Big Brother

            My big brother was so cool, in 1971 or so, I was 10 years old, and my brother was 17. He had really long hair and played lead guitar in a rock band. His band would sometimes practice at our house and if I was quiet and didn’t get in their way, he would let me sit, watch, and listen from the stairwell. I was so impressed and proud that this really cool guitarist was my brother. He not only played guitar really well, he also had a beautiful singing voice. He could shout out a rock song or soothe with a tender ballad. I wanted to play guitar too, he inspired me, and at 12, my mom and dad bought me an acoustic guitar for my birthday, and I have loved to play ever since. I also, like big brother am self-taught but unlike big brother I have not learned even a tenth of what he knew about guitar or music, but I still love to play.

            He wrote many songs and even made an album in the 1980’s called “Desert Eskimo.” Unfortunately, he never became famous, although he almost got discovered with that album, but the agent/producer was only interested in him, and he couldn’t leave the band behind. They had all worked so hard together. His loyalty impressed me too, but his one big chance had passed him by. He didn’t stop trying though, he wrote more songs and learned more about studio work and recording, and then he fell in love.

            Her name was Marlene and she had two beautiful kids, a boy and a girl, and they rocked his world. The boy was a handsome young man, very smart and wasn’t very impressed with big brother at first. He didn’t need a new dad; he had one already. The girl seemed to accept him as a dear friend right away. I think she could see his heart somehow. Over the years though, they all came to love him very much, and he adored them. He never quit his music, but it had to come second to his family, and I watched his life become less about himself and more about his family—just as his father before him. It’s rare to meet and know such devoted men these days, but devoted he was, and they to him as well. They loved and supported him in his music and in all his quirky oddities, because you see genius can be a little eccentric, and he was that too.

            We, his family and his friends all miss him very much. Cancer stole him away from us a year and a half ago, and now my really cool big brother plays music for God.

Marsha Winzeler