Charlie Rubicon, The Artist
I should give credit where credit is due. The title, Goodtime Charlie, was coined by my girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend. He kept in touch with her after they broke up, and the more she told him about the things that she and I did together, the angrier (maybe jealous) he became. After a while, he started calling me Goodtime Charlie because we were always at a show or off on some wild adventure, because living is what life is about.
As an aside, since she met me, he has started writing, gone to concerts, and even tried to learn the saxophone. He may be mad because I stole his girl, but he’s certainly adopted the gospel of Charlie Rubicon and may have some positive benefits. Now, here is the story of the birth of Charlie Rubicon and an explanation of the song Goodtime Charlie.
Goodtime Charlie is a hundred stories from one life, my life. It begins with the Sea, Hear, Now Festival in Asbury Park, NJ.
It was September 21, 2021, just after the pandemic. Everyone was required to show proof of immunization and wear a mask to get through the front gate. Saturday night, Pearl Jam went on, and all 50,000 of us sat there singing, “I’m still Alive” in the way that Eddie intended when he wrote it.
We all valued those words in a way most of us had never before. It’s one thing to sing the words and mimic the sounds you hear, but that 50,000 souls knew the meaning of every word. We felt the music.
That was the day that Charlie Rubicon was born.
Now, if you carry on through the song, you’ll realize that the pandemic was not a first for me. In October 1990, my friend was killed in a horrible car accident. I survived, and like a lot of survivors, I still dedicate myself to living a life worthy of those I’ve lost.
It wasn’t until 2021, when I realized part of that life involves pursuing joy, and music has always been that part of my life where joy was found.
