Still Bumming

Friday May 13th, 2011 - Gurnee, IL/Vernon Hills, IL

   I’m still way bummed about Rick Uchwat’s passing. I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s a shining example of how we don’t know what we’ve got until it’s gone, and I can’t believe I’ll never see him again. I’m sad we didn’t get a chance to say a goodbye, even though we never had a cross word between us. There were no fences to mend, we got along superbly.

   Still, I would have liked to have one last time to thank him and share a few laughs with someone I really looked up to. He was a dented can and then some. I thought my life was a circus, but if it was it couldn’t carry a candle to Rick’s. His had elephants and clowns.

   Rick was born in Austria, and his parents were survivors of Auschwitz. He also served in Vietnam and was badly injured there. He came back to Chicago after he got out of the service and settled in Old Town, which was the hippie section then. He got into all kinds of businesses from strip joints to parking lots, and he made good money in his twenties.

   I don’t know if he was a natural businessman or if he learned it because he had to. I’m guessing he was a natural, because he usually made excellent decisions. He was a smart guy, and nobody put one over on him. Plus, he had a likeability like few I’ve ever met.

   The reason people liked him was because he knew how to make everyone feel special, from royalty to stumble bum. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. There was a bum pestering people in front of Zanies on Wells Street in Chicago, and he was a royal pain in the ass.

   He’d guilt people into giving him money, and it was uncomfortable for people waiting in line in front of the club between shows. Rick went out there and talked to the guy for about three minutes, and reached into his wallet and pulled out a bill, and he was gone.

   I have no idea how large the bill was, but you could see the guy listen and nod along as Rick made his points. He had his hand on the guy’s shoulder the whole time, and after he finished we never saw him outside the club again. Whatever Rick said worked perfectly.

   There were constant stories like that, and Rick was a master of putting out fires. He had a knack for cutting through B.S. and making deals with people. I wish I had that talent but I’m sorely lacking in that department. I miss Rick already and it’ only been a single day.

  I stopped at Gurnee Mills Mall for a member expo for the Lake County Convention and Visitors Bureau, but I was in no mood to hang out. I talked with my friends there and they understood. I didn’t want to be rude and not show at all, but my heart wasn’t in it. I took a walking lap since I was there, and again was reminded of how  out of shape I truly am,

   I had no shows tonight, which is odd for Mr. Lucky and Friday the 13th. I can’t think of the last time I wasn’t working on one, but not tonight. I hung out at the Zanies in Vernon Hills, IL and the staff there was just as sad as I was. I did get to hang out with Aisha Tyler who was a very nice person, but it didn’t change the fact we were all still missing Rick.

Posted via email from Dobie Maxwell's "Dented Can" Diary