Ring, ring, ring....voicemail. "HEY JONNNNNNNNY!! Jody Moulton calling, Tuesday afternoon at 3:42pm. Just checking in, pally. No rush, call me back when you can. Bye."
I have probably 20 voicemails from Jodes. Why didn't I ever answer the phone, I wondered to myself recently? Well, probably because he called in the middle of the workday and I was either A) busy or B) assumed it was a conversation we could catch up on at a NORMAL time to talk. Well, now I spend time thinking about what some of those conversations may have turned into. Probably some pally nonsense of "did you see Tributasaurus is becoming Bowie in a few weeks at Theater on the Lake?" or "I'm thinking of putting new speakers in the boat this offseason, what'dya think? OH NO, Jonny...it sounds like perfection as it is. Or, "Sal gal threw me out a hall pass this Saturday and I thought I might hop on out to "the Perch" to get some Fras and Merd time. That is.....if you all want some company??"
Merd and I were chatting this weekend, as we attended another celebration of life for a dear friend, who also knew Jodes very well. In fact, it was one of Merd's best friends, just like Jodes was one of our best friends. We talked about the spirit that still is so close and real. We agreed that we often see a door swing open at a concert or party and almost can feel Jodes walking through. Look out in a crowd and see that hair...what solid hair that guy had. That was my dude...Jodes. He probably was wearing that best life vest too. Damn he loved that vest...even in the summer over a t-shirt, which I never understood. I included a picture so we could all make fun of him again...I enjoyed ribbing him constantly, as the boys do. Micah called me last week on Friday afternoon (similar mid afternoon call that would've received from Jodes). I'm not sure why none of us work? Anyways, I got a healthy sigh from Kafitz and could tell he was driving...probably recklessly. He said, "you know, today is one of those days. I had a LONG week, and a LONG night, and I'm ready to TURN IT UP. I would have always been able to call Jodes and he would have ALWAYS answered the call in one way or another." He was/is our bro.
When I was mid twenties, I lived in an apartment in Wicker Park, near the 6 corners. I was newly wealthy. In that I made 50k the year prior and basically felt like I was the Fresh Prince. Jodes, whom I met through Jmain and the boys at Careerbuilder, was newly on the scene for me. Boy, this cat could talk about music...and politics...and family...and music...and music...and note for note music...and also music. I was smitten. We formed a band. We toured the world. We had our ups and downs and eventually we broke up. This all happened in the video game Rock Band, of course. Jodes was our drummer. I think we broke records...and our neighbors were not huge fans of our band. It was glorious....what rebels we were. Looking back, our name "The Vajeans", derived from Jody's favorite movie Borat, was awfully immature for a bunch of 20 and 30 somethings....and we loved it. I think the police showed up once...that was when we were really rocking hard...think they thought we were trashing the hotel room.
Fraser Wicker Park Apartment: The Vajeans Live Tour, Date: Who Knows?
I love The Grateful Dead. Jody loved The Grateful Dead. But, Jody was a purist....or at least he thought he was. He hated cover bands, unless of course he found them first. Then he loved them. I spent many years trying to turn him onto our summer Dead & Co. shows at Wrigley. He couldn't bring himself to seeing John Mayer up there and Bobby playing everything at a snails pace. It was our favorite music, being played in our favorite baseball stadium, with our favorite peeps, and Jodes was too much of a purist to do it. What a knob. Anyways, a few years back, I finally convinced him to join. We boated over to Belmont, pregamed in the beautiful sun, etc. Jody was dropped off in his uber in the wrong location...like seriously, the most wrong he could be. It was a good 1-2 mile walk all the way around the harbor to get to us. We got to watch him the whole way. It was hot...like 95 degree heat. He had his rolling suitcase with (presumably) melting ice, some captain, and some diet. He was irate. I think he was considering calling another uber to come take him the rest of the way, but he soldiered on. As he finally passed us at the halfway point, we laughed at him and he mumbled and laughed back. Jodes was a solid sport....pretty much always. He finally showed up and we had a few minutes to get him a dog and a cocktail before we had to head to the show. It was a burner of a show. I watched Jodes throughout to see if he was digging it or just letting us think he was digging it for our sake. He'd do that on occasion. Nah, he got it. I believe the quote was, "I was impressed. Solid players and incredible musicianship. I get it." The picture above is pre Jody's mind getting blown. I like that. Marc and I are saying, "see, you dummy...can't believe you missed all of these shows."
Dead & Co. @ Wrigley Field 6-9-23 Aftershow Eats
During another spending spree in my twenties newfound wealth, we decided we were going to take a limo to go see Steely Dan in Tinley Park. Jodes and I would see The Dan on a many occasions in the ensuing years, but this was my first Dan show. Jodes was kinda the elder statesman in that he knew how to book a limo. He had it pick us up from my office downtown. It was magical. We hit traffic, which only made it more fun, and of course Jody had mapped out a "environmental break" stop along the way that he had messaged to the driver. What a pro! We got to the show and I was a bit fuzzy already, to say the least. How was the sun still out? Weren't we in that limo for like 6 hours? It sure felt that way. Jodes didn't mention to us about the tickets he had secured. He walked us all the way down to the front of the stage like Wayne with the backstage pass in Waynes World. We were dead center in about the 10th row. It was a magical evening...I'm told. :)
Anyways, this trip down memory lane has been fun. Miss my pal. I have about 1000 more of these dumb stories for anyone who wants to hear more. In the meantime, can we please get a collection of pictures of Jody in his Best Life vest going? I mean, it might be every picture you have, but that's ok. That vest saw things.
Jodes, Scarlet --> Fire -->Estimated Prophet from Cornell, 5/8/77 Turn it up up there and get into some trouble! Let's dance, brother.
TCB! Love ya, Pal.
JONNY!
Great stories! He loved his Pally and that vest, no doubt :-) 💛