I'm cooking some Tex-Mex, listening to the "Lone Star" soundtrack when I hear the news: Freddie Fender is gone.I'm two for two now with Texas musical legends dying while I'm listening. Back in college, a group of us decided to listen to nothing but Stevie Ray Vaughn one evening. It was an odd choice for us, as we were more inclined to listen to The Pixies or Depeche Mode. But I'm glad we made it as we learned the next morning that Stevie Ray had died in a helicopter crash the night before. We were shocked and very sad to hear the news, but at the same time we felt like we'd somehow honored Stevie Ray by listening to him instead of one of our usual musical selections.
But there's nothing odd about me listening to Freddie Fender while I'm cooking--as I've written before, it's my favorite way to feel like I'm back in Texas. It sounds like Freddie had a hard life, but I just wanted to say thank you for the music--it makes millions of people happy and it always brings me home.
