Jake and 606

Recently, I moved buildings at work. During my "re-setup my environment" phase I opened up a file explorer window to find a remote file server. There, under the list of "commonly visited servers" was "jsauer-lt.rim.net".

When I first met Jake, I confessed to many that "I really don't listen to any music that's been recorded since 1971"; my clear focus was on jazz and blues from the 30s up through the mid-to-late sixties, and very little after that time period.

Then, for some reason, I made some comment about 'Beck' to Jake because I'd seen one of his videos while channel flipping.

"You know, that's not really representative of his wider work. He's done some really cool stuff, especially recently. Why don't you give my collection a listen?"

So I did.

At today's funeral I was reminded of Jake's interest in music, as we ended our remembrance of him by singing "Praise God From Whom". The sudden sureness and firmness of all the menno-voices in the audience rose to meet this familiar hymnal standard, and I was reminded of the cultural roots that Jake and I shared.

Thank-you, Jake, for introducing me to Beck and RadioHead and other modern pop-music. I might have found them eventually, but you made sure I found them with an open mind. Now my palette is wider, thanks to your friendship.