Note to reader: I’ve been thinking a long while about this post.  It’s difficult, I think, to write about someone you only met through photo ops (in this case a charity auction), but who has been “in your life” as an artist since before you can really recall anymore.  My first Moody Blues concert was in 1986; I was 8.  But I’d already been wrapped up in Moodies music. I’ve decided that for my own remembering, I’m going to work backwards.  This is not a formal sort of thing – it’s just for me.

Mostly, I think about Ray through his music, and I start with The Trouble With Memories.  I know it’s not the actual last recording he was a part of, but it was the last one that hit me square in the heart. I actually can’t comment further without getting really personal, just, this was a really moving song to me.

In a more general way, We Need Love hits me hard sometimes, too.

In 2017 my paternal grandfather passed away.  He loved to sail ships.  I posted a video of Celtic Sonant and then asked Lee if that was alright that I did so.  After her reply that music should be shared, I felt embarrassed that I’d even asked, but also ever so grateful.

Ray’s last Moodies album contribution, as far as I know, was My Little Lovely.  Although I knew very well he’d written this for a grandchild, my girlfriend at the time and I were such big fans, I called her my little lovely, and she knew I’d won a backstage pass.  So we made up a t-shirt that I wore backstage that read “I go to Moody Blues concerts with my little lovely“.  Ray seemed so happy that, to this day, I like to believe I made him smile at least a little.  This was all an amazing experience while I was in college.

While I was in college, my maternal grandfather passed away.  That experience, in my life, attached another song of Ray’s: The Last Dream. I still think of my grandfather when I hear this song.

In 1996 we actually held a big family reunion, and the song I chose to open it all: Love is the Key of From Mighty Oaks.  This was the ‘anthem’ of our reunion.

I Am/Sorry  was such a curious set of songs to me growing up.  It felt like someone telling me to watch out about corporate interests, while all wrapped up in a song.  Could you do that?  I was very impressionable and I’m sure I took some intended and unintended meanings from those songs.

By the way… VCR was my absolute favorite as I was learning to love music.  I knew it was different, unique, and in the end, so full of meaning, even if that meaning was and is only partially in my grasp, that I loved the whole suite.

Dear Diary was not only a beautiful song, but it let all of us add on our own endings.  The Moody Bluegrass folks did that on their version, but I think all of us who “felt” that song, wrote on our own endings.

I’m not going to work my way through everything.  I was tempted but I’ll stop.  Suffice it to say that at every point in my life, I had many songs to be there for me.  There were songs of all sorts.  There were Moody Blues songs.  There were also Ray Thomas songs.  There is not rating or ranking.  It is simply that all of these have shaped me and I cannot be more grateful or thankful.

I may keep changing, adding, editing this post, but it’s time it goes up.

I miss Ray. I’m so glad to have his music. Maybe… that’s enough.

Just over a month ago, I saw a post that Denny Laine would be performing in my hometown of Pittsburgh.  I was super excited, and also maybe a bit hesitant.   I knew for sure I wanted to see him perform.  I knew certainly enough that I was standing in an airport in New Orleans when I booked my tickets on my phone as they went on sale to reserve a table at the Hard Rock.

But was I just collecting?  Denny is the last living Moody Blue I’d never seen live.  (I was born in 1978 and as far as I can tell never had a chance to see Clink Warwick play).  I like a lot about the “Mark 1” Moody Blues (Denny/Clint/Mike/Ray/Graeme).  The first (45) records are mostly covers as they found their way.  I think many pass over are the fantastic songs the Mark 1 Moodies made towards the end of that period, before Denny and Clint left.  I have ALWAYS liked This Is My House and Boulevard de la Madeleine.  When I finally got a copy of the French EP with People Gotta Go (before it ever saw a CD release) I loved that song even more.  Denny and Mike were writing some great songs.  Even though Denny left, the band was starting to find its songwriting talent, (as was Denny), and that carried into the “Mark 2” Moodies as they recorded about a half dozen songs before Days of Future Passed.

I have more than a few of Denny’s solo albums (and I admit, only two Wings albums on vinyl).  I can’t explain why, but his Reborn album always stuck with me as a favorite.  That’s sometimes the thing about music; it finds you at the right time in your life.

So why was I hesitant?   I wondered what the show would be like.  Plain and simple.  I don’t think I’ve heard even a recording of Denny in the last 10 years.  Well – I am so glad to have been there I can hardly express it.

Denny and his band (after an opening act) began by playing Band On The Run in it entirety, and in a casual bar setting, it was perfect.  Lots of joining in was encouraged by the band, and plenty of fun banter from the stage.  It really had an energy I wasn’t expecting.  Denny joked at one point that he had written two parts of a song, Paul had written the in between, so of course, it’s credited to “Lennon/McCartney” most of the time.  “Get it right!”  He told the story behind Picasso’s Last Words starting with “Paul had a Picasso on the wall…. because when you’re a Beatle, you have a Picasso on the wall…”  I really can’t say enough about how great the performance was.  His harmonica on Bye Bye Bird was I think as good as I’ve ever seen on videos from the 60s.  My date had a real blast with this one!

If you get to see this show, don’t miss it for anything.  Sir Paul won’t give you the entire album.  And of course if you’re a Moodies fan like me, you’ll never hear The Original Singer perform FOUR of the songs from “Moodies #1”.  Deep in my soul I’d loved to have heard one of his co-compositions with Pinder, but now I’m really hoping beyond hope!

After the show, Denny came out to do a signing.  Apparently this is common knowledge and people showed up with LPs.  I didn’t know, and I didn’t know what the Hard Rock would let me walk in with, so I came with a 45 and a CD tucked into my jacket.

Denny was so friendly and chatted with people as they went by.  I put down my Moodies EP (People Gotta Go) which he happily signed, then, the CD of Reborn.  He was suddenly excited “I haven’t seen this in so long!”  He took the sleeve from me and showed his girlfriend how he appeared in two ways on each page, once as “modern” and once as a ghost – I asked him “Is that you, too, in costume?” and he said “Yes!  As an old composer, you know?  Reborn?”  He signed that as well.

And here is my People Gotta Go EP.  Being signed.  Is this for authenticity?  No.  This will never be for sale!

In 1999 I saw the Moody Blues twice on their Strange Times tour.  I saw them near Pittsburgh, PA where I was attending college, and then again in Virginia.  In Virginia I didn’t have great seats because I bought the ticket last minute… because I’d won an OFC raffle for a meet & greet!   This is the only time I met the band when I could actually exchange a few words with them.

The Pittsburgh Show

The Meet & Greet

Signing his Natural Avenue vinyl reissue for those who attended a Moodies show that year and already had one, my then girlfriend and still best friend all had albums to sign!