Blog 398 – 09.08.2016

When I was a boy many radio stations had a practice of devoting some of their air time to taking requests and you could even dedicate a favorite song to someone. This practice may still go on but I have become so adverse to the droning of inane or just down right deceptive commercials on commercial radio or TV that I rarely watch or listen to either. If you cannot DVR it or record and fast forward through the commercials I will take a pass.

But I did enjoy the by request song radio format. Much as I loved the songs it was interesting what people picked out and dedicated to others. What is your favorite song people used to ask and most everyone and especially every couple had a favorite song. My song or our song they would call it. One could almost punctuate their life by what popular song was their favorite at a certain time in their life.

I reconnected with an old college buddy a couple of years ago that I had not seen in over forty years. We spent a wonderful Saturday afternoon in Terre Haute, Indiana talking briefly about old times but mostly catching one another up on the direction our lives had taken over the last forty years. I was so grateful we had that opportunity for less than six months later my dear friend Michael Ross Rosensweig concluded his adventure in time and space and moved on I believe to bigger and better things.

In the early part of our face to face reunion I reminded Michael, who went by Ross in college, of a line from his favorite song when we first met, “Summer breeze makes me feel fine, blowing a little jasmine in my mind.” Michael told me in 1973 that he thought that was the most beautifully written and orchestrated song ever. He did not recall that comment in Terre Haute but by then his exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam had begun to affect his health and body functions. I was in Vietnam about the same time as Michael. We did not meet there but three years later in Houston, Texas. Our shared experience as Vietnam Veterans helped us grow close in college. Michael had a wonderful sense of humor and a very strong sense of skepticism that helped him be like the line I quoted from his favorite song – an intellectual – which is to me like a summer breeze blowing a little jasmine in my mind.

When I titled this piece By Request I did know know that Michael’s favorite song would bring his wonderful focused intellect back to my mind so vividly. Michael and I shared an English Lit class in college and we gave the young professor a very hard time in class challenging her every assumption and interpretation. She called us both intellectuals and told us we had a gift and a responsibility to use that gift for the greater good. I believe Michael did that and Bro, that is what he called me in college, I am trying today and for every day I have left to use my gift for the greater good as you did. I would like to dedicate Summer Breeze by Seals and Crofts to my Brother and Good Buddy Michael Ross Rosensweig one of the finest minds I ever knew. If some of you youngsters do not know the song do yourself a favor and listen to it on YouTube and think of Michael as I do every time I hear it.

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White