I think of Fred. Today I was looking at the books in my sister's library and I found the book he wrote (very well translated in French) and it reminded me of him. I knew him, I used to meet him and hang around with him whenever I visited New York. No longer. I lost track of him some years ago. But with him it was always like that, long periods of silence and suddenly the phone rings and it’s Fred asking for news (“Howdy my man?”) or announcing that he is somewhere in Europe and he would like to meet you at the airport tomorrow where he is flying back to the US. He was like that. I hope he’s still like that. I liked him, he was great, very welcoming, always ready to show you some good stuff in his city. I spent some time with him at jazz venues in the city (he was a jazz expert and critic) and he had a very good taste when choosing a restaurant. He wasn’t very talkative but with a drink or two it went better.
I don’t know how he is these days. I don’t think that he reads this blog, I don’t know his address and his phone number. I just know that he has a page in Wikipedia, for he has a story, very strange and tumultuous, and some troubles with a certain celebrity much more powerful than him. He was somehow crunched by this celebrity. But in spite of all these painful troubles and the financial worries that ensued, I think that he recovered pretty well. He was working for the city the last time I saw him.