A Most Creative Friend
In the journey that is One of Those Times in a Life the campfires are currently describing experiences and sharing songs from the 70’s. With that in mind I want to talk some about my friend of nearly 50 years, Gary Drager. He and I have written songs together since college. The current campfire video, Old Man, is one of ours. Carousel Revisited from an earlier blog is also ours.
In 1978 under the name of Cooper Edens (a name taken from both of his grandmothers) he became an internationally famous children’s book author and illustrator with his book If You’re Afraid of the Dark…Remember the Night Rainbow. That book was followed quickly by Star Cleaners Reunion and Caretakers of Wonder. Many other books followed.
Sadly in 20009 Drager suffered a stroke. Ironically it was at the recording of Between Old Friends. A year later we did a concert for him. Here are some pictures from that event as well as song that he and I wrote in 1973 called Mardi Gras of the Mind. The recording was done in Minneapolis that summer with Bob Dylan’s brother, David Zimmerman, producing. We used some of the same musicians that David used a year later when he produced half the tracks for Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks.
