Keep Looking Up - Jack Horkheimer eulogy

before my show tonight I gave a eulogy and said this. I taped it by the way and will post some of Betsy's songs soon. She was great.

"Hi everyone- my name is Kyle - thanks for having me- I write songs and will play some soon but first I want to say something. I was in Madison last night playing a show and I was out side having a cigarette right before we went on and one of my good friends mentioned that Jack the Stargazer died that morning. It was terrible news, it floored me - I was a moment away from playing and I went on stage all teary eyed and had a frog in my throat when I tried to sing. For those of you who don't know, Jack Horheimer has a show on PBS every Sunday night and he gives the forecast of the stars for this week, like "Look due east at 4 am and you will see the gorgeous display of Venus and Jupiter near the horizon." Ever since I was a young kid I watched that show - when I was a kid he was called "Jack the Star Hustler" and about the time I found out what a Hustler magazine was he changed his name to the "Star Gazer" - and even now in my adulthood I watch it and love it. It was one of my earliest memories, pleading with my parents to stay up so I could watch it at 11 on Sunday, hey- if anyone makes it home before 11 turn on PBS and watch one last episode. Jack Horkheimer... What can I say? It really hurts to know this. i'm sorry I'm getting so emotional, you probably think I'm a Emo song writer... I'm sorry, I just want to say (tearing up on stage)---I was thinking about it all day and decided I wanted to play some songs that mention the skies and the stars and the moon as a tribute. I was going through my songs and it didn't surprise me to realize that almost every song I have ever written has a reference to those things. What surprised me is to realize how much of an influence Jack The Star Gazer is in my song writing and I never knew it. Since I was a kid- his attitude, his personality, his enthusiasm for the stars clicked with me, I share that passion and loved watching him zip around on the rings of Saturn. I always loved the feeling of the end of the weekend when I saw him on TV late on a Sunday, it was a ritual, and it was a subject that I will always be fond of- "Keep looking up" was his phrase - it would always give me a good feeling in so many ways - Keep Looking Up. So Jack, if you are up there, and I know damn well you are, I want you to know that you will be missed and this is for you. Thank you Jack Horkheimer. You mean so much to me and you are alive in my songs and here are some songs that you might like."

set:

Nadine- first line "When darkness falls, the moon and the stars, surely do rise..."

Panther in the Sky (means: shooting star) first line: "I've seen shapes in the sun..."

Neptune's Gate: duh

Bethany - "Midnight Summer, New Moon, Just the stars above and under....the stars fall, oh when my Bethany smiles..."

Blue Shadows- "Arizona Moon keep shining, from the desert sky above..."

Luv u Lot - "...Yeah she really blows my mind, like the sun up in the sky..."

Firefly blues - "Moon Beams, June Dreams -of dancing with you in the stars, oh the sky would be all ours."

and on and on...

Rest in Peace Jack.