Horn Bar

My brother-in-law, Charlie, died of a massive heart
attack on Friday.  He and my oldest sister,
Kim have been together since 1974, or so.  Our family
was huddled together with Kim at her house Friday night
when they took Charlie and his music away. 

He will forever be the proud father to my niece and nephew,
Karli and Jordan Smith.

Seems like Charlie has been in our family for most of my life.
I’m pretty sure he bought me and somebody (I won’t tell, Mace)
beer at the Boat Club at least once when we weren’t quite 21.

As much as I like guitar, but have never played, I always thought
it was cool that my brother-in-law was this hip guitar player in the
Indy music scene.  Too bad I wasted too many years away from
Indiana, and didn’t get to see him play that much.

I always thought I’d have him teach me how to play.

He taught guitar to countless kids over the years, and Charlie’s
music lives on in them, as well as, the two Jazz CD’s he released.

He played in the Bob and Tom Band for years, and they have posted
a very cool tribute to him on their website. 

http://www.bobandtom.com/gen3/index.htm

go hug somebody. 

http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/multimedia/local_story_039032306.html?keyword=topstory

(attached video from The Wigwam)

 It was a different time, and a different place back in the 1960’s and 1970’s,
when we used to pack The Wigwam, our high school gym, with nearly 9000
fans for REGULAR SEASON high school basketball games.  I have particularly
fond memories, as I was our high school team Indian Mascot, and got to perform
the traditional Indian Dance ceremony before the games and those crowds.

 Last night, the Anderson High School, and the local paper held a "Fill The Wigwam"
night, attempting to draw the kinds of crowds to a game like we used to back in the day.

Although they were relatively happy with the 4300 or so fans that showed up for a Thursday
night game, I’m sure that many "old-timer’s", like me, long for the days when local high school
basketball games were the best ticket in town.  Unfortunately, in 2008, there are just too many
distractions in our lives, and it’s hard to commit and invest in this product as much as we used to.

As easy as it is for me to sit here and wax nostalgic about how great it was, and how we should
recreate it, the reality is that, I had great intentions of trying to whip up some interest and a great crowd to attend the game from the 100 or so "Our Gang" friends I have on an email list.

But when the actual date came around, Life happened, and my boss showed up late in the afternoon for a "check-in" visit, so I left work later than planned.  And Debbie and I needed to pick up Sam from Driver’s Ed at 8pm.  And the IU game was on ESPN at 9pm.  And "Lost" was also on TV at 9pm.  And Debbie wasn’t feeling well, and was exhausted from teaching 3 year olds for 10 hours, so she ended up sleeping on my shoulder on the couch for most of "Lost", and the IU game.

So, as it turned out, there was no way I could have made it to high school basketball game at 7pm on this particular cold and blustery Thursday night in February.

But I also realized that I was right where I wanted, and needed to be.  

And I suppose I now have a better perspective on why, even those of us who grew up in that atmosphere no longer pack the Wigwam for games anymore.  As it turns out, there really are more important things in life than sports.

And nothing lives up to the memory.

But at least we have the memories.