This is my friend Nicole who was a professional musician for 37 years and until recently was a regular performer at Johnny Foley's Irish House in SF. I met her in 1999 about three months after moving to Oakland to attend Naropa's satellite campus. She had a personal ad which said,"If music rocks your world let's rock." We met on xmas day 1999 and played at the corner of Haight and Ashbury on the steps of Ben and Jerry's. It was unrehearsed and unchoreographed yet as the morning sun came out it was a mystical day which started our deep friendship. She always tried to keep me around with a place to play in East Bay playing at Beckett's Irish Pub for 7 years but health problems that have just been diagnosed as lymphoma left her little choice as to limited her hours to recover her strength and lead a long and full life. She gave me the diagnosis which gives adds a prognosis of less than one year to live. She has chosen not to do chemo nor radiation treatment. She worked all her life paying her own payroll and SSI taxes and will never retire. She believes education should be free. Liberal ideas get to the masses and then it becomes harder to manipulate and corral them. This is what I will miss the most is the reminders that Mr Greed will always try to get it all and we will always have to say no, nyet, nada.
Keep singing Nikki as long as you desire and breathe. In my heart I will always hear the wonderful harmony we made.
