S.Clay Wilson turns 76!

By Drew Friedman

Rena acts out Hairspray

Jim McCrary comes from Kansas!

The Dead Cat & Mouse

The time between July 25th, Wilson’s Birthday, and Halloween seems to have FLOWN past. Lots of visitors, doctor appointments, and nonsense. When you get older, it seems like time goes by in massive chunks instead of day after day. Every time I make a plan to accomplish something, life gets in the way and things get farther out of control. I keep trying to “get organized”, then notice how much farther away I am from even being able to SORT MY SOCKS!

I’m beginning to think a snow shovel is the solution. Just shovel it all out the door! I can’t keep up with Wilson’s STUFF. Can I possibly keep looking at every minuscule piece of paper? I noticed years ago that he couldn’t even bear to throw away a paper clip. Now I’m infected with that same mental illness! I’m not going to ever use that clamp…those folder tabs I bought seven years ago. I’ve been tossing things in the file cabinet all along anyway, and almost NEVER retrieve anything from it. Please, Lorraine, throw something away! Put a box full of unused “office supplies” out on the sidewalk…It’ll be empty in minutes.

Sigh. These dilemmas pester my mind while I try to simply remember what I did with my favorite reading glasses, or the stamps I swear I just bought a week ago.

Wilson is relieved of such concerns. He worries about almost nothing. If he does look worried, or seem to have the blues, I do everything I can to find out what’s bothering him, and make it all better. Keep him smiling. It’s become difficult now that he rarely speaks. He’s become almost totally silent now, but is engaged in listening&watching constantly. I know he understands most of what he hears, because I see it on his face. And he will sometimes burst forth with a stream of totally unintelligible words, letting us know….SOMEthing! So yes…he is very much in there, and very sensitive. I try to keep him comfortable, comforted, and cozy in his diminishing world. And make him laugh.

I hung the cat & mouse up on about the 22nd this year, and before I got around to it, our neighbor Smithy took a photo & posted it on Facebook. I was so grateful, as people were beginning to ask.”Have you hung up the Dead Cat yet? Are you going to?” Oh yes. Always. It’s Wilson’s tradition, and I’m sticking to it.

If I could remember how to insert photos in the text, as I write, this would look a LOT BETTER! I can’t figure that out tonight, so I’m just going to keep showing you some photos, and writing. We will get to the bottom…probably tumbling and rolling, like children down a grassy hill….then come to a stop, arms splayed…out of breath. But I’ll keep at it til I’m done. But it might not be pretty! Sometimes the writing muse has left the building just when I feel I must try, at least. This sounds woefully uninspired, I know, but stick with me. I won’t trouble you much longer.

Below, a new book with a 12-page interview about my relationship with Frank Zappa. The book is filled with entertaining interviews well worth reading, not found in the numerous biographies about Frank, nor in his awful autobiography which was edited & orchestrated by the willfully disobedient and deliberately inaccurate wife Gail, who preferred her version of things. Sigh…..Frankbegged me not to read it…ever. And he apologized profusely just in case I did. He asked me for the front page article with our pictures on it, titled “2A-go-go2 Jail”to use, but Gail quickly disposed of it. It was another 25 years til I saw it again..on GOOGLE! She also took my name out, as well as the real story about our relationship, which lasted until his last year of life.

Here, in this amusing, informative book, is the REAL skinny.

Then, my introduction to Wilson’s biography, Volume Three, “Belgian Lace From Hell. It’s a doozy. And so is the whole book, filled with more art, and many stories of life after his Traumatic Brain Injury. It is the perfect ending to this Trilogy. I hope people will get this last volume. It’s well worth having all three volumes, to see the art, as well as his post-injury drawings. While they are good, it shows how his ability begins to leave him in the following two years…from hospital to home…as the characters soon just stand in a line across the page, diminishing in number with each drawing, unable to figure out what to do. They are mute, and confused…very much like their creator. It is heartbreaking to witness….

Here’s Wilson at the clinic, trying to be a patient patient. Pensive…finally relaxed. He’s had some skin problems we’re getting a grip on…he’s once again peaches & cream, but can’t tolerate a beard. It gets all crusty underneath, like he’s allergic to it. So I miss it, but he will have to present

Birthday drawing by John Riddell

a bare face from now on!He walks home with Rena holding fast onto his hand, and frequently to his safety strap. We must have ahold of him in case he decides to just suddenly SIT DOWN! It’s a long drop to the pavement. We’ve managed to avoid it so far.

Our beautiful neighbor, Julie Willing, passed suddenly on Nov7th. We are all devastated by this loss. She has been such an incredible friend for all this time…my saving grace in the early, stormy years with Wilson, and the heart of our block. Her husband, Tim and their daughter Siobhan …words fail me. They have been a constant since I moved in in 2000, and Wilson warned “stay away from the neighbors!” Haha…he was like my parents…if you got close and it didn’t work out, they’re NOT LEAVING. But of course, I fell in love with them, and soon Wilson was to join our spirited backyard gatherings. He was shy at first…then brought them inside for his outrageous Shown N Tell sessions. They hadn’t been in here, yet Wilson had lived here for at least 30 years! Oh how I loved this velvet-voiced woman, always so willing to laugh. So warm and smart.

Our Faire Julie. R.I.P.We loved Halloween with these inventive characters! Julie & Tim Dougherty with daughter Siobhan. She is taller than them now! Taller than EVERYONE!

Thanks for reading this disjointed piece. I just wanted to catch you up on some of the past couple of months. I’ll post a bit more very shortly! I’ve been getting behind in writing my thank you notes to the generous people who’ve donated to Wilson’s Trust. I do apologize. It got away from me…having health issues of my own of late…but be looking soon! I will email each one of you shortly. Until then, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You make it possible to have movies, wifi, and phone service. We couldn’t possibly make it without your donations, and I promise to catch up. I got kind of overwhelmed around July, but will catch up,as I said. Much love to you all!