Blue Moon - Fred Drake

In the spring of 1993, Fred Drake decided to leave Hollywood and move to Joshua Tree, after discovering the house that he would later call Rancho de la Luna. The hardest part was telling Smokey, our landlord, who also loved going to his secret house in the desert, the Hobe Chobe, in his classic red Corvette Stingray. Smokey had been in the hospital and Fred didn't want to bother him with the news until he was back home. Fred simply told Smokey he was off to Joshua Tree to see the spring flowers and Smokey said he would he see Fred there. After the first night at Fred's new house, I returned to LA to find that Smokey had passed away in the night. The next day, the bloom exploded all over the desert. Smokey had always said, "Don't move unless it's to somewhere you love more than this," which was difficult to imagine, as his apartment building was a 1920's Spanish-style beauty, where he had grown up, years before the Hollywood Freeway was built nearby. Upon hearing the news of Smokey's death, we drove back to the desert to gather flowers for the funeral in Tonya's station wagon. The new landlords, the Hill Brothers, helped us fill the back of Tonya's wagon with desert flowers. On the way to and from the desert, we had a few cassettes with us, but the one that we kept playing was Elvis Presley's Sun Sessions. Once Fred was back in LA and Smokey was buried in the earth, Fred went into Dean's studio and recorded this in his memory. This week, after what would have been Fred's 60th birthday, I went outside of my home in Joshua Tree to see the trifecta of the Super Moon, Blood Moon, Lunar Eclipse, "no longer alone, without a dream in my heart."

[kittyferrarivortex]

Smokey was like Fred's spirit guide. When he passed it was incredible how suddenly Fred's 'look' changed - from Hollywood hipster to desert cowboy - a la Smokey. Fred carried the Hobe Chobe/Wilton torch, re-blazing the trail all the way to Joshua Tree and beyond.