Sunday, October 25, 2009

Happy Birthday, Eddie

When I moved to Indiana in 2005, one of the first people I met was the pastor of Sixth Street Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Middletown, Ind. We met at a men's retreat where he was leading music, and he told me about the jam session he hosted in the basement of the church on Sunday nights, Sixth Street Sunday Night.

I couldn't resist, so first chance I got, I headed east from Anderson over to Middletown. There I discovered that you could put a couple of accordion players in a room with several guitars, a dobro, two mandolins, a banjo and a penny whistle and create one whale of a good evening of music.

But I left out the harmonica. I met Eddie Russell at Sixth Street, where he is a member. Eddie plays harmonica, and has been playing a lot longer than I've been alive. It's guaranteed that some time during the evening, he's going to break into "San Antonio Rose."

Tonight we celebrated Eddie's 91st birthday at Sixth Street. We had cake and ice cream, pretzels and chips, but mainly we had music. We got out the guitars, tin whistles and accordions and gave Eddie a fitting tribute. And, yes, we played "San Antonio Rose."

Happy birthday, Eddie. You're a great example of continuing to live as long as the good Lord gives you breath.

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