At the end of last year, I posted a remembrance of Chris Whitley. He has been a favorite musician of mine since I first heard "Living with the Law." Since his death, I have thought often of his progression as an artist, and that arc of exploration cut short too quickly, and it has resonated inside my head, urging me to be sure to be engaged in the present, and while striving and sacrificing for some distant goal to respect, and relish where I am currently.
Life is full of those uncanny occurrences that knock you on your butt and the only way to explain it is to say "that's life." One such occurrence is that fact that one of Angelika's photographs is on the cover of the North American version of Whitley's last CD, "Reiter In." There are a couple of other images by Angelika in the CD packaging as well as a cool photo of Chris on stage by Bill Ellison. It's just so odd. Every so often, as I'm listening to his music, it just strikes me-the shame of such a unique talent now gone..
We went to a tribute to Whitley in NYC several weeks back, and it was wonderful to see and hear from folks whom Chris Whitley had influenced, and impacted. We unfortunately had to leave early before hearing his brother Dan's band, but I was able to see Chris' dad take the stage to speak a bit, and play a song. That was one very affecting moment, and one filled with a dignified and graceful poignancy.
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