What are the odds?

**wintermoon** · 03-06-2022, 08:52 PM

Pretty wacky story from the other day, sorry for the length.
One of my very best friends for the last 25 yrs has been the organist in our band. We worked thousands of gigs together, in fact 95% of the jobs we had over that time we were together but sadly he succumbed to brain cancer @ 75 and we buried him a couple days before Christmas 2020. He gigged for years w/a chop Hammond B-3 and Leslie122 but when he got older switched to a portable double manual Hammond XK-3C and new Leslie 3300. I sold my Hammond C-3 some years ago but kept one of my Leslie's and bought an older single manual Hammond to run through it [I'm not an organ player but love the sound and it saved me having to lug my stuff to his place for rehearsals, he could come over my place and just sit down and play] My friend decided he wanted a single manual organ like mine as well for gigs that required walking up sets of steps so I eventually found him one on Craigslist like mine that was in mint condition. He bought it and used it for full band rehearsals at his house and I plugged into a little Roland amp he had in the basement. I called his son a few months after he passed to check up on him and he said wanted to sell his dad's equipment so I told him I'd help him list them on CL when he was ready, but I never heard back from him. I wanted to buy his single manual and sell mine just so I could have one of his organs to remember him by.
Fast forward to a few days ago and I see an ad on CL advertising a pair of PA speakers I was interested in. Went to the guys house [a drummer] and he had the same model Hammond organ set up in the garage. I told him about my friend, etc and he said he bought the organ that belonged 'to some jazz guy' and he got the guys record collection and an amp in the deal. He asked if I was interested in the organ as he was going to build a little studio but scrapped the idea, but I said I already had one just like it. He said he also got some music books in the deal and pulled them out.
On top was an old beat up real book w my friends name on it! I told the seller that these were my friend's books and he couldn't believe it [neither could I]
So apparently my friend's son sold the organ, books, records and the Roland amp that I used to plug into to this drummer.
The drummer was very cool and gave me an unbelievable deal on the PA speakers and organ and let me pick a record out of his collection [I took Stevie Wonder's double lp Songs In The Key Of Life, that I always wanted but never got around to buying]
As I was leaving he asked if I wanted to buy the Roland amp too but I didn't have any more money, so he said "just take it, it belongs w/ you"
So I wound up w/ my friends organ after all, on a day I'll never forget.

**Ukena** · 03-06-2022, 09:09 PM

Sometimes life just works out in your favor. Great story, probably a result of good karma...

**FredH** · 03-07-2022, 05:26 PM

Wow, George. You can't make this kinda stuff up, can you? Congrats on the acquisition of your buddy's stuff. I suspected he wanted you to have it and his spirit made that happen.

I had a similar incident happen to me a long time ago when I saw a set of drums in a local music store that I recognized. Turns out they once belonged to a drummer friend I worked for and gigged with back in the 60s. He told me how he acquired the set and I told him stories about the previous owner and how he helped shape me as a young musician. Well, I didn't offer to buy the drums - they would have been wasted on my drumming skills - but it clearly was one of those moments when I felt my late friend's presence as the past and present intersected for a brief moment.