A LATE BUT HEARTFELT ENTRY ABOUT TIMOTHY FORD, MY FRIEND

HAVE YOU EVER KNOWN SOMEONE WHOM YOU ADMIRED, BUT WHO BOTHERED YOU WITH THEIR PRECISE OBSERVATIONS UTTERED AT TIMES WITHOUT CONCERN FOR YOUR FEELINGS, BUT WHICH ACTUALLY MADE YOU THINK?

TO ME, THIS WAS TIM FORD.

THE OLDER DISTINGUISHED TIMOTHY

 THE YOUNGER, dramatic tim in a mischievous moment...

I'D KNOWN TIM PASSED AWAY A COUPLE YEARS AGO, BUT ONLY THE OTHER NIGHT DISCOVERED HIS MYSPACE SITE ON WHICH MANY OF HIS L.A. FRIENDS AND OLD FRIENDS, SUCH AS MICHAEL MCRAE, HAVE LEFT ENTRIES. I FOUNd there ONE ANECDOTE BY TIM HIMSELF ABOUT TIM HELPING A PARAPLEGIC FRIEND'S SON GET SOBER. I found it as entertaining to read as a Tom Robbins tale, and it ended up being part raucous adventure, part restaurant review!

ALSO I'VE HEARD MANY RUMORS, MANY PROBABLY TRUE ABOUT TIM'S, LET US SAY, WAY OF BEING.

TIM, AS ONE FRIEND AND I WERE REFLECTING yesterday, MAY HAVE, LIKE MANY Y0UNG MEN, CHOSEN TO TEST HIMSELF AS A RITE OF PASSAGE IN HIS YOUNGER YEARS, TO FIND OUT FOR HIMSELF WHAT HE WAS MADE OF. If this assessment is taken as accurate, "Timmy", as we sometimes called him, took it to a very scary limit, at times. AS A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT WHO FINISHED ALL THE REQUIREMENTS BY THE END OF THE 11TH GRADE, HE TOOK ALL LANGUAGES IN THE SENIOR YEAR. MICHAEL MCRAE, TIM'S OLD AND DEAR MUSICIAN FRIEND, REFLECTED TO ME IN A LATE NIGHT PHONE CALL LAST NIGHT from Nashville THAT HE RECALLS TIM READING SOMETHING ALOUD AND  fluidly translating BACK AND FORTH FROM SPANISH TO OTHER LANGUAGES LIKE GERMAN, French ETC., WITHOUT BATTING AN EYE.

ONE OF MY OWN FOND MEMORIES WAS OF TIM AND I IN P.E. CLASS. AT THE END OF THE CLASS THE COACH WOULD HAVE ALL US BOYS TO ONE OR TWO 'COOL DOWN LAPS' AROUND THE TRACK. TIM AND I, EVERY DAY, WOULD PUT ON LIKE WE WERE EXHAUSTED AND TRY TO BE SLOWER THAN EACH OTHER TO PISS OFF THE COACH...AND A REASON TO BE LATE FOR OUR NEXT CLASS, I THINK.

HE WAS AN ARDENT SUPPORTER OF MY ROCK BAND, THE GENTLEMEN WILDE, AND OUR 'BROTHER' BAND, THE LOST SOULS

TIM GOT INTO DRUGS IN THE SEVENTIES, BUT NOT LIKE OTHERS. Tim did nothing 'like others did'. HE GOT INTO SELLING AND HIGH LEVEL INVOLVEMENTS WITH PROBABLY 'SHADY' INDIVIDUALS. I'M PLEASED TO READ ON HIS MYSPACE SITE THAT HE WAS VERY ACTIVE IN THE 12 STEP PROGRAM FOR AROUND TEN YEARS BEFORE HIS DEATH AND ACTIVELY HELPED MANY PEOPLE, MUCH LIKE MY OWN COUSIN ROY did after reaching the bottom.

MOST PEOPLE EITHER LOVED TIM OR HATED HIM FOR HIS SHARP OBSERVATIONS...OR, AMBIVALENTLY, BOTH. I'D SUSPECT IF AN HONEST POLL WAS TO BE TAKEN, THE LATTER, 'ambivalence', WOULD GARNISH OVER IT'S FAIR THIRD BY FAR.

BEFORE HIS DEATH HE WROTE FOR AN L.A. MAGAZINE CALLED 'FLAUNT' (CLICK HERE FOR ONE I'VE ALREADY READ, A LONG TERRIFIC INTERVIEW WITH ALEC BALDWIN). THERE ARE MORE TIM FORD ARTICLES HERE I'M SURE I WANT TO READ.

BUT BEFORE THAT HE WROTE FOR ONE OF BOB GUCCIONE'S SON'S MAGAZINE'S CALLED "GEAR", NOW OUT OF PRINT.

ONE ARTICLE IN PARTICULAR TIM TOOK GREAT PASSION IN WRITING, I BELIEVE, IS THE ONE ENTITLED, " The Yankee Bandit: The Life and Times of Eddie Dodson, World's Great Bank Robber" A movie, THE ELECTRIC SLIDE is slated to be released in 2011 based on Tim's article. Based on one entry on Tim's Myspace site, Tim was working on the screenplay the day he died. Credits for Tim are to be for the article he wrote from which came the movie idea.

More about Eddie

I KNOW THAT SO MANY MORE PEOPLE HAVE MORE MEMORIES OF TIM THAN I HAD THE LUCK TO. HOWEVER YOU ADD IT UP, DESPITE THE FACT THAT I WAS NOT DESTINED TO SEE HIM AGAIN, I'LL MISS KNOWING HE'S AROUND, MAKING GOOD, OR MAKING TROUBLE, EITHER WAY. DON'T ASK ME WHY? I'M NOT SMART ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND WHY.

...even back to high school remember the parties? ... thanks for the memories, Tim!

SO LONG, TIMSTER