Sometimes I have an idea so profound I step outside of myself to look at me and ask, how did YOU come up with something like that, ya big atheist pothead? As you know, our dear friend, supporter, and The Russ Belville Show fan Rob GraayWolf Denman passed away recently. I have been given a small baggie with 21 grams of his cremated remains with the directions that he would have wanted to be sprinkled somewhere special, remembered by friends. Ugh. I am honored and humbled, but Im not really good with death. Its not that I fear it or it makes me tremendously anxious or emotional. On the contrary, I dont really believe in death. Dont believe in death? Well, let me explain. Obviously, I believe that biological organisms cease to function. The physical being known as Rob Denman ceases to be. It is no more. It has expired, has kicked the bucket, and has run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. But the entity, the collection of thoughts, actions, and emotions that inhabited Rob Denman... that concept we called Graaywolf, continues to exist. Dont get me wrong; Im an atheist, Im not waxing poetically about the soul or the spirit in the typical nonsense religious terms. That entity, too, is bleedin demised. The entity, however, only ceases to be in the present. It is merely frozen in time to never further develop. It is a prehistoric bug trapped in the amber of the memories of the living. Rob Graaywolf Denman is as alive to me today as he was the last day I saw him. The only difference now is that there will be no new entries in the memory bank assigned to him. Follow? Yeah, I know, I smoke a lot of pot. But ride this one with me. The easiest way I can explain it is to have you think of The Beatles. Ill bet your favorite Beatles tune immediately jumped into your head. Dont you love that song? How it makes you feel? Where you were when you heard it? You know that band broke up 44 years ago, right? The song youre humming in your head is probably older than I am. But just because The Beatles are a dead band (and literally half of them are dead), I Am the Walrus is still a great song. So long as there remains people who saw the Beatles perform it and people who listen and play and re-record the song, the Beatles arent really dead, are they? Theyre just not recording any new tunes. So Graaywolfs not adding any new chats or smoking any new doobies or volunteering at any new Cannabis Cups. But Im still humming his tune in my head and so are a lot of other people, and so long as we are, hes not really dead, either. Anyway, back to my big profound idea. Ive been racking my brain trying to think of an appropriate somber respectful thing to do with 21 grams of cremated Graaywolf. Sprinkle it to the wind from the Astoria Column? Preserve it in a nug jar to be displayed at RoLLaJaY Studios? Place it in a bottle and throw it in the Pacific? I told you Im not good at this death and rememberance thing. Everything I can think of seems cliche and frankly, kind of grates against my concept of death. There should be no final resting place because thats like locking your Beatles music in a vault forever since they broke up. Then it hit me - mix his ashes into the tattoo ink Ill be using to fill in my back tattoo of the United States. Apparently it is quite possible (ruwhim/?p=36628) and Im late to the bandwagon. So... what do you think? Im naive sometimes on the social propriety surrounding these things, so is it tacky or disrespectful? I think its a tribute, especially if it goes into the green ink Im using to shade in Colorados legalization...
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 04:41:30 +0000
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