For Kevin

Kevin Forrest, whose death I talked about yesterday, edited my column for the Vermont Standard and never seemed to mind if I didn’t get it in first thing Monday morning. Plus if he needed copy early before a long weekend like this one he'd call and say  “Just send anything!” which he knew I would never do. I’m serious like that about my writing.Kevin was serious like that about his music. He started playing in high school and was playing just a few months back, even as the cancer started growing again in his neck. I just found on YouTube and watched all the way through a crazy video in which 20 people run into a room and dance in endearingly clumsy fashion while the lead singer bellows out a tune with an intentional play on the F-word. Kevin is the band member with glasses and the blond hair which went white when he got cancer the first time, just a young guy in his 40s.He had surgery inside his mouth and had to learn talk all over again. He did though and he healed all up and fell in love and branched out with Local Access TV and the special stories for New Hampshire Public Radio. These picture show how he looked when I first called on the paper trying to sell them my column.The only song I can find that he wrote is this one and doesn’t its subject haunt me today, sending me again to NHPR’s website so I can once more hear that nice scratchy voice…. He was just my friend that I saw once a year; I can’t imagine the hole his passing has left for his children, and his real pals, and Linda, the love of his life.