Belated RIP: Bill Morrissey

I swear, I don't go looking for more things to be sad and upset about. If I did, I would have known that singer-songwriter Bill Morrissey died of heart failure on July 23rd long before reading Joe Haldeman's post this morning about last night's tribute concert.

Yes, July 23, 2011, dammit.

The rest of this post is an expanded version of the comment I posted on Joe's LJ:

I have several Bill Morrissey albums (7 CDs, including Friend of Mine with Greg Brown) and had been meaning to catch him in concert ever since I moved east. The closest I ever came was several years before that -- in 1996, carnyjack and I were in Bethlehem, PA, a week after Bill performed at Godfrey Daniels. At first, we thought the show was still upcoming and decided to go to until we realized our mistake.

It now seems somehow fitting that we were there for Jack's father's funeral.

It's probably a good thing I didn't know about the tribute concert until it was over. There's no way I could have made it last night, and I would have spent the night deeply annoyed. As it is, I'm glad Joe and Gay were there.

Standing Eight is probably my favorite album; it's certainly the one I've listened to the most. I still laugh at my naïveté -- I totally loved The Driver's Song and eagerly shared it with Jeff Schalles. To me, it was truck driver's love ballad to his new truck. Jeff heard the twist and explained to me just what it meant when the driver stops in the middle of the road, opens the side valves, and drives through the woods until tank empties out. "Everybody goes to sleep so early up here...."

I found Bill Morrissey On Mountain Stage and look forward to listening to it later today.

Friends reading this will be glad to hear I'm heading over to Smith later today. Gavi and I are having dinner -- most likely in one of the dining halls, so I can share that experience with her -- and then going to the Faculty Dance Concert. Susan, Gavi, and I enjoyed Merce Cunningham's MiniEVENT, a site-specific dance performance during the Smith Family Weekend, and I'm looking forward to seeing and learning more about improvisational dance. And to seeing Gavi, of course.

Follow-up: Garnet Rogers remembers Bill Morrissey

Fabulous tribute from Garnet Rogers, including what he remembers of the lyrics to Bill's song, "Morrissey falls in love at first sight."

2,000-acre fire burning in southwest Reno

The Reno Gazette-Journal reports: "450 firefighters are still fighting the 2,000-acre Caughlin Fire in southwest Reno, but Reno Fire Chief Mike Hernandez said that its forward progress has been stopped."

I'm glad there's good news. My heart and prayers are with those affected by the fire. aisb23 reported in a brief Skype chat that 20 homes burned and 10,000 people have been evacuated. The Washington Post blog adds that one person died of a heart attack while fleeing from the fire.

Both Arthur and the Washington Post blog say the fire is 400-450 acres. Arthur says there's a major windstorm in Reno right now, with 75 mph winds. That's not helping.