memento mori/passages

so during my early morning dadden time before every other sane person in the house gets up I discovered that some seminal parts of my existence no longer exist.

serenade in brass ends this year after a glorious 36 year run. there was a period of a decade where i was there every year. through four relationships and various incarnations of westshore, the hip pickles, etc. it was one of the signs of spring that got me ready for the upcoming summer season. i won't be there for the farewell show. but the memories of conga, hair bear, frankie, butch, jimmy russo, etc. as well as the bucs alums doing beyond the sea, mighty st. joe's filling up every square inch of the stage and the yankee rebels adding that hometown touch...

then another quick websearch revealed that the yankee rebels alums dissolved as of august 14th, 2010. that one hit hard. Hamilton was a huge part of growing up in Baltimore. They were at all the parades, they hosted shows at memorial stadium, you get the picture. Wish i has a recording of Requiem for an Era so that I could properly say goodbye.

it pains me on one level that my girls will never get to experience these two entities. on another level, it just compels me even more to make sure that they get to experience as much of their father's formative experiences/places as possible before they all disappear.