LONG LIVE ROCK!GOODBYE TO A FRIEND!
You know...I’m really getting tired of the Grim Reaper harvesting his souls here in The Region.
It seems that nearly every month, I have to report yet another member of our local music community has been taken from us. Oddly enough, it always seems to happen just as our pages are being sent over to the printer.
While I hate having to report on anyone’s death, I especially hate doing it when that person is someone close to me.
It was tough reporting the news that our BEAT/Amerisound crew member, Rick “Mama” Kolisz, passed away two months ago. But this month writing was an even harder task.
On Tuesday, May 3rd...our page files were already burned and waiting for a press time...when that horrible phone call came.
Jim Hillegonds, the lead singer of the Bonfire band was on the other end of the line, with the sad news –– “Tommy...(there was an uncomfortable pause)...Rick Rock has died!”
Rick Rock had just turned 43 last month, but those of us who knew this talented guitarist and amazing music historian, were well aware that he had not been in the best of health in recent years.
Heart problems, diabetes, and chronic leg problems had made it nearly impossible for Rick to get out much to clubs anymore. When he felt good, there was no keeping him from grabbing one of his many prized guitars and finding his way to a stage. Sadly, that was becoming the case less and less.
Somehow Rick did manage to get himself over to 2nd Dimension for me last year, where he dusted off some vintage tunes for the “Hegewisch Records/Night Rock Reunion” party.
“I wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” he said, even though it was clearly evident that his legs were causing him pain that night. “I gave Hegewisch Records all my money when I was a kid,” he joked, telling a story about buying this album and that album, while playing a choice tune from each.
Rick always smiled when I referred to him as “a human jukebox”, but quite simply he was just that. Rock could go from playing a pop dittie by The Monkees or the Cowsills, to a vintage track from the Jethro Tull or Beatles catalog, to picking out some tasty Irish blues tune by the late Rory Gallagher.
It was through Hegewisch Records that I first came to know Rick Rock. He was one of the first local musicians I met when I first began my foray in to the world of rock journalism as the editor of the record store-sponsored, Night Rock News.
Our friendship grew over the passing years. In fact, I can honestly say that Rick became one of my dearest and closest friends, not only in the local music scene, but in life. He was always just a phone call away, when I needed to check a fact about some obscure band or song. He was my “lifeline” as Regis Philbin might say, when it came to ALL topics music or pop culture related.
I was thrilled when Rick accepted my offer to join me as guest DJ on my Night Rock radio show a few months ago.
My usual on-air cohort, Scott Rosenberg was out sick that week and Rick was happy to step up the plate and pinch-hit for Night Rock. As always, he came armed with a bag full of obscure, but brilliant musical selections to play.
Rick helped us re-launch Night Rock a year ago March, when I had asked him to help me build a library of tunes that would make the jaws of true, old-school rock fans drop.
Rick worked for days, burning several CDs worth of the deep cuts and forgotten classics by many legendary artists. Those CDs, aptly labeled as “Rick’s Picks”, became the backbone of those first few months worth of Night Rock shows.
I have nothing but wonderful memories of my years of knowing Rick Rock.
Our history was long and varied. We had co-hosted “Jam Night” together during the late 1980s at the old Club Dimensions in Highland. I was a frequent guest and collaborator on “The Rick Rock Show”, which he hosted for more than a decade on Northwest Indiana’s access cable channel.
Rick performed at countless BEAT-sponsored events over the years, and he never failed to dedicate Grand Funk’s “I’m Your Captain/Closer To Home” to me at each and every show. He knew I loved GFR and that song in particular. There’s not been a time in the last 20 years, where I have heard that song and not thought about Rick.
In fact, he pulled out his trusty guitar in the radio station studio when he co-hosted Night Rock with me that night and played that song live on the air for me.
As I sit here writing these words, it seems prophetic and a tad bit eerie to recall Rick sitting next to me in the studio, looking at me and singing the lyrics –– “I’m getting closer to my home...”
Indeed, he was getting closer by the day, and now he is home at last.
I choose now to dwell on the loss and let death have the victory here. Instead, I like to think that Rick is jamming in a better place with some of his heroes –– especially George Harrison. To me, in my mind, THAT is where my friend is right now. He’s having a ball bending the strings of some heavenly stratocaster and is pain free at last.
I will miss Rick very much during my remaining time on this earth, but my memories of Rick are triggered every time I hear one of the songs that were staples of his live club performance – “Hymn 43” by Jethro Tull, “Stepping Stone” by The Monkees, “Ballad Of John & Yoko” by The Beatles, “Funk 49” by the James Gang, and so many more.
As long as those songs continue to play on some radio station or in some club, Rick Rock will live on. He was all about the music and the music was all about him.
In the words of Roger Daltrey –– “Long Live Rock!”
Tom Lounges spins Region Rock on his Night Rock radio Show every Sunday evening from 6-9pm on X-ROCK 103.9
The May 8th program will be dedicated to the memory of Rick Rock. We will play tracks showcasing Rick’s own musical talents, along with filling the show with an assortment of Rick’s favorite artists and selections from the library of songs he gave us | |||||||
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