Heap o' Links Thu Sep 3, 2026

Half a century ago, when MiladyJo and I had been "together" for just a few months, we went to her home town, Chicago, to (gulp) meet her family and celebrate Christmas and New Year's.

She wanted us to go to the New Year's Eve show at the Earl of Old Town, so one day when we were out buying Christmas gifts, we stopped by the bar to buy tickets. There was nobody in the bar but the bartender and some guy up on stage, a short young fellow, dressed in raggedy blue jeans and a big smile, strumming on a beat-up old guitar.

As we stood there, he burst out with a familiar train song. We listened a while, then headed out to shop more.

I turned to her and exclaimed, that was a great version of that song! She replied, it ought to be, that was the guy who wrote it. I said, you mean we just walked out of a private performance with the guy we just bought tickets to see on New Year's?!? Yup. We should have just gone back in.

But we caught his show that New Year's, and the second set, and many New Year's shows subsequently. Great songwriter, energetic performer, and a great guy. Gone 'way too soon.