R.I.P. Clay Cole

Harry Harrison used to say "Every day should be unwrapped like a precious gift."  We never know what the day will bring for us.  Nobody knows how many days the lord has written for us.  We never know how or when we will leave this world.  One can linger for many years with a chronic disease or die all of a sudden.

I was visiting my mother this afternoon and as the family was watching the Rangers game I was using my iPhone and received an e-mail from Alan Berman stating that Clay Cole had died.  I quickly perused Facebook and observed that several of my  friends were sending condolences.  I phoned Alan a little later as he found that Clay had suffered a heart attack at home.  Everything was fine and then all of a sudden he just collapsed and died at age 72. You just never know.

For readers of Bruce's Journal not familiar with Clay, you may read a short biography in the Wikipedia.  However I highly recommend his book:

Cole, Clay, and David Hinckley. Sh-boom!-- the Explosion of Rock 'n' Roll, 1953-1968. Garden City, NY: Morgan James, 2009. Print.

 

I had the pleasure of meeting Clay at the Beatles Expo in Stamford, CT in November 2009.  I bought the book from him there.  I also met him at the Long Island Radio Show at CW Post in April of this year.  I wrote a review of the book last December in this journal.  Clay actually wrote a comment stating that he was pleased with my review.

 

My condolences to his family.