sundog & i

fred drake - the sky party - 'sun dog & i'

charles drake

charly drake was an engineer & a texas oil man when his wife josephine gave birth to a boy named fred in taft, california in 1958. 44 years later he carried his sons cowboy boots, filled with ashes, & scattered fred's remains, to a biblical wind storm outside rancho de luna, fred's home & studio, by the cottonwood tree fred planted & fed a daily diet of horse manure & a trough full of water, as the dogs & horses ran crazy around kashmir's corral.
charly & jo entrusted tony mason, fred burke & me to carry on fred's dream of a studio in his desert home. we managed to pay the bills & record a lot of music there in the two & a half years afterward. when it became too much, dave catching resumed his place at the rancho & i lost contact with jo & charly, except for some sweet emails form them when i sent pictures of my little boy, in a cowboy hat, playing at the rancho (& a copy of the children's book, 'fred & ted,' - or 'big dog, little dog,' for my son.)
i'll always be grateful to charly & jo for that opportunity to wean myself away from the rancho over that couple of years after fred died, before sage was born, while recording, reflecting & reaching for a way to carry on.
in hollywood, in the decade between the time fred was diagnosed with HIV & when he moved to joshua tree, fred's greatest fear wasn't his own prognosis. he was more worried about his father's heart. so he kept his sexuality & his diagnosis a secret from his dad.
when charles would make a business trip to california from houston, he would always make a trip to l.a., to see fred, a part of the plan. then one time he asked his son to show him joshua tree, knowing how much fred loved the place. on that trip, fred saw a rainbow-like smear in the clouds overhead & charles told him it was a sundog.
that trip meant so much to fred, he went straight into dean's studio to record an ambient piece, "sun dog & i," in honor of his father.
the fear of being open with his dad began to melt away with that trip, although it was not until fred's condition required charles knowing that fred shared his painful secret illness with his dad.
at fred's memorial, i was warmed - through the shock - by the generosity & acceptance fred's parents showed all of his friends. fred had worried too much about the toughness of his dad.
several years later, i had one of my sweetest memories of charles when, at elia's birthday party in 'the monument' - now 'the national park'), charly & jo stood holding flashlights on elia's friend , mario gardner, as he sang 'nature boy' - or 'nature girl,' for elia - while doing a strip tease, on the top of a tall boulder. charly discovered, to his delight, that elia's friend roxanne, from iran, had been his daughter's friend at the american high school in london years earlier, while the drakes lived in england. all of these elements, the desert, texas cowboy balladeers & glitter-rock-era london combined in fred to make him the unique person he was. he would say he most resembled his mother, but he had his father's ears. i can almost smell the coffee on this crazy wind today, blowing in from that night many years ago.
thanks, charly. say howdy to fred & kashmir; mario, too. may this desert wind carry some comfort to jo & fred's sisters, & his nieces, like gold dust in the sun.

ted quinn 11/29/10

Category:

Music

Tags:

• fred drake.sky party
• sun dog
• ambient
• joshua tree
• rancho de la luna
• bulgarian music

[chizzalien]

beautiful eulogy and reflects the love you share with people of every walk.

[tedquinn]

thank you.

[flaxious]

Cool, nice vibes this has.

[eliaarce]

Jo's and Charles love for Fred extended to all of us and created magic and healing moments for all of us. I will always remember them and be grateful and carry them in my heart forever. For Jo, whose beauty inside and out shined through me many times...

[ajenik]

Thank you Teddy. I remember that night and Charles and Jo's love for each other and their family and the beautiful way they embraced all of us.

[mywifimike]

this vidio & these words here are so toucing ! for Ted Quinn & Fred drake a love unbound by anything of this world , but by far above this universe in a place where few have gone ! I for one understand this like ted i lost my best friend , and the love for music & friendship we shared i dont no if that will ever be matched again & to i'm not so sure i would want to love that much again !