Ransom Notes

As I write these ransom notes
for my friend, Billy
who has passed on,
I listen to Donna the Buffalo
singing a tribute to Billy
"Everything seems to want to hurt this time" sings Jeb Puryear
And everything seems to hurt today
with the sad news
Young Billy Hobbs
AKA "Hobo Billy",
"Ransom Notes",
"Ransom", "Billy The Chair",
"The Grassroots Buddha"
coulda, shoulda, woulda...

I remember Billy Hobbs in the early 70s
hanging on Tate St.
in a black leather motorcycle jacket,
jeans and long curly black hair
We gigged on Tate St. at Aliza's Cafe,
roomed together, cooked together (Billy was an excellent cook),
traveled together
We hitched to California and then on another occasion
rode in Billy's ambulance home to San Diego to visit a friend.
Along I-40 crossing Texas, we took a wrong turn and ended up in
Juarez. We were waved on through customs going in but
stopped on the way out. Billy climbed from the ambulance
with his pet boa wrapped around his shoulders so we got searched

Billy and I were once picked up and arrested for hitchhiking on the interstate outside Petersburg, VA
I got out on bail but Billy refused bail
and stayed in jail to pull his time working out on a peanut farm

I was once arrested and jailed for a crime I had
nothing to do with; a purse snatching of an elderly lady
Billy drove to Martinsville, VA to hunt the guy down and
had him returned so I was released from prison.

Billy was a loveable, gentle soul who saved my bacon on several occasions. A good friend and companion, he once opened up his shotgun shack house to me and the poet, Jim Young. We both needed a place to crash and Billy made room for us to both sleep on the floor...for months

I hope these notes are payment enough to redeem my captive friend and obtain
his release...Billy Ransom never tried that hard to make it to the Main Stage
He was too busy backstage...

Adios, my friend...I'll see you backstage when I get there

written by Bruce Piephoff 9/20/08 (a poem/ song elegy for my friend, Billy Ransom Hobbs) appears on Still Looking Up at the Stars CD, 2012