Chances are when your obituary is written you won’t be the one who did it. And of course there is no chance that you will read it, unless you know something that I don’t. Ninety nine and 99/100% of us don’t write an autobiography, so most of the people that think they know all about us don’t, and they may not know some of the things that are important to us that we may want them to know.
William Jefferson Clinton, past president of the United States, said, “Everyone should write at least ten pages about themselves.” His autobiography, “My Life,” is 999 pages, and like him or not, I agree with Mr. Bill. I, like you, have had many relatives and friends pass from life on this earth, and the only things we know about them are gleaned from conversations that we’ve had with them over a short or long lifetime, which can be a great deal of information, or a little information, or hardly any at all.
There is so much information about every person we know or knew that it would be overwhelming to read a complete history of each of their lives, but wouldn’t it be nice to know some of the interesting and important things that happened to them that we may not know? And since we are a bluegrass community, wouldn’t it be nice to know about the “bluegrass-ness” of them, something beyond being “Hooked on Bluegrass,” and something that they would want us to know about them WHILE THEY ARE ALIVE that we don’t know.
Whoever penned the movie, “Get Low,” had it right. If you didn’t see the movie it’s about an old codger (played by Robert Duvall) who decides to have his funeral before he dies, and he makes it an event with “backwoods music” (because that’s where it took place). He hires a live band that has fiddle, banjo, guitar, and stand-up bass. The important message from the movie is that you get to go to your own funeral while you are aware of what’s going on. That’s right, while you are alive. You get to keep the “fun” in funeral.
Narrowing the concept down, why not write your own Bluegrass Obituary? To make it realistic for readers of this welcome column, the only rule is to limit it to one hundred words or less. Heck, you could post it on the CBA Message Board, or some ambitious person could make it into a series like “Hooked On Bluegrass.” The idea here is to go from your being “Hooked on Bluegrass,” to where you think you may end up or want to end up, with all the bluegrass stuff in between, whether your are a player or a just of lover of the bluegrass music. Okay, I’ll start “My Bluegrass Obituary,” here goes.
John Karsemeyer discovered bluegrass at age twenty three. Encountering his first bluegrass band, he thought they were a group of folk musicians using amphetamines. John later joined the California Bluegrass Association, and turned blue. He learned to play the bluegrass banjo by buying a book directly from Earl Scruggs through the mail. His life was enriched by being in bluegrass bands, and being in bluegrass jam sessions. Having Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, John died excitedly, while jamming non-stop for ten days without eating or drinking at the 100th CBA FDF in Grass Valley, California.
Okay, now it’s your turn….
