This news stunned me. In that state of not quite belief, without thinking, I began to play Fred's music, which he had put up on http://www.soundclick.com/bands/defa...?bandID=378173 and in the Forum, as well as to re-read and revel in many of his posts here. When it sank in that Fred would be posting no more, composing no more, nor be out on the golf course again, I wanted to say something that in some way might be a comfort to Patsy and their family. But having said that I am very, very sorry and know what you must be feeling, as true as that is, I know it could not alleviate the pain of your loss. I have discovered nothing that can do that. But oddly enough remembering can bring some comfort. Perhaps that is why my reaction to the sad news was to play Fred's music, to recall some of his stories, and to go over again memories we had in common of a time that was long gone when we remembered it in these pages. Hope, too, can be sustaining; that the end of the world as we know it is the beginning of another world as we would have it . . . certainly one with music and a tenor sax of which those here are only shadows. Enjoy the heck out of it, Fred, and that golf course, too, where you can play eighteen multiplied by infinity.

in sorrow,
mgj