Operation 365... Blog 357

Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay - Archives - 363 Jefferson Jay "That Morning" 8-19-2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Viy5zr7weU


Friendship is one of the truly precious things in life. It's one of the things that matters most to me. Without friends to share our life with, to love, living seems hollow. Loyalty and support of friends is one of the most important traits you can have, I believe and I try to live that way as much as possible. Ideally, we would see everyone int he world as our friends and treat them all that way, accordingly.

So, today's song brings with it, a long story. That morning sucked. That mornings was January 13, 2009. I received a call form the police. They were calling regarding my friend "Donald Truesdail." They didn't want to tell me what happened til I go over to their house, but I assured them I was coming and made them tell me. They said he was dead. I walked over slowly. I felt a slight sense of relief with the thought that he had an accident and it was cut ad dry, In the past, when my best friend, Tony died, the mysterious and unclear circumstances involved made it that much mroe intolerable.

I arrived at their house. I won't describe the scene out of respect for how emotional and painful it was for all involved, especially Don's wife nancy, but it was beyond grim. Eventually the police came and brought with them the hideous insinuation that Don was somehow involved with the ending of his own life. Nobody who knew him was buying it. Several hours later, I went home and took a shower, His music was blasting and it was an emotional and raw time. I felt his voice in my head tell me "Don't believe that bullshit," just as I began to contemplate the officer's unconscionable assertion. My instinct was to believe that voice. I did, but moments late, gain I entertained the notion for a heartbeat that the police might not be entirely full of shit here. and then as vociferously as I heard I heard it the first time, probably more I heard those same word in my head. "Don't believe that bullshit." From that moment forward, I agreed to heed that wisdom. It made more sense. That's for sure.

The newspaper printed that "information" the next day. When I called them, all kinds of angry, they informed me they got it off the police's website. Nice. The investigation had barely begun and the police posted on their website that the cause of death was suicide. So much for that relief I imagined on my initial walk over. For the next week, I spent every second I had helping Nancy and trying to find proof that Don didn't kill himself. So many other things happened in those subsequent days, the kinds of things most people never experience and probably wouldn't believe. That's why I don't tell those stories. I'm not out to convince anybody that my spiritual road is for them or even legitimate. It is my journey. It's how I learn to live and while I would be happy to discuss, I never intend to defend any of it to anyone, because it has nothing to do with them really.

But I gained a lot of wisdom for the universe during that time. It kept me going on my pursuit of the truth and my grieving on next to sleep for awhile. The following Saturday, 5 days after the accident. I found proof in Don's car that he had an accident in OB prior to his jaunt down the 5 on his way to work to teach kids music. That pretty much destroyed the police's genial version of the truth in which Don drove down the highway so he could leap in front of a garbage truck. If they had look at all for a note or not ignored the damage to his vehicle from the first accident, none of my little heroism, would have been necessary. It's a much longer story, as you might imagine.

This version of "That Morning" was recorded at The Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, CA on Don's mom's birthday, August 19, 2009.

To learn more about Don, or check out any of his awesome music, please visit
http://truesdailstudio.com

To hear the CD version of "That Morning" or any of the other tunes off "Gift To Be Alive," please visit

http://jeffersonjay.bandcamp.com/

Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay - Covers - 363 "Time Can't Fade" by Chris Scelzo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtWD4k0QEgI


In the spirit of friendship and love, I am taking this third day before this here 365 ends to cover a tune by my friend Chris Scelzo called "Time Can't Fade." Chris has been my friend for 20 years and was probably my first musical daddy. I remember like it was yesterday, watching him star on the stage as a member of The Boptones, the student-teacher rock band, we had at our new jersey high school. He was amazing, running across the stage, shredding guitar leads. I was captivated and wanted Chris's friendship.

Fortunately for me, he was down and we became pals. In high school, he was already making all these tapes of his original songs. They were a little rough, but I loved them, The crown jewel of al these jams was "Time Can't Fade." It was the one everybody most loved. Chris didn't think the songs were all that special. He kept recording them over and over 'til 1994, when he released a two-disc (really both sides of a tape) concept album, featuring himself on all the instruments including programmed drums and everything. It was awesome. So awesome that I don't think he felt the need to ever do it again. Making a CD is a lot of work. Ha!

Prior to that, Chris had produced and recorded the first songs I ever co-wrote, with my pal Scotty Baslaw in our group, which still exists, The Demarests. A great time was had by all through all of this and when tragedy struck my little circle and my friend Tony died, Chris stepped up even more and became the great friend to me that he still is to this day. What extreme steps constitute friendship at these dire times? While Tony fought for his life in a coma, Chris let me drive his beloved Hyundai in the rain, out of my mind bat-shit-crazy upset down to Jersey City to pick up our friend Conor, who would later grow up to be this man.

http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/36296/Conor_Grennan/index.aspx

Anyway, we survived and Chris demonstrated he would go to any length, even risking his own well-being to be a the best friend he could be. Chris would later lead many late night diner missions, Hyundai-fueled music appreciation lessons, and Christmas-light viewing, hilarity-filled journies.

I chose to cover one of the old versions of "Time Can't Fade," the one found on the first tape of his I have, in fact. He made it fancier I changed the key later, but I was always partial to this version. It was the first tune a friend of mine ever wrote that I thought was really really col. Even before it was all done up right, I was a devotee. I still remember all the words by heart pretty much, even those he discarded 'cause he thought there were too many.

I even dressed like him here, just for the fun of it. Chris is one of those rare dudes who wears a tie all the time no matter what. He was already doing this back when I met him in high school. You can see a picture after the song of Chris and I (with Scotty in the background) at Boptones practice. The year after I watched Chris kick ass, I auditioned and made the band. I was still a backup singer back then, mostly, but my senior year, I too got my chance to shine in that 800-person auditorium full of screaming fans. Good times. Thanks to Chris for inspiring me all these years and for being my friend.

It's true. Sometimes, time can't fade.

Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay - Originals - 363 "That Morning" 3-11-2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_duAt1I6Od8


So it was early 2009, a year I spent most of recovering from Don's death in January. In late 2008, when the world was a simpler place around here, I was performing and practicing a lot with my side project, The Greens of Mind. I had written a handful of emotional ballads that the group enjoyed playing. They worked well. It was wintery for San Diego then. I was envisioning Spring and Summer ahead and wanted to write some more upbeat tunes for the group. The Greens weren't feeling 'em.

"Strive and Thrive," "The New Dawn," A Call to Action," and "Love of My Life" were these tunes. They all wound up on my new CD, "Gift To Be Alive," which may never have happened had The Greens been more responsive to my offerings. It's all good now, but at the time, I was a little sour with their rejections. We were in practice on day and I said I can write a tune you'll all like. and I wrote this one there pretty quick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ7D89kg4Bc

They did not like it. In fact, it was everything they can't stand about my music. It has funny lyrics, weird grooves and it's choppy. I got what they didn't like abou it right away. So I said OK, this time I'll write a song you will like. I thought I had it and then I wrote "That Morning." They liked it unanimously. They said I write good love songs. So that's how "That Morning" came to be. I don't like to play it to much now. It's so sad. I miss Don, but I feel as close to him as ver. I am him and he is me now. OF course, we are both much more but that is part of the reality I inhabit. There is a lot to be learned form our friends, unencumbered by bodies.

This version of "That Morning" was recorded on March 11, 2011. All the tunes on my new CD, "Gift To Be Alive," probably wouldn't have come to the surface had Don lived. Even if some of them had, the meanings attached to playing them, would have changed dramatically. I dedicated the the CD to Don. I love him and while song focuses on a truly dark moment in our lives here, I have gained so much love and insight and awareness of things I had never imagined not only from knowing Don in his life, but from knowing him since that morning.

Love you bro.

Peace

To learn more about Don, or check out any of his awesome music, please visit http://truesdailstudio.com

To hear the CD version of "That Morning" or any of the other tunes off "Gift To Be Alive," please visit

http://jeffersonjay.bandcamp.com/