The "Tombstone Shadow" Dark Sync

John Fogerty playing Bluesfest 2012

On Monday I headed back to the Byron Bay Bluesfest, mainly to see and hear John Fogerty play, this time with my youngest son ... or should I say my 'fortunate son';-)

My son (left) watching John Fogerty belt out a song

I don't like normally being right up the front, but my son suggested that we go and stand right up front on the barrier.

So, we did.
When we got up to the front with relative ease, I was so surprised at what a great view we had and I remember saying to him something like, "this spot is to die for, it would have cost about $400 a ticket to get this close in Brisbane". 
We had paid $139 each for an all day ticket, on which we got to see 
Fogerty, Zappa playing Zappa, YES and a host of other bands.

John played through the whole of the Green River album, plus most of Credence's big hits.

Track 3 on Green River is a song called Tombstone Shadow. 

The lyrics go like this;

Tombstone Shadow, stretchin' across my path. 
Tombstone Shadow, stretchin' across my path. 
Ev'ry time I get some good news, 
Ooh, There's a shadow on my back. 

Saw the gypsy man, 'way down in San Berdoo. 
Said, I saw the gypsy man, 'way down in San Berdoo. 
Five dollars on the table, 
Ooh, Keep me 'way from my tomb. 

Oh! Oh! Said I got thirteen months of bad luck, 
Bound to be some pain. 
Don't you do no trav'lin', 
Fly in no machines. 

Tombstone Shadow, stretchin' across my path. 
Ev'ry time I get some good news, 
Ooh, There's a shadow on my back. 

The man gave me a luck charm, 
Cost five dollars more, 
Said, \"Put some on your pillow, and put some on your door.
\" He said, \"Take a long vacation, 
Ooh, For thirteen months or more.\

" Oh, Lord! Tombstone Shadow, stretchin' across my path. 
Tombstone Shadow, stretchin' across my path. 
Ev'ry time I get some good news, 
Ooh, There's a shadow on my back. 

Oh, oh, Lord! Oh, Lord!

By the time John got to play Tombstone Shadow I was already having morbid kind of thoughts passing through my head, like,

"I wonder how old John is now?(he was born in 1945) 
I wonder how many years John has left? 
I wonder how many years I have left?
I wonder how many years my son has left? 
I wonder if I will outlive John? 
I wonder if my son will outlive me? (I hope so) 
I wonder where my son's consciousness was in the late 60's, early 70's when I was a boy listening to Credence records? 
Where was my consciousness when John was growing up in the 50's?
Which of the three of us will leave this mortal coil first? 
Isn't life weird when you stand about fifty feet away from the lead singer of a band from the other side of the planet, which made up so much of the soundtrack of my early life and is now in my hometown (well 100 miles from my hometown) playing those songs in front of me and my son?
And while there was dope in the air around me, I can assure you that it wasn't being smoked by me ... if that's what you were thinking?-)

I kept thinking how great is this taking my son to see John Fogerty this year, Bob Dylan last year, and who knows who I can take him to see play next year?
The day was great all round.
We got to see Fogerty, Zappa's son play Zappa's work (can't say I'm a real fan of Zappa's music) and YES.
Plus, other less known and unknown (to us) bands and artists.

When I got home, after the 100-mile drive (early Tuesday morning), I checked my e-mails only to discover this;
Woman dies at Bluesfest
"A 45-year-old Tumbulgum woman is believed to have suffered a fatal heart attack minutes before Bluesfest headlining act John Fogerty took to the stage on Saturday night.
Paramedics performed CPR on the woman at the front of the Mojo stage for about 15 minutes before she was taken away on a stretcher.
The concert was delayed as a result for around 20 minutes. 
Police said there were no suspicious circumstances."
Even though this happened at the Saturday night concert and our concert was on the Monday night, this was the first I had heard of this tragic occurrence.
The e-mails from the Echo newspaper are only sent to my inbox Monday to Friday and since this happened Saturday night, I didn't get to find out about this until Tuesday morning, as the e-mail would have arrived in my inbox Monday afternoon, when I was at the Bluesfest.
So, this tragic news really hammered home what I was thinking about life, as Fogerty was playing.
And the eerie thing is that this woman probably died in a spot closer to where I was standing (if not where I was standing) than Fogerty was from me.

Fogerty playing his baseball guitar to
  Center-field on the big screen

These are the kind of strange events that stay in the memory for the rest of your life, however long that will be?