I received a voicemail saying my old boss Charlie Gardner passed away last week. What does that have to do with my art career, you ask? Quite a bit, actually...
When i came to St. Louis 14 years ago (almost to the day), I had no job and so my brother Myles took me into work on the landscaping crew at Fairfield Condominiums and Charlie gave me a job on the spot. It was hard work w/the most motley crew you'd ever seen, but Charlie was great with us- he worked us like mules, and we loved it! I think i was making something like $7.50 an hour. We were lean & mean, and so was Charlie, who worked right along with us. A couple times a week he'd take us out for beer at the Ice & Fuel, where you could get a pint for a buck during happy hour. When he left the bar he'd say "You sonsa bitches get yer asses home! Got work to do tomorrow!" When I got a job actually in the arts just a few months after Charlie hired me, he was genuinely happy for me, and we still saw each other at the bar every week for many years after. He thought Myles & I were a couple rock stars, and encouraged our being working musicians. In fact, the last time I saw Charlie was a couple years ago- at the Ice & Fuel, watching Myles and I playing music!
Charlie had been working like that his whole life, and drinking beer/smoking cigarettes every night after. When he had a stroke a few years back, I don't think he ever really quit. And Myles said Charlie verbalized his chosen fate more than twice since he'd known him, that he'd die in the saddle, so... we were a little blue.
Ironically, I was on a walk that morning I got the call, and had thought of Charlie and my days on the ground crew when I came to St. Louis, how much had happened since... I had been taking some snapshots of springtime arriving in my neighborhood, as well...
These are for you, Charlie- RIP, Friend
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