Bob or John?

Reading Jules post this morning reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend soon after John Denver’s death in 1997.

I said to Billy, “Did you know John Denver died?” He said something like, “Oh that’s awful.”

After a few minutes of my rambling on about how much it sucked that the world lost a great musician, he said, “Didn’t you say Bob Denver died?” When I affirmed that it was John Denver of folk music and not Bob Denver of Gilligan’s Island who had passed away, he seemed nothing but relieved.

At first I thought he had to be kidding, but it soon became clear he was not. Of course, we debated for a while over who made the larger contribution to society. But, apparently, Bob Denver fans are a steadfast lot. He could not be swayed.

I was never much into Gilligan myself, and I don’t remember Bob doing much after that series ended.

Although I don’t wish Bob dead, I think John’s death should have rated more from my friend than a sigh of relief that it wasn’t Bob who had died.

So, any thoughts on this, folks? I know this is an earth shatteringly important topic, so you may need to mull it over a bit. I’m nothing if not edgy. But, as you know, you have to be ballsy enough to deal with topics that are less than seven years old if you want to be on the cutting edge. So, here it is.