Operation 365... Blog 82

88 is a number I love. 8 is my favorite number and represents infinity. Double 8 is double infinity and I like that very much. Plus it was the number of some amazing Dallas Cowboy wide receivers. I'm a receiver of bits from my number one friend on the other side of infinity. Anthony Michael Russo, better known to me as Tony or Tone, died 19 years ago today. I remember it like it was yesterday. Tony was my best friend. He lived in our house and that was without question the turning point in my life. I don;t tal about it much anymore. It was 19 years ao, but I still think about Tony all the time. In fact, I fell we're eternally entangled and I like it that way. Being together with him all the time, is a feeling I've gotten used to.

It doesn't make me that sad anymore, not since I wrote the "February" song last year as a final peace offering to the month, whose arrival depressed me for a decade or more. I love "February" now, like every other month. Without it, I'd never have found the rest of my undying destiny. This moment, right here, right now, and whatever follows from it, unconditionally.

I love you Tony and I dedicate today's postings to you. I want to add an anonymous acknowledgment to my family and friends who stood out with me in the cold on this day 19 years ago, completing our mural of love and appreciation to maybe the coolest guy who ever lived, Tony Russo. We love you Tony. Peace

Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay - Archives - 88 Robin Lee - "Be On Top" - 2-19-2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj1xSjtpMHc

Here is a classic Robin Lee hit, "Be On Top," recorded two years ago, yesterday. I love Robin and miss her very much. Maybe I mentioned that once or twice in this blog over the last week or so. Here, she is joined by Jack Davidson on lead guitar and The Soul Man on guiro.

Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay - Covers - 88 "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrlw7oNj8lY

One of the things that helped me get through that first summer, after my best friend Tony passed away, was the music of Pink Floyd, specifically, "The Wall." Even though, it freaked me out some, naturally, the depth of the emotion and anguish, even the hopelessness at times, gave me hope, and made me feel less alone in the world. I had watched "The Wall" movie with Tony one night after we played cards til sunrise, but all I got from it at the time, was scared. Tony was a bit ahead of me in a lot of things and I doubt it phased him at all.

I know that Roger Waters, of Floyd, wrote this tune, "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," for Floyd's epic, "Wish You Were Here," album with his friend Syd Barrett, in mind. Syd was the original main dude in Pink Floyd, before too much acid, and whatever else, caused him to lose his mind, never to return, sadly. I can relate to missing a friend, especially a "diamond," the most precious of gems, and a delightfully, crazy one at that. Even though Tony died and Syd just flipped, missing a friend whose gone in any way, like my friend Robin for instance, is similar. The person is gone and there's nothing you can do to get them back, in the way it once was.

All you can do is forge a new connection, one dissimilar to the types of connections we find together in life. A connection without boundaries. A connection as deep as you are willing or able to go in your mind. A limitless connection. Infinity.

Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay - Originals - 88 "Counting Numbers"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVwRWpaIriA

Another thing that arose from my need for answers in the months after Tony died, was writing. I'd get out my notebooks and pour thoughts on the page just to get them out of my head with the hope that somehow, some of this, would make me feel a little bit better. "Counting Numbers" was the most blatant of the tunes that came out of this expression, in terms of addressing Tony's death.

I wrote these songs back in 1992, with my long-time collaborator and dear friend, Scotty Baslaw. Together, we are (and always will be) The Demarests. Me, Tony, and Scott even jammed together once, our unforgettable "Yankee Fan Parking Only" jam, years before anyone could have guessed what would follow.

Scotty wrote the guitar parts for all these tunes and I sang them. I even tried to represent how he was feeling about the issues in his life through the lyrics of our songs, so he could relate to them personally also. I try to do that with people I know when we write songs together, whenever possible. I didn't start playing the guitar for a few more years after this. All these tunes we had then, roughly 4, had deep personal meanings to me. We had about 5 or 6 other silly little songs too and I don't think any of them will be making the Operation 365. (Well, maybe Killing Bulls...)

We recorded The Demarests' core four tunes in my basement at The House of Love, where I grew up, under the mastermind expertise of dear friend/then evil genius, Chris Scelzo. I was hooked and have been writing and recording things at every opportunity since. The message of "Counting Numbers" is pretty explicitly spelled out in the tune, so I hesitate to explain it, but briefly summarized, it is... In life, we are separate individuals with different bodies. Beyond life, we are all connected for infinity as much or as little as we imagine. Hence, one plus one is one.

Tony, I love you. Next year wil be 20. "What a fuck'n joke." Peace.