A Walk Down the Memory Lane With Stan Getz

I met a girl once... that’s a story that’s been told many times before, right?

While in my early twenties, I met a girl named “C”. This would have been back in the mid to late 90’s. “C”, who is now my wife has an older sister; she and her husband just had a baby called “F” around that time. They lived in a small town about an hour away from us. One day, “C” and I went to pay them a visit and congratulate them on the birth of “F”. We brought gifts, and this was my chance to meet, and get to know the “New World Man”.

I didn’t know much about “C´s” sister, only that she was a couple years older than me. I knew even less about her husband. He was (and still is) a bit older than me, and that we used to be neighbours a while back. He lived in building which was opposite from mine. I can vaguely remember this but Mr. Milton always refers to this period with these words:

“When I was on my way to do laundry, you always sat on your balcony with a cigarette in your left hand and a beer in your right hand with the stereo thumping on maximum volume…”

This was before “C” came into my life. I’m not that kind of a guy anymore…or Am I???

To get back to the story, once we had arrived we got the usual pleasantries, and best wishes out of the way, Mr. Milton and I started to have a conversation. After a couple of hours it got a bit “strained”. “C” and her sister had plenty to talk about but Mr. Milton and I had run out of interesting issues to discuss.
I don’t know what he knew or thought about me, but we really didn’t have much in common. Although we both tried to liven up the conversation, it seemed like it was heading nowhere.

As the sun set, I started browsing through his vinyl record collection and all of a sudden I found a few interesting alblums.
I remember he had the alblums: “Hemispheres”, “Signals” and “Grace Under Pressure”. At last…we had something in common! We both shared a love for the music and lyrics of a Canadian band, named RUSH. Things changed from that moment on, and we went to the local “bottle shop” and discovered that we shared “another mutual interest”.

Almost a decade later…

I know lots of people but there are few that I would call “my friends”. They are of a small handful.

Mr. Milton and I are very different individuals, yet we are so much alike. He brings out the best or worst in me. (Pick one). We can discuss religion, politics, the meaning of life, fishing and cooking…eh??? Sometimes, and quite often the conversations can get heavy and introverted.

Mr. Milton’s version of all this may be different than mine.

He enjoys outdoor activities, Kung- Fu, computers and really loves his “gadgets”. We go out every year on our “Call from the Wild- trips”, and he keeps on trying to get me interested in things other than the music business. We celebrate X-mas, New Year’s Eve and all the Holidays. Over the years, I’ve found him to be very emotional and quite intelligent. He’s a great guy to hang around with, and he’s one of my closest, dearest friends.

I’m glad that I have Mr. Milton as a friend.
We will see you all in Birmingham and Manchester!!!

It’s almost been a decade now, and Mr. Milton and I are still …. MAKING MEMORIES.

All the best!

Stan G.