Joyfully Retired

Today is the birthday of my youngest brother, Brent. For years my sister and I would recall the day he was born with great fondness. We still do. We were taken to stay with one of our uncles who stopped at the ‘five and dime store’ and bought us little pads of paper that had various colors running through the pad. It was very special paper.

Don’t you love this old picture? Makes me want to tweek those little cheeks. He was the cutest little boy. For a long time he loved to play cowboys. He was always Hopalong Cassidy. We called him Hoppy.
When he became a teenager, music entered his life and it’s been his passion ever since. The guitar was his first love. Although he has gone on to play many musical instruments, he can lead bands and orchestras, he loves his guitars.

Brent is the only one in our family who has had his 15 minutes of fame on a national scale. (Well, there was a great-uncle who had this invention, but he’s another story.) Here’s the story of Brent’s fame.
Back in the late sixties Brent went to a party at the home of his guitar teacher. The guitar teacher introduced him to another young man and encouraged them to form a band. One thing led to another. They recruited a drummer and another guy and started playing music all around Los Angeles.

Brent is the one on the top left

They ended up making albums, played concerts all over the country and in Europe. They even had a single (Are You Ready?) that climbed the music charts up to number 14 in 1968. Their name: Pacific Gas and Electric. Here’s a shot of two of their albums.

What does an ex-rocker do when the rocking days are over? If he’s lucky to survive, as Brent was, he goes on to teach music. Brent has taught private guitar lessons now for years. And, he’s been teaching music in school classrooms as well. And then there are the six or seven music books he’s written.
Brent has a special way of connecting with people – kids and adults. I don’t know if it’s that dry sense of humor or the infectious love of music or both. Everybody just loves him. He’s always been a favorite uncle to my kids and the other nieces and nephews.

Brent and his wife are currently traveling back from a trip to Italy so he won’t see this for a few days. That’s okay. Any day during the month of August is a good time to say Happy Birthday, Little Brother.