Regular readers know that Jonn tolerates my occasional random wanderings here at TAH.\u00a0 And be forewarned:\u00a0 I\u2019m about to ramble again.\u00a0 Read on or not, as you so desire.<\/p>\n
If you choose to continue, you\u2019ve been forewarned.\u00a0 (smile)<\/p>\n
. . . <\/b><\/p>\n
Years ago, in a faraway kingdom, lived two Axmen.\u00a0 Both were renowned and talented \u2013 indeed, the First Axman was for a time considered the best in the kingdom (if not the world) at his craft, while the Second Axman was considered one of the best as well.<\/p>\n
Rather than being rivals, the two Axmen chose to work together at their craft.\u00a0 And they also became friends.<\/p>\n
The Second Axman had a Fair Maid as his spouse.\u00a0 That title was truly apropos, as she was renowned throughout the kingdom for her beauty.\u00a0 And neither was she what we would call today an \u201cairhead\u201d \u2013 besides being beautiful, she was also talented.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the Second Axman became enamored of the teachings of a foreign sage.\u00a0 He began to drift away from and neglect his Fair Maid.<\/p>\n
As it happened, the First Axman was at the time without attachment.\u00a0 And he saw the neglect of the Fair Maid by the Second Axman – and saw how much it pained her.<\/p>\n
You probably think you know what happened next.\u00a0 And yes, you\u2019d be essentially correct.<\/p>\n
The First Axman fell headlong for the Fair Maid (some accounts say they became lovers; others are silent on the matter).\u00a0 Regardless:\u00a0 after a time the First Axman begged the Fair Maid to choose him over her spouse.<\/p>\n
After a time, the Fair Maid made her decision:\u00a0 she decided to stay with her spouse.\u00a0 The First Axman was, predictably, greatly affected – \u201ccrushed\u201d would be a fair description.<\/p>\n
In his grief, the First Axman left his native country.\u00a0 He found another place, and gathered together around him other skilled persons in related trades.<\/p>\n
These skilled persons included a Third Axman \u2013 one who was fast becoming widely renowned himself.\u00a0 It also included another renowned, skilled individual who would later become mad.<\/p>\n
The First and Third Axmen immediately became as close as hand and glove, professionally.\u00a0 Their work as a partnership was sublime.\u00a0 While exercising their craft, it was as if they shared the same thoughts and goals \u2013 yet expressed them uniquely in a way that complimented each other as had only rarely ever happened before.<\/p>\n
The First Axman poured his sorrow into his work.\u00a0 And one day, he found some unfinished work of the third skilled man \u2013 the one who would later become mad.<\/p>\n
The First Axman added his sorrow to that unfinished work, along with some unfinished work of his own.\u00a0 The Third Axman came, found the result, and added his own skilled interpretation.<\/p>\n
The result was a rare and compelling meisterwerk <\/i>of the First Axman\u2019s craft.\u00a0 Today, it is still held by those familiar with the field as truly \u201cone for the ages\u201d.<\/p>\n
. . . <\/b><\/p>\n
After a time, the Fair Maid finally decided to leave the Second Axman.\u00a0 And sometime after that, the Fair Maid moved to a new land \u2013 the same land as had the First Axman.\u00a0 Eventually, the First Axman and the Fair Maid did wed.<\/p>\n
They were happy for a while.\u00a0 But after some years together, they too separated.<\/p>\n
The First and Second Axman continued, both at their craft and with their lives.\u00a0 The Second Axman eventually became sick and died.\u00a0 The First Axman lived on.<\/p>\n
The First Axman had a child with another woman after he and the Fair Maid had separated.\u00a0\u00a0 Unfortunately, that child died tragically at a very young age.<\/p>\n
The Third Axman\u2019s time on earth was short.\u00a0 He died young, in a tragic accident roughly a year after working with the First Axman.<\/p>\n
The skilled craftsman who was later to become mad eventually did become mad \u2013 indeed, he became a raving lunatic.\u00a0 He murdered his own mother, and was imprisoned.<\/p>\n
Draw whatever moral conclusions you wish from how all of this turned out.<\/p>\n
. . . <\/b><\/p>\n
The story above is not apocryphal.\u00a0 The individuals are real; some of them are still alive today.<\/p>\n
The madman is Jim Gordon<\/a>. He was a renowned musician \u2013 a highly in-demand session drummer – in the 1960s and 1970s.\u00a0 The list of people with whom he worked reads like a \u201cwho\u2019s who\u201d of popular music in the 1960s and 1970s, including Joe Cocker, the Beach Boys, Traffic, Steely Dan, George Harrison, and others \u2013 and, of course, Eric Clapton.\u00a0 Gordon had mental issues \u2013 paranoid schizophrenia, as it turned out.\u00a0 \u00a0Over time, it worsened.\u00a0 In 1983, he went off the rails full-blown batsh!t crazy, and murdered his mother.\u00a0 Due to reform of California\u2019s laws concerning the insanity defense, he was not allowed to plead guilty by reason of insanity.\u00a0 He was found guilty of murder, and is still incarcerated today in a California specialty prison for the mentally ill.<\/p>\n The Third Axman was Duane Allman<\/a> \u2013 yes, that<\/i> Duane Allman, brother to Greg and one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers Band.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think I need to say anything more about his career.<\/p>\n The Second Axman was George Harrison<\/a>.\u00a0 Yes, the<\/i> George Harrison of Beatles fame. \u00a0I\u2019m guessing his career probably doesn\u2019t require much explanation either.<\/p>\n The Fair Maid was Pattie Boyd<\/a>.\u00a0 She was a famous English model in the early 1960s, and later became a skilled photographer.\u00a0 She met George Harrison while working on the set of A Hard Day\u2019s Night<\/i> and later married him.\u00a0 They separated in 1974; their divorce was finalized in 1977.\u00a0 She married Eric Clapton in 1979; they separated in 1984, and divorced in 1988.<\/p>\n The First Axman was Eric Clapton<\/a>. I don\u2019t really think I need to discuss his career, either.<\/p>\n Clapton and Harrison worked together from 1968 through about 1970.\u00a0 They worked together during the recording of Cream\u2019s \u201cGoodbye\u201d album; Harrison and Clapton co-wrote the album’s single “Badge”, and played on it as well.\u00a0 Their work together ended when Boyd decided she would stay with her then-husband.<\/p>\n The group of skilled persons Clapton gathered together after ending his affair with Boyd called themselves, simply, \u201cDerek and the Dominos\u201d.<\/p>\n . . . <\/b><\/p>\n