Week of 12/13 - 12/14

The Topcats played a wedding on Friday night at Rosy's Jazz Hall on Tchoupitoulas. (I'm not sure I spelled that correctly. And my spell check didn't even try) Such a great big fantastic affair… Rosy's was packed. And thankfully the dance floor was packed from start to finish. Congratulations and thanks to Abby & Scott Hale for allowing us to be a part of the festivities. We played a Christmas party on Saturday night at the Champagne Palace in Elmwood. The party was for Scott Armature LLC. We played this party last year. It's a great big affair with awards and gifts. Not a whole lot of dancing. But a splendid time indeed. We will be off for Christmas now and will return to Rock n Bowl on the 29th of December. We want to wish every one of you a Merry Christmas.
Now on a much sadder note…
"Good night sweetheart well it's time to go... I hate to leave you but I really must say..."
Glen (Angel Shark) Casper
You may or may not have heard that our brother and one of the Founding Fathers of TQ & the Topcats passed away on Sunday night. Glen has been fighting cancer for a while now. He put up a good long battle too. Though we were yet to become great friends I actually knew Glen in high school. A few years after graduation Glen became one of the original members of TQ & the Topcats (Check the History- Chronicles Page of our website) None of the four members of the Topcats that have been together now over 40 years were from the very original TQ & the Topcats that started in the early 70's. I am the closest one and I joined in 1976. Glen was there from the beginning... day one. When TQ left in the Fall of 1979 we dropped the "TQ" from the name and carried on as the Topcats. Glen left the band in the Fall of 1981.
We kept in touch over the years. And even more so in the last few years as he's been on the northshore for quite some time and I recently moved not to far from him. We were able to spend some time catching up with each other in recent years. I was able to talk to him a few times in his last days. Sharing old stories and old jokes. We spoke on Thanksgiving Day and we both knew he was getting close... tired of the fight. I wanted to go see him one last time but he didn't want that. So I was blessed that I was at least able to say goodbye and to tell him how much he means to me. When I first joined the band I was just kinda thrown into the roommate situation with him (and from that point on he and I always shared a room when we were young and "on the road".) Over the years we got to be very close… sharing many many things. He was a great friend to me. He was a funny, fun person to be around. And one of the things I admired about my old friend… he could take a joke and loved to laugh. Good God Almighty we had some adventures together onstage and off. So many laughs. I've had my cries over our recent phone conversations. So when I got the news on Monday morning it was almost like a relief as he had been through a lot. And he told me that he was tired of the battle.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to his sister, Sue and his father, Mr. Leo (Mr. Leo is 100 years old… May God Bless Them) Sue told me she would have a 'Celebration of Life Memorial' for Glen at some yet to be determined date. We will keep you informed.
So... on Monday I put on the "oldies" music and cried some more. As always and even more now, when I hear: Sh-Boom or Blue Moon or Get a Job or Little Darlin'… Dianna … and on and on and so forth… (You Are My) Special Angel… I will always be reminded of my great friend Glen (Angel) Casper. That's the music we loved and that's what we performed in TQ & the Topcats. We say it about all the guys (and there was one girl) in the long history of the Topcats family over the years...
"Once a Topcat always a Topcat"
"So I carried on, you can't be haunted by the past People come, people go, and nothing ever last But I still think about you, wonder where you are Can you see me from some place up there among the stars? But down here under heaven, there never was a chart To guide our way across this crooked highway of the heart And if it's only all about the journey in the end On that road I'm glad I came to know you, my old friend"