Скачать или смотреть Michael Shynes (Feat. Rick Wolfman) 'Your Time To Fly' // A Song for Tony Kula

My dear friend Tony Kula passed away last night. He started out as my Calculus teacher in High School. And became a lifelong friend. I have always felt a magnetism toward eccentrics. And Tony was always that. A fascinating ball of energy never far from a grin, truly passionate about his work, and unintentionally one of the funniest people I’ve ever met.

And to be clear Calculus was a subject for which I had limited ability and understanding. But that is the magic trick done by people who are passionate, they can bring color and vibrance to ordinary parts of life.

So even in my struggle (and it was a struggle) to be good at calculus, the journey never lacked color. The most vivid example of this being Tony taping together a test I tore in half out of frustration, but then including everything he found on the floor (wrappers of all kinds, broken pencils, etc) in his ‘re assembly’ of my test.

To say that Tony was a man of high character would be, quite honestly, an understatement. I can think of few people as trustworthy and as free of judgment. I truly feel like I could have told him anything and both trusted him with the information, as well as known that he would greet anything from a place of love.

Which is probably why he began his career in the Navy and never did divulge any of the top secret nuclear submarine codes we believe he possessed and playfully asked him about in class from time to time. I just think it’s sad to lose someone like Tony at a time when we need more people like him. A man of honor, compassion, forthrightness, and acceptance. I have never seen someone face their own mortality with such grace. I fear death less now because of our conversations.

Like most times in my life, I went to music to process my grief when Tony was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, and then also when I found out he was in Hospice care. Something told me to save the voicemails he left me, as I knew that regardless of how long he lived after his diagnosis, he was someone I was going to want to pay tribute to. So here is a song I wrote for him and that he got to hear while he was still alive, which I’m thankful for. It features my fellow Calculus classmate and Kula fan Rick Waltman. We love you Tony, you made the lives of everyone around you better. And I’m really gonna miss you man.

LYRICS //

When I was such a dreamer and a young punk kid
And you were writing on the board how to solve
I never ever thought that it would come to this so soon
But here we are

You know we have been friends for a long damn time
I always had your back and you always had mine
That kind of love is a pretty rare thing
So thank you

Keep holding on
Keep holding on
Keep holding on
Until you wanna let go

You have stayed in my life after all these years
And you’re teaching me still how to show no fear
They say you live as long as who remembers you
So you’ll be here a while brother

Keep holding on
Keep holding on
Keep holding on
Until you wanna let go

Whenever its your time to fly
We’re really gonna miss you down here
We’re really gonna miss you down here