"We know not the day, nor the hour," a phrase that eighty-five year old saxophonist Paul Renfro reminds me. We have memorialize so many of our musical buddies and today, we celebrate the life of Rick Frye.
At the beginning of a rehearsal this morning, it was announced that drummer Rick Frye collapsed and died in Williamsburg, Virginia Friday, January 5, 2007, after Phil Dirt and the Dozers had finished a showcase. After the performance, Rick said he wasn't feeling well and told his brother, Mark, that he was going back to the band's bus. It was Mark that found him on the pavement outside of the vehicle and EMS crews couldn’t revive him.
Rick and Mark Frye we born into a musical family from Grove City, Ohio. Their father was a jazz lover and high school band director. They joined the Dozers in 1983 and Rick, knowing that I was a music historian, promised that we would collaborate on some rock and roll history for kids in Delaware, where he resided.
Each year, since 1991, Phil Dirt and the Dozers were the rhythm support for the Sunny '95 Old Fashion Christmas Show. On the last show, December 23, 2006, I sat next to Rick as he sang the bass lead on "White Christmas," a classic doo-wop song originated by the Drifters in the early 1950s. I was jealous; I love that lead so.
So, If I have an enduring memory of Rick Frye, it will be sung in a basso profundo, "And may all your Christmases be whiiiiiiiiiiiite!"
Bright moments and love to you Brother Rick. There's no business like show business; it's in our blood!
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I've known Rick and the guys of Phil Dirt for years. Having visited with them dozens of times and gone on cruises,aside from the great musical ability and voice was his being so much fun to be around. His friendly and outgoing manor and his fashion sense(red hightops and bib overalls to a dinner". We'll miss him as a musician but much more as a friend.
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