I’m in York Pennsylvania this evening waiting for my truck to be unloaded. From here I’ll run back up towards Scranton for a load that’s Bound for Horseheads New York.
Bullseye on the truck are in good health, and things are going well so far.
[1]
I note with great sadness that not all is well with Keith Emerson. He of Emerson Lake and Palmer. Emerson ended his life the other day apparently because with his advancing age, he was 71, he found he couldn’t perform as well as he used to. So said his girlfriend, anyway. [2]
As Billy Beck noted earlier today, this is terrible. About you know, sad part is it’s nothing we’ve not seen before.
I have to tell you that I had the same idea floating around the back of my head when Brad Delp died. Remember, it was just before Boston was supposed to go out on tour that happened.
The similarity of the scenario is rather striking. In a lot of ways I made the same comment about Michael Jackson’s death as well.
I don’t know, maybe they parallel to Michael Jackson that I’m drawing is unfair given we know Jackson was a vacuum cleaner for prescription drugs and what is a full goose Bozo whack job anyway. But I can’t help but think that there was at least some of what I’m going to describe to you involved with that case, as well as Emerson and Brad Delp as well.
For those of you who’ve read Jack London’s “Call of the Wild”, you will understand the phrase “dog out of the traces”.
For those of you who don’t, a brief overview. A sled dog, that is trained and spends all of its life in those leather lines hauling sleds around, knows nothing else. Wants to do nothing else.
Trouble is like every other mortal being, eventually comes the day when they have to retire. Sled dogs in that situation tend to go somewhat crazy rather frequently, not knowing what to do with themselves. The tendency is there for them to act quite irrationally.
I had a similar situation in my own family some years ago when my uncle retired as a driver after many decades. At one time he had 18 trucks in his stable, and as many people driving for him. Eventually that was whittled down to the one truck that he was driving, and eventually came the time for him to retire. The situation was pretty much the same as described above. He really didn’t know what to do with himself. Eventually the solution he came to was to buy himself a diesel pickup truck and a fifth wheel camper to drive around the country in. Not all that unlike what he was doing for a living for so many years.
I suspect and suppose that Emerson being the perfectionist that he was had no such Outlet. Delp, as well.
Sad, but certainly understandable.
The sad part of course is that we don’t know it well enough to prevent it from happening.
And, down the road I go.
I’ll see you tomorrow.