Hello everybody on HIVE, and especially the Music Community. My name is Jasper and I'm writing to you from Cape Town, South Africa.
Recently an old friend of mine, Steve Murdoch, passed away. He was a friend to many musicians in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, and a fine guitarist himself. In his semi-retirement, he was the person we visited so he could service our guitars or fix any problems, and he also created a bit of a business buying second-hand guitars, fixing them up and then selling them again!
In fact, he was one of the first people who saw potential in me when I started to play at a local music club about 13 years ago, and he would invite me to come and play at other pubs and meet other people so that I could learn and grow. He was also one of the first people to actually join me and play along with me on stage.
Here’s a much younger version of me (right) with Steve Murdoch on the left at a now closed-down venue in Muizenburg
I think the very first times I ever earned any money from music was playing all night at a pub in a small coastal town just outside Cape Town called Pringle Bay… Steve had a place there and probably was the reason I ever got the chance.
So, Steve’s wife Maryon decided to have a memorial evening for Steve at a local venue called the Striped Horse in Muizenberg and welcomed anybody to come and sing a song or two for him! It was really moving to see the how many of the old rockers and blues-lovers turned up – a real blast from the past for me!
Perhaps I should explain myself. When I was an MSc student about 10-12 years ago, that was the time that I started to play in pubs and clubs quite a bit. Then, when I started working again, music took a bit of a back seat and I pretty much only played for myself and my friends at the braai (barbeque).
Then covid-19 happened and I was stuck at home. I also had this feeling that there was something quite important missing from my life, even though I had done a lot of work on myself and changing careers to something I found meaningful. When an old school friend 
Now I also have HIVE with its various challenges like HIVE Open Mic, and Three Tunes Tuesday (I choose to play the songs myself), which is also helping me to learn many new songs and challenge myself!
What was really interesting was that this memorial was like travelling back in time to the scenes that I had played in 10-12 years ago as a young man. I tend to favour folk, blues and rock styles, and many of the musicians and audience in the places I found myself then were actually much older people, who used these forms of music to feel young and party again! Good for them!
The evening started with a band that perfectly encapsulated the evening - a young guitarist backed up by older musicians... everybody wanted to be there for Steve Murdoch and say goodbye through some songs
They were joined by Pete Stanford, who actually taught me guitar when I was still in High School - the painting in the back might make him look like he has Devil's Horns but he's actually one of the nicest people you will meet! Together they are playing some of the songs that were Steve Murdoch's favourite ones to jam, like "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd!
Pete helping Charlie Thompson sing us a more of a crooner.
Charlie was a regular at the pub where I basically learnt how to slowly overcome my nerves of singing in public, Bella's in Harfield Village
Tony Shine singing while Wayne Pauli (white guitar) goes back to his childhood roots of playing the blues with his father (brown bass guitar). I have written about Wayne and his old band the Stremes before here: @jasperdick/music-another-south-african-talent
Brenda was a good friend of Steve, and so she had to overcome her nerves and sing her goodbye
Played classic rock like "The Sandman" and Eric Clapton's "Old Love"!
Now here was a real jam! Violin and jazz guitar! Quite technical! Shoo!
Ah this was quite emotional because Barry was Steve's best friend of all. He definitely got the beautiful guitar he's playing from Steve.
Here's Jamie Jupiter using the band to fill out his brand of funky country-blues! This guy is another super talented inspiration of mine who is actually a professional musician.
I managed to sing a couple of songs too, but no photos of that!
Eventually I had to leave because I had work the next day, but I imagine I only caught the first half of a truly wonderful evening. Maryon was very touched by everyone turning up to pay respects and play music for her and she herself said it was like the days at Bella's all over again. I wish Maryon a lot of strength, but it seems she has some great support to help her though this time.
It has made me think a lot about how music is wonderful all on its own, but the tribe and friendships it can create is an amazing thing too! I hope we all find that here on HIVE as well as the years go by!
THE END