When: Monday nite 7/15 7:30pm ET

Where: https://youtube.com/live/LoFe8TxTviU?feature=share

WHO GETS 10%: https://www.bostonfirecancerfoundation.org/ Cancer in firefighters is a real serious thing. I saw this group on a commercial on TV during a Red Sox game. I’m in.

Order the CD or pay for this web groovery via:
http://paypal.me/vancevancevance or
https://venmo.com/vancevancevance or
VanceFunder P.O. Box 17, Arlington, MA 02476.
Pay what you like

COME SEE ME HERE:

Sat, (tomorrow!) Jul 13, 2024 Guthrie Center / Great Barrington, MA https://www.simpletix.com/e/vance-gilbert-live-at-the-guthrie-center-tickets-164147
- Yeah that’s Arlo’s church. 60 TIX GONE AS I TYPE. Get yours soon as it will sell out.

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ONCE AGAIN PREPARING FOR MY VACATION
FLYING RUBBER BAND POWERED MODEL PLANES
AT THE FLYING ACES NATIONALS IN GENESEO, NY

Well that’s title. But I so enjoy the prep for this trip to Geneseo, NY that has been immutable on my yearly calendar since 1986. I’ve only ever done one gig - a Falcon Ridge main set with a 4 hr drive each way - during my 5 day tenure on this field of glory with these like-minded folks.

The car has been cleaned, new planes are finished, old planes are patched, the case of diet rootbeer is is the passenger seat footwell, new audiobooks are downloaded for the drive, texts are flying between close members as to what they’re bringing, B&Bs are booked, and a few of us are even preparing planes to fly in a non-competitive commemorative event. These planes taking up space in the car are previously owned by members that have passed. You bet there’ll be a lot of those planes in cars this trip. You wonder where the song Old White Men comes from?

Ohhh the clock.

Here’s a note I sent to one when his wife passed some 15 years ago. He’s been gone a while too. But one time when I was on the road, Jack invited me over for his specialty - Grilled Cheese.

I know this fellow
He’s the Grilled Cheese Man
And once when I was hungry
He lived up to his name

Was it whole wheat or white?
Well, it really didn’t matter
But the Cheddar or the Swiss
Well they’re just not the same

One melted more slowly
And one had the holes
Where a little bit of mustard
Would wait to be tasted

One had a tomato
Sliced thin and surrounded
As cheese flowed around it,
Around but not wasted

The lady of the man
Who made the grilled cheese
She gave him the basement
And time to pursue

The things that he loved
And sometimes the kitchen
Relinquished to him
Like it was all his own

There's much, much to do
A pan to be heated
Both sides must be buttered
And browned to perfection

Then cut at an angle
A pickle between them
The next part: the eating!
Oh Glory! The eating!

(So much for great meter
and clean clever rhymes -
Hand me a ginger ale and
Repeat the previous five lines!)

Then off to that dungeon
Where glue and bit pieces
Would have his attention
But never alone, see

She could always hear him
His radio playing
A tune as he sanded and
And glued thru the night

And he knew she was up there
Maybe humming the same tune
Her voice like an angel
Her footsteps so light

They knew that there’d be
The day that the two
Would be one, it was likely
That day would appear

Far too early
Or late - who’s to say?
It's a question for all of us
Who love while we're here

And our hearts will be broken
And God will be sworn at
And we’ll wonder why
And the answer won’t come

So it’s off to the dungeon
To glue bits and pieces
That have your attention
But never alone, see

She’ll always hear him
His radio playing
A tune as he cobbles and
And glues thru the night

And he knew she was up there
Maybe humming the same tune
Her voice like an angel
Her footsteps so light

I know this fellow
He’s the Grilled Cheese Man
And once when I was hungry
He lived up to his name