There was a songwriter at the open stage last fall, named Rusty, and every song he sung was about death or dying. One night, after everyone finished performing, a few people were sitting around and someone asked why he never wrote about other stuff like having your heart broken or hating your job. He replied he didn’t want to be like Blind Loosa B. and Slim Raphael who lived lies in their songwriting. Ollie, the old sound guy, said he saw the blues duo in the 70s, and they didn’t sing about death all the time. Rusty agreed but added what they did was frame the songs as though they were old friends when in fact they hated each other’s guts and traveled separately, stayed in different hotels and only met each night in the green room for a few minutes before taking the stage. Pretending to be friends, so people like you and me would buy the fiction and maybe a record or two. People live life like that, lying to themselves that death is a million miles away when it’s right around the corner. That’s why I like to sing what I do, don’t want to be fooled by life.