Terry Kath

It seems like every time I pay a little attention to Michael Bloomfield, Terry Kath raises a little ruckus in my head. That happened today. It's like he screams at me..."Hey, what about me? I play guitar and I'm from Chicago too." Go ahead, you can think I'm crazy (you'd only be half wrong) but you're gonna have to believe me because that's just the way it is.

Lots of the hits that I get on this blog every day come from a Google search of Terry Kath. Of the last 20 referrals today, 6 were for Terry, which is a lot considering all the people and topics I have written on this blog over the past three+ years. (Hey, Terry...Michael only had 1 to your 6 in case you're keeping track.) If you just got here on a TK Google, you should know that I am a huge fan of Terry's always brilliant guitar playing and songwriting and singing. I truly believe he was the heart and soul of Chicago. Irreplaceable, in fact.

Recently I moved my workspace and that included moving some of my framed photographs and a couple of paintings from the Starart days. One of the framed photographs is one of my Limited Edition prints of Terry. It's been leaning up against the wall for a while, by itself, off to the side of where five or six other prints are leaning against another wall. I've been planning to put all of them up but I just haven't quite decided where they should hang. (So far I've only put up a really cool painting that Commander Cody did of Robert Mitchum and gave to me many years ago.)

I have been walking by the Terry Kath photo several times a day for at least week, barely giving it any attention. I'm not so narcissistic that I spend hours looking at my own work. Truth be told, I barely ever look at myself in a mirror. Anyway, today that picture jumped out at me...that's 'jumped out' in the figurative sense. The kind of jumped out that made me look at it every single time I walked by. Just the day after I celebrated Michael Bloomfield's birthday on this blog.

Terry didn't say anything specific, just the general "Look at me" kind of thing. So I did. And the picture suddenly looked good to me. Really good.

Here is the picture, leaning against my wall:


I thought about how great it was gonna look hanging on my wall. But then a feeling washed over me that it shouldn't be hanging on my wall. It should be hanging on yours. Terry seemed really happy with that idea. (Maybe he's just mad at me for the time I spent thinking about Michael yesterday.) Now, I'd really like to give this print to another rabid Terry Kath fan for free...

...but if your read my post For Free Or Not For Free a couple of days ago you will understand that I need to stand behind my words and not give my creative work away for free. That would be a huge contradiction, wouldn't it? Shouting the evils of everyone wanting everything for free from my pulpit one day and two days later giving my work away for free. By the way,that post really struck a chord with a lot of people and was by far the most popular post I've had...well, next to the one about Jaimie's brain surgery a year ago. Thank you all for supporting my viewpoint.

All right, back to Terry's picture. I'm not allowed to give anything away for free. But I can't offer it at a ridiculously low price. If you are a die-hard Terry Kath fan and are interested in having the 16x20 signed Limited Edition #12/75 framed (21 1/4 x 25 1/4) print you need email me at kathprint@cheshercat.com. I will then write back and let you know the ridiculously low price (sorry I can't publicize it on a public forum) and you can decide if Terry is going to hang on your wall. There will only ever be this one print at the ridiculously low price and the first person that gets back to me with the order gets the picture. It's kinda like an ebay auction without the auction.

You can see a better representation of the photograph here. If Terry is not adopted by Sunday, he is staying with me, on my wall, whether he likes it or not.

Email: kathprint@cheshercat.com