Ray

“I’m playing with the fuckin’ band you dick” yelled Ray at the bouncer who had stopped him from entering the nightclub. He showed him his guitar and the bouncer just wondered what this kid was doing at a night club at that hour. 

Ray was fourteen years old but had the chops of a maestro. That was the only reason his family let him go out so late at night. The only musicians who were at his level were thrice his age. 

A prodigy with a temper to match. It would not be long before he would start getting loaded, high, wasted. But whatever he put into his body did not take away anything from his guitar playing. It only seemed to enhance it, or so it seemed to him. 

His sister sang with the band as well. Those were days of having a good time above all else. The band had great respect for him as a musician, but often forgot that he was just a child. 

He was caught with his pants down, getting head from one of the regular hookers at the club and everybody had a great laugh. They were a great band, but it was a short lived alliance. They were the generation in search of love and peace, and were still looking for it. 

Ray lived to play and he played like no one else did. Talent or gift from providence, it did not matter. He made you one with the music when he played. 

As he got older, the hash was replaced by smack and his personal battles started. 

He lived from day to day and every junkie had a guitar that was once owned by Ray. He hocked his guitars to pay for the habit when he had no money coming from gigs. Eventually he went into rehab and cleaned up and steered clear of the smack. 

From then on, he smoked some hash, had a few drinks and let loose the music that was there in his soul. He stayed away from smack from then on. 

Like all musicians who excelled at their instrument, he was not tied down to any genre of music. Rock, prog rock, jazz, you named it, he played it. 

Everybody wanted him to play in their band, but there was only one of him to go around. 

One could write a whole lot about him, but one could never reproduce on paper what he did with his guitar. 

All the words in the world would fall short to describe the genius that is Ray.

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