Roll on ... we're on borrowed time ...

Bob Ritchie's new single made it's video debut this morning on VH1. It's a video for "Roll On" from his Rock 'n' Roll Jesus album which dropped October 9, 2007. It's amazing how much changes in one year.

On this Saturday one year ago, we had a gathering at our house in Vestaburg and several friends and family members put a new roof on our garage. I'm not much of a builder but I sure can be a gopher. "Go for this ... go for that ..." and I do a pretty good job. I also carried bunches of shingles onto the roof. I left the laying of the shingles to my dad, Lori's brother Rob, Lori's dad (Bob) and a few other friends.

In February, Bob was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer and received many treatments, including a bone marrow transplant at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor. His battle was tough and he fought hard, but last Tuesday he passed away. It was sudden and shocking. Earlier in the month, he became quite ill but we thought he would spend a couple weeks in the hospital and go back home.

Bob's funeral was today in Howard City. We gathered at Marty's this morning at around 9:30 or so. We drank coffee, ate donuts. Visited. It was about 10:45 or so when Courtney said, "Rick, it's on."

I sat down to watch the video for "Roll On." Then Lori's mom (Carole), both brothers, and several kids watched, too. The video is great. It travels around Detroit. Goes to many places I've visited and hung out at. It was just a few years ago that my Grandpa passed away. In fact, it was three years ago. I remember my dad telling me that one thing my Grandpa said about me was, "Boy, Rick sure does know how to get around Detroit." We had gone to a Tiger game in September 2005 and apparently he was impressed with how I could manuever the city ...

The conversation was interesting as the video started to roll.

Rob said, "Hey, Marty, you know Dad even liked Kid Rock. He liked this song. Rick should have put it in the video."

Marty replied, "Yeah, I like him too. He's not too bad."

Carole said, "Yeah, your dad really did like Kid Rock."

Rob said, "He used to let me play the CD when we would drive places. I had to skip the bad songs, thought."

I said, "I always tell people that you have to listen to what Kid says, not what he says. It goes beyond the words."

"This is a cool video," Lori said. We would talk about the video later in the day. It's a cool video and the dude singing says:

"And I swear that time's a trick
It disappears oh so quick
Man I was just 16,
Now I'm staring at 36.
But I'm still having a good time!"


Enjoy the mini movie. And go buy the LP!