I found out last night that my close, childhood friend, John “Murph” Murphy, passed away in June. We had been out of touch for a long time, for no reason that I can think of, but as kids, we were as close as thieves. Murph and I not only grew up in the same apartment complex, but we were musicians together – he, on the drums, and me, on the saxophone. My dad was his drum teacher.
We played baseball and football together in our neighborhood, and rode our bikes all over town. There were stretches of time when the two of us were inseparable.
From elementary school up through high school, and then into college, we also played music together in a variety of bands (he invited me to the sixth member of a band called The Fried Five), and he was my first “producer” when he borrowed a Tascam Four Track, and suggested we use his Casio keyboard and my guitar to record a song. I pulled out some poems and we got to work, recording a song called It’s A New Day.
That same summer, 1985, we did a bunch of experiments on the four track, laying tracks and sounds, and just having a blast for hours at time. It was one of the most fun periods of my life, as I began to realize I could write songs and record them, and Murph was a genius at thinking about sound and music. Plus, he was an amazing drummer. That same summer, he played drums and we recruited our friend, Eric Autumn (Herbst), to sing lead on a song called Mark On Time. At this point, we were in Eric’s real recording studio, with Murph running the show.
After college graduation, we went different ways and connected now and then. He opened his own recording studio for a stretch, which I thought was cool (he was very talented). But it had been some time since we had connected and I am saddened by the loss.
Sorry I missed your passing, Murph. From reading the obit, it sounds like you had a full life. I wish you were still here, making music with me.
Peace (in remembering),
Kevin