I don’t have a review ready for this week and it’s the Fourth Of July Week, so I also want to take a break.

But it’s also the fiftieth anniversary of a great loss in music, one that should never go unacknowledged, which is that of Rolling Stones founder and multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones.

Without this man, who knows what rock of the past 50+ years would be like. First off it’s because of him that The Rolling Stones exist. He had a dream of bringing the blues to the masses and formed a band to achieve this, gradually meeting Ian Stewart then the Glimmer Twins, then Bill, then finally Charlie. It didn’t quite go the way he probably hoped or intended, but needless to say, rock was never the same after that.

And before Skydog, before Ry Cooder, there was Brian Jones playing the slide in rock and roll and in England, more or less the first to do it, certainly the first to do it on a hit song (“I Wanna Be Your Man”). And then you have all the various instrumental textures that widened the Stones’ palette and really took those songs beyond what they might have been otherwise. And of course, guy was a snazzy dresser.

Unfortunately there were many demons underneath, some uglier than others. A lot of grief and pain resulted, both for him and anybody around him. And since things like mental illness and addiction weren’t understood, it only made it worse. It always seemed like he struggled to find any kind of peace or happiness, and right when that chance for it came, he was gone.

I wish it all could have ended better for all, I wish he could have gone on to do more great things. I doubt it would have had the mainstream catch but I definitely see him doing some super cool stuff, and I think it would have been more fulfilling for him than continuing with the Stones. I don’t see the split as tragic. It’s more just the decline of their relationship and knowing that things could never be patched up. And this is to say nothing of what came after.

I want to thank this man for how much he gave me. My outlook on music is what it is in rather significant part because of Brian and I still see him as one of the all time rock stars. I hope he finds whatever peace escaped him in life, and I hope he is with his little sister in the afterlife if there is one.

“When this you see, remember me, and bear me in your mind. Let all the world say what they may, speak of me as you find.”