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| photo by some Wendy's employee in Santa Fe |
We tried to figure it out and it came to something close to twenty years since we've seen each other. It's like we never left. Bill Jacobi and I go pretty far back, 45 years or so, and he continues to be a treat. As an artist he's always been an inspiration, he was the first harmonica player to convince me it's an instrument and as a pal he's always been close, even in absentia.
We've had some random communications by email in the last few years and before Deb and I made our excursion to Santa Fe he gave me his new email and phone number. Of course I forgot to take it with us and tried to get his info from mutual friends who only had his old info. Then out of the blue, as I'm talking to people at his old job, comes an email from him "Hey Dave... my number is XXX". Right on cue.
We met up at an art opening in his town. Bill is just a joy to be around and I was pleased to introduce him to Deb and my friends. I was meeting other friends there too and feared being pulled in too many directions, but Bill fell naturally into the evening and ultimately we had a couple more opportunities to catch up. After the opening we went over to Lisa Law's house, checked out her studio and got "on the bus" that had seen seriously cool action in the 60s. The four of us had dinner that night with Clinton MacKenzie and Kate Johnson at a Mexican restaurant filled with Lisa's photographs.
The next few days Bill and I had some one-on-one time over a table at Wendy's. Bill has always been wonderfully obsessive, a true force of nature. Whatever he gets into he goes in deep and takes as much away as he can before evolving to the next area of his interest. He looks good and recently found new accommodations that allow his Zen side to develop.
By my recollection it was sometime back in the 80s Bill that was one of the first computer game aficionados on the scene. He was excited about a game that replicated golf. It used a little stick like a golf club with a light on the end and as you swung it over a pad on the floor it would determine shaft speed, angle and all the stuff required for simulating a golf game. Of course he mastered it and in his enthusiasm brought the whole rigmarole over to the house and hooked it up to my TV so we could play. Although interesting technology, I've never gone for the computer game and urged him to join me at the little pitch and putt golf course at the end of the street. Grudgingly he left the electronic club on the couch and once teed up pulls a 7 iron out of my bag and promptly puts the ball on the green. Never hit a real ball before, just smacks it up there ready for a two-putt par. He seemed uninterested, still talking about the video game. The second hole, same thing, pin-high from the tee. I told him how great that was, that people practice for years to have a swing like his and he just scoffed. "There's a (virtual) hole at Pebble Beach that's WAY harder that this and I can ace it, this sucks" and then do a modest chuckle.
At Wendy's Bill tells me about the things that currently capture his imagination and they're amazing. He's so enthusiastic and filled with wonder and laughter. He finds avenues and trains of thought that are outside the box. He continues to do what so many of us set out to do so many years ago. We were all looking for answers, looking anywhere for clues and keys to our existence. For some folks traditional answers are really no answers at all.
Most people find a conventional life or a career is a means to satisfaction. But Bill is still on patrol and I love to hear about his adventures. He has the same humble self-effacing manner about him as always. He can be very serious and the consummate comedian, and we've all learned that some of the heaviest things go down easier with a bit of humor.
