Let’s monkee around this rockin’ ill summer

Who would have thought they would all go within a few months of one another?  Less than than 3 months apart, 4 amazing legends…just gone.

Whether you loved them, hated them, or didn’t really care; somehow in some way all four of these dynamic people touched the lives of nearly everyone.  (Exempt are the cultists, Duggars, and Amish…ok perhaps a few people more)

Maybe when you were a little girl you dressed up and pretended to work hard for the money, or you once dreamed of finding your own white knight on a steed.  Surely once, just once you counted down with Dick Clark or sung songs watching American Bandstand.  Did you ever fight for your right to party?  Maybe have no sleep til Brooklyn, while singing MacArthur Park, and not being a stepping stone on a New Year’s Rockin Eve.  When you were a little boy did your Mom throw away your best porno mag?  Busted!

Somehow this mismatched trio is now together playing on while Dick Clark again announces them.  Somehow these 4 people tie most of our lives together.  I remember thinking “wow Donna Summer really isn’t that beautiful but she sings really good!!”  I remember bobby pinning a towel to my head pretending I had her long hair and singing her songs.  I wanted to wear shiny disco hot pants, be tall and sing like Donna among others…She works hard for the money is one of those life songs.  License to Ill was the first tape (yes tape for my walkman!) of any rap I ever owned.  I was a Brass Monkey junkie, I fought for my right to party, I was rhymin and stealin…but not very well.  I counted that ball down with Dick Clark every year that I was old enough to.  The Monkees made sense of a messed up life for me.   

Since February the world has lost 4 people, most of us have at least heard of.  The world has also lost countless we haven’t, but their families have heard of them.  They touched the lives of those around them.  We celebrate and collectively mourn everyone who touches our lives in any way, shape or form.  I’ve mourned teachers, friends, family….all through the years.  The deaths that have the most impact on me are the ones who touched me the most, regardless of whether they knew it or not.  We mourn not for those who’ve gone, but for ourselves.  Our loss, our emptiness, the impact we felt but maybe never mentioned, the person we loved but never told, the personality we admired, the people we never knew but felt we did all the same.

This summer there will be one great block party wherever they are