Stay

Calvin "Mac" McKinney. He was the band director for Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs. He also played keyboards & when pressed would double on saxophone (his main instrument). He died on December 21rst. Not sure of what; they found him dead in his home. I called him this morning to check in & see how he was doing & the phone was disconnected. I knew. But I called an old buddy of ours to confirm things & he gave me the scoop. He had been having some blood pressure problems & was avoiding going to the doctor as it would have been a waste of money in his opinion. I assume it was related to that but never got any further with the discussion than those details.

He was the world's oldest kid. He'd cut up & bullshit like a 20 year old with half a buzz. I'm not sure how old he was. He had to be in his 70's if not older but he'd never tell his age when asked. He'd always laugh & start talking about something else, like when I was gonna get married so we'd know the topic was closed. The traveling got to him but he joked that he was so used to it when he couldn't get to sleep in his bed he'd go out to the van & a few minutes laying across his bench seat would have him out like a light.

He was a helluva musician & a good teacher. He studied at Juliard with money he got from his G.I. bill. He was in the Army around the time of the Korean war but he never talked much about it, just that he made Expert with his rifle & missed the thing since he got out. He gigged all his life & the last few decades he was the band director for Maurice. But he was also my friend. He approached me once about a matter that would have caused him some embarrassment but he was too curious not to inquire about an aspect of it. I joked with him about telling the other Zodiacs but I still haven't discussed the details with anyone but him because I knew he'd have shown me that much respect had I been in his place & he in mine.

There is a story that he would tell & I cannot do it justice. But it involved a gig of his when he was younger down in Florida. To this day he's the only black man I've ever known to have played at a Klan rally. The agent was more than a little embarrassed, but the klansman while idiots for their beliefs about race weren't too stupid to recognize a decent musician so they let him play, & he was there to make cash so he played it, knowing full well he had a pistol in his bag just in case.

He got a degree from Juliard & back in the 60's & 70's he gigged with some big names. I'm not positive but I remember Thelonious Monk, Cannonball Aderly, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis & some others. I can't recall which ones he played with or which ones he just hung out with but he was moving in their circles for some time. He had talent.

Pee Wee got me into the Zodiacs. Pee Wee & I were roommates when on the road in this other band I was playing in for a while & we got to be good pals. He told Maurice & Mac I could handle the gig & I was hired unseen. Mac gave me a little hell at the first rehearsal (I was a skinny little white kid with long hair & nothing on my calender) but we started joking with each other & from then on became pretty tight as far as touring musicians go. When I wasn't in the Zodiacs (I played with them on & off for years) I'd call him & see how he was. When I left the state he'd always ask if I was still playing & sound relieved when I said I was. When KS & I went to the Carolinas back in '05 we stopped by Fort McKinney (the title I used for his place to tease him about his security obsession) & bullshitted with him for a while. That was the last time I saw him.

I called a few times - like every 4 or 5 months - since then to check up on him & give him shit for not going fishing. He always said he loved fishing but never got off his ass & went. Paperwork, taxes, etc... it was always something he had to do that kept him from hitting a lake. So while he gave me pep talks about playing no matter how bad the biz got for me I'd urge him to take a fucking day off & go fishing. the last few times i called though he was sounding more & more run down. His memory wasn't what it used to be; he told me on two separate occasions about an old pal of ours who had passed without remembering he'd told me last time we talked.

He had a rough life. Aside from the music thing he lost his son to a bullet then his wife to depression 6 months later. He's been alone ever since (& this happened long before I met him). In fact if I recall he was the last of his people; all his direct kin having died off some years back. He had been at the funeral of most of his musicians friends that were around his age & a good many funerals of players who were a bit younger.

Mac he was a cheap bastard. You could hear the eagle scream every time he palmed a quarter. We'd give him hell because he'd use any & every coupon he'd come across, but got pissed when we suggested he could have saved more by using a senior citizen discount (he was really tight lipped about his age). He liked Heineken but only would have 2 or 3 at the house because they were so damned expensive. Once some Zodiac was joking about what Mac would do if he won the lottery, & Mac just grinned & said, "Shit, I might have already won - ain't no way I'd tell a sorry-ass tuna smellin' motherfucker like you". But he was generous to a fault & one of the most kind folks I knew. He was a good friend & a great player.

He's gone now though. I cannot tell you how saddened I am at his passing nor can I sum up the man he was in a few dozen paragraphs. To put it the way I'd have told Mac if he were listening, I loved that old ugly ass shiny headed penny pinching geriatric no fishin' motherfucker. It takes something to keep me from working but I called in sick today; I just can't see working at anything other than a gig tonight after hearing of the passing of someone who was so supportive & damned insistent that I keep playing.

Here's Stay by Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs (set to some kind of animation).