As I chill here at the coffee shop unwinding from a long day mining salt for The Man, I prepare myself mentally for the long, emotional evening ahead. Tonight is Frank Anthony Campagna Jr's, aka Frankie 45, memorial show/wake at Club Dada. Frankie is/was deeply loved here in the Deep Ellum community. His father, Frank Sr, is one of the godfathers of Deep Ellum. If there is anyone who embodies what Deep Ellum is and is about, it's Frank Sr. Frankie and his sister, Amber, both grew up here in Deep Ellum and are still a part of this place and always will be.
It's been five days since Frankie took his life and the numbness has started to wear off somewhat. Tonight will be cathartic as the emotions are now open and exposed. It is time to openly grieve, reminisce, celebrate, examine our lives and relationships, confront our own mortality -- our own demons and to say goodbye to Frankie 45.....and rage, rage against the dying of the light.
As much as Frankie is/will be missed, one fact stands unchallenged -- life goes on, with or without us. Tomorrow morning the sun will rise in the east and set in the west. The earth will continue to spin unabated upon its axis. The inexorable march of time will continue. Yet, tonight at Club Dada we will remember, celebrate, cry, shout, shake our heads, console each other and be consoled ourselves......we will grieve. Tomorrow or sometime thereafter -- life will go on. RIP Frank Anthony Campagna Jr.
Life goes on.
No comments:
Post a Comment