Barney Dorn
The Rock
If you ever found yourself stranded, miles from nowhere, in the middle of the nights, during a torrential rainstorm, and needed someone to come and help you --- well that would be Barney.
And there wouldn't be any question about what happened or could it wait until the morning -- other than what he needed to bring to resolve the situation. Then he'd show up.
At his wedding (which happened to be to my friend Marie), his best man talked about how Barney was the one in the neighborhood to mow your lawn when you were on vacation or help with that clogged drain or broken pipe. Whatever you needed, he was just that guy.
The Sound Guy
One of my first meetings with Barney was when he filled in as our sound guy on the film shoot for encounter. He was in town doing some network work for the company that Marie was currently with and they'd begun "hanging out" together (wink, wink).
The Contractor
Early on, Barney and I became construction buddies -- helping each other build everything from closets and bathrooms to gutting entire houses.
No job was too small or too large and there's nothing that Barney would shy away from. (If we didn't know how to do something, there was always YouTube, right?)
And the nice part is that we don't keep score. In my mind, I've received way more help from Barney than I've ever given him. But Barney doesn't even think that way. He never has.
Today
Today, they live in a lake community eastern TN and we end up seeing each other at least a couple of times a year.
Both Barney and Marie are slowing down in an attempt to smell the roses more. More so Marie than Barney right now (he's a hard-driving, class-A, workaholic who's always pushing those around him to be more than they think they can).
Barney is a force of nature and a power to be reckoned with. And he's my friend.
Everyone that knows me has--at one time or another--ended up down in the studio with me. So, when Barney started recounting this story about this eccentric old dude at an apartment complex he used to live in, that was the only excuse I needed to get us to write a song about it.
Ralphy
(This was somewhere in the early 2000's)
Our 2 families also did a stint as biker buddies for a few years. And in honor of one of our many bike trips over the years, I wrote this song to celebrate that journey.
The Road
(from The Big Pizza Box 5)
It's rare that a friendship inspires me to write a song, but that's exactly what happened here. It's all about kickin' back with a cigar and a beer with friends.
As Good As It Gets
(from The Big Pizza Box 7)