do I forget what she taught me? I think about it every day. Not only what she taught, but the very experience of knowing her. The very same could be said about him. Plus teaching me - she was a real ball-breaker. That I am eternally grateful for.
All I can say, in conclusion, is the overall train of thought. Whatever you are doing, anything. Embrace it until you make sense of it. I find information on the internet every day, no matter how oblique or obscure. I think constantly of sharing what I have gleaned and sharing it with him.
His name is Wayne Monger. there was no funeral on the 8th of October. It has now been replaced by 2 birthdays on the 11th of November.
He is alive. Every day.
Whoever he is changing the lives of, now. How can he not be?
