John Wesley, You have brought to mind a project Myles had worked on . A film about 2 old friends who basically followed his sand my stories including one seasoned rocker and one who stayed on the edge of thst world and how they function in that 8 years late on live musical relationship . He never actually got any further than collecting ideas and talking to a few film people. It had some great humour in it. Jim
Thanks John Wesley. I was a loner , the oldest of 10 children and I aways felt a bit different.. in todays lingo I'm sure there's a category for me. My 3 brothers next to me were the people I shared many of my childhood experinces with in the first 12 years.
I didn't really have any close male friends although a few entered my life for a season. The guy from Halifax with a speed boat , a chap who stayed with his grandmother for a summer and liked to hunt foxes at night using a camp fire and and dead rabbits as bait. And then they were both gone.
I had this friendship with my cousin David that still exists today because of our love of performing music. Being cousins mixed with friend is an interesting combo. In many ways we are still the David and Jim from childhood when we talk on phone or get together to perform.
I think one of the strongest and yet most fragile friendships was with my friend Myles. We had the ability to build up or tear each other down. We learned to accept and forgive each other, to help and to let go. We shared so much of lifes adventures from mid teens even to this last 8 years performing together. The experimentation with alcohol, pot.... relationships with girls, the door opened musical success.. our move to Montreal as a band dreaming blindly of this success, and through the years we kept this friendship.. He is the only person to have asked me to be there with him as he went through his last moments on earth. I guess that's friends.
I also find this loner business interesting Jim. True for you and so many people but paradoxical. Few people have more access to friendship than you. Few among us are greater makers of friends, mavens, and connectors of people than you are. And still, the loner remains somewhere in there.
And it's worth noting that this is still maybe the loneliest song I've ever heard in my life...
It was so interesting and moving to watch that relationship from a distance. A real life Poncho and Lefty. I realize now that it's one of the greatest stories in world repeated in fact and fiction through the ages. How could I not have been fascinated by you guys?
These relationships often transcend the typical bounds of friendship, offering a complex mix of loyalty, rivalry, support, and grounding.
Maybe Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson is the archetype of this dynamic. Watson is more than just a sidekick; he serves as Holmes’ moral compass, chronicler, and grounding force. Holmes, brilliant but often aloof and disconnected from human emotion, relies on Watson's steady presence, a mirror to his own eccentricities, while also humanizing him.
But it's in music that they seem to appear regularly.
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards from The Rolling Stones present a similar bond, albeit more volatile. Jagger is the charismatic frontman, while Richards provides the gritty backbone with his music and raw persona. Their relationship has seen highs and lows, disagreements and reconciliations, but in the end, Richards is essential to Jagger’s success and vice versa. They’ve grown together, shaped by their unique chemistry—a collaboration that’s often frayed but never fully severed.
Another poignant example is John Lennon and Paul McCartney of The Beatles. Their creative partnership birthed some of the most iconic songs in history, but it wasn’t without tension. McCartney, often the more pragmatic and structured, balanced Lennon’s rebellious and introspective nature. As friends, rivals, and collaborators, they spurred each other to new heights, yet their differences eventually tore them apart—though the impact they had on one another remained unmistakable. And had they both lived I like to think a period like your last 8 with Myles was a real possibility.
In fiction, you can see this relationship play out with Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Quixote, the idealistic, delusional dreamer, needs Sancho’s earthbound realism. Sancho plays the role of a supportive yet skeptical companion, often serving as a foil to Quixote's lofty ambitions, and ultimately, they become two parts of a whole.
In On the Road, the relationship between Sal Paradise (the narrator, based on Jack Kerouac himself) and Dean Moriarty (inspired by Kerouac’s real-life friend Neal Cassady) is a classic example of the "bright star" and the companion dynamic. Dean is the wild, unpredictable, larger-than-life force at the center of the novel, while Sal acts as both a friend and a fascinated observer. Their relationship embodies that deep tension between admiration and frustration, with Sal often pulled into Dean’s whirlwind of energy, adventure, and recklessness.
These relationships often function like a pendulum, swinging between conflict and companionship, sometimes hitting deep lows but never fully breaking apart. In many cases, it’s that friction—the pushing and pulling between two forces—that makes each character better or more interesting. Often the companion has a key quality the star lacks: perspective, patience, or an understanding of the world that complements the other's singular brilliance.
Thing of Achilles and Patroclus in The Iliad. Patroclus, though not a warrior on Achilles' level, is the emotional anchor, the friend who tempers Achilles' rage and ego. His death pushes Achilles into a spiral, showing how deeply the two were connected.
Whether it’s through loyalty, grounding, or challenging the "bright star" to face hard truths, these first friends provide balance. They are the ones who call out flaws, bear witness to greatness, and remind the shining star of their humanity. Sometimes their contribution is overlooked, but it’s their steadying presence that keeps the brilliance from burning out.
John Wesley, You have brought to mind a project Myles had worked on . A film about 2 old friends who basically followed his sand my stories including one seasoned rocker and one who stayed on the edge of thst world and how they function in that 8 years late on live musical relationship . He never actually got any further than collecting ideas and talking to a few film people. It had some great humour in it. Jim
Thanks John Wesley. I was a loner , the oldest of 10 children and I aways felt a bit different.. in todays lingo I'm sure there's a category for me. My 3 brothers next to me were the people I shared many of my childhood experinces with in the first 12 years.
I didn't really have any close male friends although a few entered my life for a season. The guy from Halifax with a speed boat , a chap who stayed with his grandmother for a summer and liked to hunt foxes at night using a camp fire and and dead rabbits as bait. And then they were both gone.
I had this friendship with my cousin David that still exists today because of our love of performing music. Being cousins mixed with friend is an interesting combo. In many ways we are still the David and Jim from childhood when we talk on phone or get together to perform.
I think one of the strongest and yet most fragile friendships was with my friend Myles. We had the ability to build up or tear each other down. We learned to accept and forgive each other, to help and to let go. We shared so much of lifes adventures from mid teens even to this last 8 years performing together. The experimentation with alcohol, pot.... relationships with girls, the door opened musical success.. our move to Montreal as a band dreaming blindly of this success, and through the years we kept this friendship.. He is the only person to have asked me to be there with him as he went through his last moments on earth. I guess that's friends.
I also find this loner business interesting Jim. True for you and so many people but paradoxical. Few people have more access to friendship than you. Few among us are greater makers of friends, mavens, and connectors of people than you are. And still, the loner remains somewhere in there.
And it's worth noting that this is still maybe the loneliest song I've ever heard in my life...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=_ynFbop5GAQ
Yes it is now that you bring it to my attention ... lost love .. she was getting married ...
It was so interesting and moving to watch that relationship from a distance. A real life Poncho and Lefty. I realize now that it's one of the greatest stories in world repeated in fact and fiction through the ages. How could I not have been fascinated by you guys?
These relationships often transcend the typical bounds of friendship, offering a complex mix of loyalty, rivalry, support, and grounding.
Maybe Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson is the archetype of this dynamic. Watson is more than just a sidekick; he serves as Holmes’ moral compass, chronicler, and grounding force. Holmes, brilliant but often aloof and disconnected from human emotion, relies on Watson's steady presence, a mirror to his own eccentricities, while also humanizing him.
But it's in music that they seem to appear regularly.
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards from The Rolling Stones present a similar bond, albeit more volatile. Jagger is the charismatic frontman, while Richards provides the gritty backbone with his music and raw persona. Their relationship has seen highs and lows, disagreements and reconciliations, but in the end, Richards is essential to Jagger’s success and vice versa. They’ve grown together, shaped by their unique chemistry—a collaboration that’s often frayed but never fully severed.
Another poignant example is John Lennon and Paul McCartney of The Beatles. Their creative partnership birthed some of the most iconic songs in history, but it wasn’t without tension. McCartney, often the more pragmatic and structured, balanced Lennon’s rebellious and introspective nature. As friends, rivals, and collaborators, they spurred each other to new heights, yet their differences eventually tore them apart—though the impact they had on one another remained unmistakable. And had they both lived I like to think a period like your last 8 with Myles was a real possibility.
In fiction, you can see this relationship play out with Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Quixote, the idealistic, delusional dreamer, needs Sancho’s earthbound realism. Sancho plays the role of a supportive yet skeptical companion, often serving as a foil to Quixote's lofty ambitions, and ultimately, they become two parts of a whole.
In On the Road, the relationship between Sal Paradise (the narrator, based on Jack Kerouac himself) and Dean Moriarty (inspired by Kerouac’s real-life friend Neal Cassady) is a classic example of the "bright star" and the companion dynamic. Dean is the wild, unpredictable, larger-than-life force at the center of the novel, while Sal acts as both a friend and a fascinated observer. Their relationship embodies that deep tension between admiration and frustration, with Sal often pulled into Dean’s whirlwind of energy, adventure, and recklessness.
These relationships often function like a pendulum, swinging between conflict and companionship, sometimes hitting deep lows but never fully breaking apart. In many cases, it’s that friction—the pushing and pulling between two forces—that makes each character better or more interesting. Often the companion has a key quality the star lacks: perspective, patience, or an understanding of the world that complements the other's singular brilliance.
Thing of Achilles and Patroclus in The Iliad. Patroclus, though not a warrior on Achilles' level, is the emotional anchor, the friend who tempers Achilles' rage and ego. His death pushes Achilles into a spiral, showing how deeply the two were connected.
Whether it’s through loyalty, grounding, or challenging the "bright star" to face hard truths, these first friends provide balance. They are the ones who call out flaws, bear witness to greatness, and remind the shining star of their humanity. Sometimes their contribution is overlooked, but it’s their steadying presence that keeps the brilliance from burning out.