if 6 was 9

If the sun refuse to shine,
I don't mind, I don't mind....

well I do remember Fancy Music and how it came to be...we moved to Santa Barbara in the sixties and had a huge family, people were always coming and going in the great old house on top of  a hill...once owned by a ballerina ...Hill House

but this was at the height of the 60s music explosion....pop culture was morphing everywhere...guitars were a big deal...so two guys named Bob and Richard were friends of someone in the family, my brothers... one bro had a knack for acquiring guitars...some 1960s Ephiphones and Gibsons...I had a Martin D18 1967...

yeah a lot of cool music and guitars passed through that house on the hill, I tell ya!

Bob and Richard just seemed to show up one day...but they would come over often and we'd talk music..I liked Bob- he was a funny Italian guy and a good guitar player..looked like Dylan
Richard, who recently died, was the fat English one who was ok, but could be a bit of a prick I'd later learn...he was the businessman....the guys were looking for money to start Fancy Music and I'm not sure if we gave them any, but they did eventually start the music store on State St by De La Guerra Plaza...it was a great store for a while..

when I was living over on Milpas St. as a rather poor musician/ fry cook, I bought a 1965 Martin D12-35 acoustic 12 sting guitar with Brazilian rosewood back and sides..for $500...Richard let me split the payments up....the guitar is worth about $5000 today and whoever has it, is a lucky man or woman...that was a great guitar..she's the one that got away..I can't bear to tell you the story how I lost her or I'll cry....her name was Lily and she was as close to a Royal fuck as I've ever had

here's a Gibson F5 Mandolin from Fancy with the original receipt...my old man paid $1400...well worth it in 1977 and today being in close- to- mint condition..well, I plan to retire on it...

so those were some fun days and as the Fancy Music business grew, Bob and Richard got richer and attracted some fancy people... I attended a few parties at the infamous Hot Springs Rd house...close to the Montecito Country Club, it was a big old Spanish-Italian mansion with cool gardens and a pool....chicks everywhere and back then I liked pretty blonde girls or brunettes whatever! and Richard would always try to bird-dog them..steal my girlfriends..the dirty old man...I think he may have snatched one or two away...I tip my hat to him the sonofabitch!!

also way too much cocaine at those parties and I was not into that at all!

anyway, I saw him at a concert at the bowl in the 1980s..I was with another blonde chick and I said "Hey Richard, how are ya??"
he looked at me quizzically and pretended he didn't know me... I guess he grew tired of my sloppy seconds!

over the years the fancy cars he was driving were exchanged for a little white Nissan wagon so I guess the rocknroll ride was about over....I moved on to whatever oh yeah, a career...don't know what happened to the Fancy crew but the music part of it back then was awesome..and fun..and all rather innocent

but the one that got away...ah, yes... I do miss her