Scottish singer/songwriter Gerry Rafferty passed away yesterday at the age of 63. I can't say I was the hugest fan, just in that I'm not that familiar with most of his work, but he holds a special place in my heart. When I was a kid, my dad, who is a woodworker, had his first shop in Totem Lake. Sometimes when he went there on the weekends my brother and I would get to go with him — we'd ride our bikes around the industrial park and there was a little stream that ran parallel with the driveway (possibly just slightly polluted) that we'd mess around in, before they fenced it off. A Husqvarna dealership was on the opposite end of the building, and being obsessed with BMX, we thought those dudes were scary and cool. In the shop next door to my dad's, his friend Rex was building a 39-foot sailboat by hand. If it was raining and we couldn't ride bikes, we'd go inside and nail wood together.
On the way back home we would often split a can of 7-Up (or Country Time, or Green River, if my brother and I had our way) and listen to KJR or KZAM. When the song "Baker Street" would come on I remember we all really loved it, and at some point this love reached critical mass and we went to the record store (I think maybe Budget Tapes & Records in Bellevue) and picked up the album.I still have that record, and I'm probably biased, but I think it holds up pretty well today.