On Wednesday March 12, about 5 PM, I left Tampa, headed for Jeff Dorseys Memorial get-together in Nashville (actually Whitehouse), which occured at 4 PM CDT 3-13. On the trip, I listened to the USF vs Rutgers AAC basketball tournament game (Stans last stand) on Sirius, but mostly I thought of Jefferson (we always called him Jeff back in the day) and all the unbelievable experiences... I looked forward to seeing old friends, and meeting new folks, because pretty much everyone around Jefferson was an interesting person... I drove until I reached Chattanooga about 1 AM. I figured I could stay the night in Chattanooga and take my time driving to Whitehouse the next day, in plenty of time to get there by 4 PM... but i awoke at 4 AM, violently ill... by noon EDT Thurs 3-13 i had not slept, i had chills and sweats, and a strange leg cramp, which made walking difficult, and other symptoms consistent with stomach flu, stomach virus or food poisining (im sparing you the worst of the details)... i decided it would not be good for me to attend the Memorial, because even if i could make it, my behavior (due to illness, not because im prone to misbehavior, although i am) would have been upsetting to folks there... i was just too sick to be around people. So I headed home, where I could see my doctor, if my condition did not improve ... I had to stop twice in 575 miles to sleep for a few hours, also made other stops for other reasons (again sparing the details)... finally made it home friday 3-14 about noon... was able to eat, and i have recovered significantly, so it must have been a 24 hour virus deal (or 36 hours really)... But I missed the Memorial. And I truly, deeply regret this... I regret it for myself, but for another reason: Jeff and I grew up in Nashville, both of us went to Peabody and Hillsboro, but in the 11th and 12th grade we both attended a tiny, obscure school in Massachusetts, The Stockbridge School, where we made friends with a bunch of great folks... I dont think any of our fellow Stockbridge students were able to attend, and I failed to represent for them, and I feel like I have let them down... So I apologize to all of our great friends from Stockbridge... I so wanted to be there... to see my great friend Stephen Anderson, (Steve to me)... who was the first real musical collaborator I ever had other than Lee Hall, and so many other great friends from Nashville... to see Anastasiya, who made Jeff so happy and loved him so dearly... To see Jeffs family... I kinda feel like I left Jeff down. I know he would forgive me, and so does anybody who might read this, but I have a hard time forgiving myself. So Ill say it again here now: I loved Jeff Dorsey, I miss him, Ill always hear his voice in my head. If for any reason going forward his family needs any help i can provide in any way, ill be there. Jeff was like a brother to me, but I know a lot of people had similarly close friendships with him, because to know Jeff was to love him... and he loved us all as well. In closing, I hope that there is at some point in the future some other Memorial type event around Nashville that I can come to... Gary Serkin has expressed an interest in organizing a Memorial concert... I would love to attend that, especially if Steve Anderson and Jane Rose and The Deadend Boys also performed... I bet theres some other great folks that would love to be involved... and if theres room on the bill, Id love to play too... So at the appropriate time, perhaps this should be considered... ALSO, someone at some point should create a Facebook page in Memoriam of Jeff Dorsey... where we could all post... Id appreciate it if someone did these things... whenever the time is right... LOVE to all who read this. Goodbye to my bro Jeff... never to be forgotten. RIP.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 18:16:37 +0000
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