- from old friend, Ron Normandeau 

Missing Jerry 

I was just listening to a record which will make me never forget the time that Jerry coaxed me into going to the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach when we both were under 21, but we both had fake IDs. So we picked up our buddies, Gene Eagle, John Roberts and Nolan Brewer who were just 21, and headed down to see Gerald Wilson & his orchestra, which, as it turned out, was like a tight little jazz philharmonic. When we were seated and were listening to the greatest jazz orchestra ever ‘live’, Jerry smiled, as usual, but with a special smile and told me that Carlos was coming up. He knew! It was their tribute to the great matador, Carlos Arruza. We were mesmerized by that performance, and I never got over it, although later, after the Lighthouse closed, we all wound up at the bowling alley across from the Santa Monica Civic, bowling relentlessly until dawn, with Carlos echoing in our minds.

We were just kids, and did crazy things like going to the Tijuana Bull Ring where Josh Harding had a palco for the season at bulls eye level, and Mickey Dora would join us there, especially to see El Cordobes, who was the superstar matador of the day, coming in from Spain. Kind of like Gasol is today for the Lakers. Mickey was an aficionado of the Corrida , as we all thought we were in those times. It was a Hemingway-doused surf safari non-psych-out manifested in Mexico.

When it came to life, Jerry always saw the humor in it.