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by John » Mon Jun 02, 2025 06:20 am
For the second time now, there've been rumors of my death, which as Mark Twain once said, were greatly exaggerated.
Years ago, my drummer called my old girlfriend, asking if she was OK. Puzzled, she answered yes. He asked about me and of course, I was right there. Someone with a name very close to mine was killed in a car wreck on the highway I took to work every day. Well, someone got the name wrong and called my drummer to tell him I had died. For several days people reacted with relief when they saw me. (I'm glad it wasn't disappointment.) That rumor really got around.
Then a week or so back, someone contacted me telling me they'd heard I was having serious health problems. No, I was fine and couldn't imagine how a rumor like that got started. I had to reassure them several times that I was fine. Well, that was that...until today.
My drummer called Cheri, asking again if everything was OK. Yes, everything was fine. Was I OK? Yes, I'd mowed the yard yesterday and I hadn't left the house all day. Someone had told him I had died...the second time. He called back his misinformed source and assured him I was fine. The source revealed that he'd heard I'd died of colon cancer.
Ohhh, things began to fall into place. A bandmate that I'd worked with maybe 5 years ago before he quit, had indeed died of colon cancer a little over a week ago. Whoever told my friend I had serious health problems had no doubt confused my old bandmate with me. My drummer's source had also confused my old bandmate with me and assumed I had died. Apparently this rumor had also made the rounds for a friend of mine to have heard it days ago. When I talk to my friend again I'll be able to straighten that out.
Still not dead. Still not a ghost, (I don't think). John