July 12, 2002

The Master of Worst Practices

When Gary Turner decided to put this Tribute Collage together for RageBoy for his lifetime contributions to weblogging, I sent some text along. No real way to link to it from the collage, so guess what, I'm posting it here. For you, RB.

Well I'm standin' next to a mountain....
Choppin' down with the edge of my hand
Well I'm standin' next to a mountain....
Choppin' down with the edge of my hand
Pick up the pieces, make an island....
Might even raise a little sand

Cause I'm a voodoo chile....Lord knows I'm a voodoo chile

I didn't mean to take up all your sweet time
Give it right back to you....One of these days
I didn't mean to take up all your sweet time
Give it right back to you....The rest of my days

I won't see you again in this world....See ya in the next one
Don't be late....Don't be late

Cause I'm a voodoo chile yeah....Lord knows I'm a voodoo chile

-Stevie Ray Vaughan


Chris Locke is as real as real gets. The voices he's urged onto the net know that behind RageBoy, there is a Chris, digging way down deep inside, scratching at the sandy bottom, where there's joy and pain, fear and love, injury and triumph, expressing it like no one else can.

He connects with us when we need it most, through his writing and his latest high-tech obsession--the telephone--giving us brain juice and soul soup and about 8,000 watts of electricity. Here he comes again--OUCH! He wakes us up, dares us to stand for something, makes us look at things we don't really want to see, well, things we kind of want to see. Okay, yes, the things we have no choice but to see. Damn him.

Chris gives us permission to explore, think, speak, stomp, rage, love, fail, laugh, cry, scream--to grow--to be engaged.

His is not the easy path; it's the worthwhile one. Odd metered and a disconcerting, measures out of time, and always just right.

Not only that, but he does a mean Mick Jagger impersonation. Thanks for all of it and then some, Chris.