Swampland.com

Old Friends On The Edge

There’s a lot to be said for old friends. I’m taking about real friends. People you always felt comfortable around. People you never borrowed money from.

I had lunch today with a couple of old true friends. Both of them were a part of one of my first ever journalistic ventures. EDGE Magazine.

The late James Irwin and I, along with the late Charlie Bergman, started Greenville, South Carolina’s very first alternative publication in the summer of 1991. I was telling the guys over vegetarian chili and The Handlebar today that I really, honestly have a hard time believing that EDGE was started 18 years ago. What? Very true.

I had just left a job in Tryon, N.C. with a newspaper, and had also been News Director for a small radio station there at the same time. As it happened, I was also staring in a play at the Tryon Theatre. That’s where I met a guy named James Irwin/

James was one of the down right nicest people I ever had the pleasure of calling friend. It was hard to lose him just a short three years later, but we had some great fun, music and laughter during those years.

James was the Publisher of EDGE, I was Executive Editor and Charlie was art director. James’ life partner David Morris, also deceased,  was business manager, and we had several regular staffers, including Jill Greene in sales, who would later become my girlfriend and later my wife.

The staff regulars also included David Windhorst and Phillip Knighten, whom I had lunch with today. Remember what I said about James being good people? Same goes for P.K. and David.

Phillip influenced my musical tastes during those EDGE days, introducing me to Ice-T, Jane’s Addiction and much more. He stayed pretty quiet, but when the time was right, he’d pop off a one liner that would crack me up.

What i remember most about P.K. was hanging out at Casablanca’s, the bar that was just a stone’s throw from our office, and the place to be in the afternoons. Several of us frequented Casablanca Lounge, including Phillip. Once we were doing a cover story called “Cold Beer,” where we would rate various available beers, both domestic and import. James, Phillip and I were the tasters.

I just remember seeing P.K. walking across the room with a beer in each hand, prompting James and I to refer to him for the longest time as Phillip “Two Beers” Knighten. We actually put that in the story, as I recall.

Well sir, after tasting a few dozen beers, we were all kind of lit. It was almost as much fun as James, David Morris and I and our all expense paid trip to Disneyworld. But that’s another story.

As for David Windhorst, he and I had quite a lot in common, but we were also very different. That is, he was the most athletic guy I knew, always running, biking and swimming. He competed in the Iron Man and many other contests of physical endurance, I, however, did not.

He did share with me a love for Kate Bush, as well as all sorts of other music. In fact, we would later perform many an acoustic gig as a duo, and he was on my first album, Happy To Be Here. David followed me over when I left EDGE in 1993 to start another publication called The Color Green. Talk about another story!

Our two-hour lunch was really great. Memories of EDGE, discussions of The Unknown Hinson, moves and Ice-T filled the air. David made a valid point, we should do this more often. The way the fates have been flowing these past few years, you never know when you may never get a chance to see an old friend again. Too many have shuffled off of this mortal coil.

So my advice for today is simple. Call up an old friend. Let them know you love ‘em. In the words of a great Paul Thorn song, “Give Them Their Roses While They’re Here.” If not roses, at least some time, some good food and a few laughs.

Keep it Real. Keep it Southern.
Buffalo

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