Twice Removed From Fame
Legendary songwriter Ray Evans has died. Evans, together with his longtime songwriting partner Jay Livingston, composed enduring tunes including “Silver Bells,” “Mona Lisa,” and “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera).”
Oh, yeah, and he graduated from high school with my late grandfather. They both grew up in Salamanca, N.Y., which is a small city in Upstate New York that is probably getting more exposure now than at any time in its history. Evans was the Valedictorian of his class at Salamanca High School, while my grandfather was Salutatorian. My grandad, by the by, came quite close to beating Evans for the top honor.
Evans went on to college, and eventually became a famous songwriter. My grandfather’s family couldn’t afford to send him to college. He went on to a career on the railroad, and along with my grandmother raised a family of seven children including my mother.
My grandfather was a very talented cartoonist, by the way. I likely didn’t inherit my own interest in drawing from him, though: I was adopted. Still, I think the things my grandfather did pass on to me, like concepts of hard work, decency, honor, kindness, and humor, are more important than genetic material.
I intend to write a blog entry as a tribute to my grandfather, who died in the spring of last year. I should’ve done it sooner, but I’ve been procrastinating because… well… his life was amazing and I wasn’t sure I could do it justice. But my grandfather deserves tribute every bit as much as Evans.
Stay tuned.
February 18th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Please do–he sounds like quite a man.
Salamanca…that’s even odder sounding than Saugerties. Who named these Upstate NY towns–HP Lovecraft???
February 19th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
I’ve been meaning to comment on this, but Life(reality, not the cereal or the game) just keeps getting in the way.
Just write what’s in your heart, Bill. Put your feelings out. The only people who can really be captured fully in someone else’s writing aren’t at all interesting. Your grandfather doesn’t seem to fall into that category, and neither does your writing from what I’ve seen.
And Mr. Mulligan–when I read Salamanca I thought of a sword. A very rare sword. I fmy old friend Mr. Lovecraft had named New York towns, I think there’d be a lot more town names with multiple consonants stuck togther by only the occasional vowel. And at least New York doesn’t have anyplace called Intercourse.
February 19th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
There’s another option as well. Take a little inspiration from Will Eisner.
Write your blog entry on your grandfather, but also start a side project for when the superhero artwork hits an artist’s block. Map out the story you want to tell of the man and his upbringing and put it to pictures. Who knows, the work on the one might help the other and you may create something beyond even what you yourself may see as your “limits” as a fledgling creator.