Curations from the Human Jungle
Greg: Doin' My Part II A couple of years flew by. No word from Del other than the every-few-months, plain, brown envelopes. I loosely followed the career of The Spawn of Grendel only, but I couldn't glean any clues about Del. Del: I was The King of Vermont, or so I thought. I had a... Continue Reading →
Del: It was dumb of me to let the kids use the Grendel name for their band, but I was just so damn flattered. Things were changing at Emerald, but not in a good way. The drug of choice was changing from marijuana to methamphetamine. Not my thing. That meant the culture was changing, too.... Continue Reading →
Del: Jeroo started getting really good on the guitar. By 14 or so he had surpassed my ability to teach him anything. Remember ... even though I was The Music Guy at Emerald, I had retired from rock 'n roll at 18! From a musical development perspective, I was pretty stunted, although I did know... Continue Reading →
Greg: My Dad passed away just a few years after he retired, always believing that Del was somehow still alive. I became a lot more convinced as well when several days after his passing, I received another mystery package, this one contained a cassette tape with the following song: No one had shared the attic... Continue Reading →
Del: My twenties were a blur. I loved the early years at Emerald. Everything seemed fresh and new. We were as far as you could get away from The Man and The Establishment. I loved learning how to garden, and how to build crazy-ass houses. I love being the music guy in the commune, and... Continue Reading →
Del: San Francisco had run its course for me. I was sick of squatting in abandoned buildings, watching people come and go, and dealing with the hardcore druggies and the hangers-on. I still wanted to be lost, but I thought I could do it in a less chaotic and healthier way. Joni Mitchell telling us... Continue Reading →
Del: I felt bad about the effect that my deception would have on the people I loved, but I also knew that this was a completely irreversible decision. Once I was gone, I was gone. There was no turning back. Good-bye Wendell Watson, hello Billy Mann. It was like committing suicide, but without the blood.... Continue Reading →
Greg: https://videopress.com/v/ClpY6vEe?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true Del: The Plan went like clockwork. 2 hours before leaving Saigon for the airport where I would return to the States and my discharge from the Marines I completed the paperwork that would seal my fate. I put the paperwork in the mail that would inform the US Navy of my untimely demise.... Continue Reading →
(Attention email subscribers ... did you know that many of the images in your email are clickable as videos with sound? Give it a try!) Del: I wasn't the only one assigned to the personal letters, officially deemed "Condolence Notes, or "CNs", to the next-of-kin for deceased soldiers. Three others-- Homer, Jay, and Rocco-- were... Continue Reading →
(Attention email subscribers ... did you know that many of the images in your email are clickable as videos with sound? Give it a try!) Del: I got out of the hospital in Saigon and was temporarily assigned to the office of the quartermaster. Our job, collectively to make sure equipment, materials and systems were... Continue Reading →