Freddie Mercury and Queen

Good morning, guys. Sorry, no pic posts today -- I'll have some up by Wednesday (I'll try sooner, though).

Been feeling kinda melancholy - wasting time following links on the computer while playing mp3's from my library.

An image I found -- Freddie Mercury wearing a hat made of bananas! -- sent me to YouTube to make sure it was real, and indeed it was, from the video for Queen's "I'm Going Slightly Mad." It had been so many years since I'd seen that video that I'd forgotten the gorilla! Anyway, once I'd seen that video again, I had to go right to "These Are the Days of Our Lives" -- they kind of bookend the whole idea of Queen.

I was working in a record store when the first promo material showed up for "Innuendo," the album these songs came from. The sight of Freddie in such a skeletal state was one of the greatest shocks I'd ever had -- a singing and performing powerhouse revealed to be in his last days! Though AIDS had ravaged his body, his voice was still triumphant. His final, whispered "I still love you" -- his goodbye to his fans in "These Are the Days of Our Lives" -- still chokes me up after 18 years...

I still love you, too, Freddie -- and the world will never forget you!