Yesterday was Gene Shay’s last radio show. He’s been doing his folk show in Philly for 50 years! (Joni Mitchell’s first performance of “Both Sides Now” was on Gene’s show — the day after she wrote it.)
My dead ex-husband was also a huge fan; he used to tape every show and he’d not only listen to them, over and over, he’d get the kids to listen. So I was driving home yesterday, listening to the songs to which Gene introduced us so long ago, and started to sob as all those pent-up memories came flooding out. If there was one thing my ex and I had in common, it was folk music. I don’t listen as much anymore, but I still hold the songs in my heart.
And geeze, isn’t that middle age in a nutshell? All those songs, attached to all those memories. It will not be the same without him.
