It's likely that many people in Genesee County -- already worried about the coronavirus pandemic, the economy and New York life on pause -- are brought even lower tonight by the death of beloved songwriter John Prine.
The 73-year-old Illinois native succumbed yesterday to COVID-19 in Nashville where he lived, and fans worldwide are in mourning. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame last June and was to perform in Ireland this summer.
A handful of local musicians say they discovered Prine's music after The Batavian posted Oct. 12, 2018, about the inaugural Day of Remembrance & Hope, which was held just two days later at Genesee County Park & Forest.
The official YouTube video of Prine's "Summer's End" -- a song revealed with the video's release to be about opioid overdoses -- was embedded at the bottom of that post, which noted the accidental drug-related death of a Ventura County resident with local ties, Charles Raymond Sutherland.
Remarkably, a band of seasoned musicians known as the Midnight Cruisers learned the song in rapid fashion and performed it at the debut event -- an occasion put together by Bright Futures Genesee, a nonprofit headed by Sue Gagne, to aid people during the relentless (and ongoing) opioid epidemic.
They said they were delighted to discover John Prine.
Social distancing was not in our daily lexicon; it was a nice autumn day at the park and people were welcome to amble about, reflect on love and loss, and enjoy some tunes.
So the Midnight Cruisers did their thing, with singer Neil Gagne on bass guitar, his son Joe on guitar along with his brother Doug, and Bob Bjornholm ("absolutely no relation") played drums. Afterward, somebody gave the band a few bucks for gas money, a small token of appreciation.
There was sharing, laughs, and tears -- aids always to healing, especially when there's music.
A reporter brought a homemade booklet memorializing "Chuck" that contained family pictures, personal anecdotes, a poem or two, King James Scripture, and links to a "Magnum Opus" of songs posted on YouTube.
Copies had been distributed, along with small purple ribbons, at a memorial service for him two weeks after his death (at 9:05 p.m. Feb. 22, 2018, according to the coroner's autopsy report).
The service took place at the base of (Fr. Junipero) Serra Cross Park at Grant Park, an enormous wooden monument high on a hill in the City of San Buenaventura, with a sweeping world-class vista of the coastline and the Ventura Pier, once the longest wooden pier in California.
Grant Park, site of countless weddings and other public gatherings, was officially closed, the entrance gate remained padlocked. A few months before, the historic and devasting Thomas Fire had charred the chaparral-covered hillsides.
Through sheer audacious begging in a prideless letter to the city manager's office, a public official relented and agreed to meet mourners at the gate below the cross -- damaged but still standing -- unlocking it for the 45-minute service at 4 p.m. on March 8, 2018.
A ukelele player performed "Vincent."
A solo Americana artist played acoustic guitar and sang his favorite song, "Blackbird," and "Summer's End," which was announced by Prine on his Facebook page Feb. 8, 2018, Chuck's 35th birthday. Although the guy knew many John Prine songs, that one was so fresh he had to learn it from scratch quickly -- like the Midnight Cruisers did subsequently.
It had rained in Ventura for several days before and afterward but for the memorial, the midafternoon sky was clear and blue; the Pacific Ocean sparkled.
Two years ago today, the Ventura County Star published the obituary.
They say timing is everything.
It can be painful when it's off. A Prine fan in Genesee County wrote her first-ever fan letter, highly personalized, at the beginning of this month, thanking him for "Summer's End."
But due to COVID-19 and the tsunami of news coverage that followed, it didn't get mailed until after Prine's hospitalization was publicized. Oh Boy Records was alerted to be on the scout for a bright chartreuse envelope.
Belatedly, thank you Midnight Cruisers for sharing "Summer's End," and thank you to John Prine, and poets who vividly express our humanity and give us hope.
(Top photo: John Prine at Mariposa Folk Festival at Toronto Islands, Canada, in July 1972, used by permission of Kris Browne, courtesy of Dave Reilly.)
"Caravan of Fools"
"Summer's End" -- (Song/album presale, lyrics-only version)
"When I Get to Heaven"
