Things got a little better last night. I sang ‘Put on a Happy Face’ for Bill which made him laugh especially since I was screaming the lyrics and straining to hit some of those high notes. I was glad to get him out of his funk. I think he’s also enjoying watching ‘Heroes’ with me, I know he enjoys eating heroes with me. Everything was going well and we went to sleep soon after that. We haven’t been watching the Daily Show at 11:00, we’ve been doing the right thing of catching the rerun the next evening.

Like I said everything was going so well, right until at some point in the middle of the night I hit him in the eye. He yelled, ‘You hit me in the eye!’ I had no idea. I wasn’t straddling his chest and wailing on his face. I think I just turned over and accidentally hit him in the face. Despite having a king size bed, occasionally he gets hit. Last night was one of those occasions. I apologized profusely though it might have sounded like I was talking in my sleep. I honestly don’t remember socking Bill in the eye.

I got up a few hours later, Bill was up and ready to go to work. I poured some cereal and then jumped in the shower. Bill gave me a kiss before he left and as far as I could see, there was no shiner, no need for a steak on the eye. He maybe have been over reacting, but then again I did hit him in the eye while he was sleeping, so maybe I’m under reacting. He was off and I was soon drying off, finding my black pinstriped Sean John suit that I just got back from the cleaners.

I looked quite dapper as I headed outside into the 12 degree weather. It was that cold. Saturday it was 60 degrees, today, 48 degrees lower. I wanted to look my best for Arif Mardin’s memorial. Work was the usual data entry, answering phones, making coffee. Naomi eventually came up to me with a project of proofreading the website for the Golden Staffing Services. That was fine, mindless work. Correcting grammar, and various other things I proofread last week. I arranged to leave 15 minutes early so I wouldn’t have to hustle up to Lincoln Center for the memorial.

I left and hopped on the train making it up to Lincoln Center shortly thereafter. I didn’t see anyone that I knew at first but did see Peter Asher and Don Hewitt. I walked into the theater and took a nice seat in the middle towards the back. The place filled up quickly and Joe Mardin took the podium, making a very nice heartfelt speech, mentioning that Barry and Robin Gibb were unable to attend due to a family illness but Barry sent a video stating what a great guy Arif was. Everyone agreed. Darryl Hall came out and started to say something but started getting choked up so he and T-Bone Wolk and one of the guys from the Average White Band played and sang ‘She’s Gone’.

Various other producers and friends came up and made speeches including Eddie and David Brigati from the Rascals, Clive Davis, Joel Dorn and Arif’s engineer for the past 30 years, Michael O’Reilly. It was touching to see how Arif had affected all of them, but Michael hit the nail on the head mentioning how Arif didn’t make any missteps when recording. He’d say, ‘That was fantastic. Let’s do it again.’ Phil Collins came out and thanked Arif for giving him 2 number one singles, ‘Against All Odds’ and ‘Separate Lives’. Thankfully Phil didn’t sing.

Norah Jones sang though, after video testimonials from Quincy Jones and the late Ahmet Ertegun. Norah talked about Arif and how lucky she was to have him produce her first two records, then she sang ‘The Nearness of You’ originally written by Ned Jones and Hoagy Carmichael. Very nice. Judy Collins, no relation to Phil came out and sang a song she wrote that Arif produced called ‘Song for Duke’. It was the first song they worked on all those years ago.

Lara Agar Stoby came out and recited ‘Death Be Not Proud’. She was Arif’s step-grand daughter. Arif’s wife, Latife had married before and had a daughter who Arif loved like she was his own and in true Arif fashion became good friends with his step daughter’s actual father, even flying to England when her actual father was fading fast.

There were more laughs than tears in Alice Tully Hall, though the Turkish Ambassador did get very shaken up during his testimonial for Arif. Juliana Yaffe, a soprano came out and sang an aria that Arif wrote called ‘I Will Wait’. Throughout the evening there was video from a film about Arif that’s been in progress for the past year, when Arif was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He worked up until the end, sitting up in bed and finishing off an arrangement to give to Joe, then Arif passed away the next day.

Julie Mardin came out and gave a very touching speech about how extraordinary her father was and how she realized at an early age that not all fathers were like hers. Julie is very shy and for her to get on stage in front of hundreds of people was a major accomplishment. After that came Bette Midler who said she wasn’t going to talk before her song, then she talked before her song and started to get choked up. Bette sang, ‘Perfect Kiss’ from her Bette of Roses. That was the last record that Arif worked on while I was working at Right Track.

It was a nice evening all in all. I saw Donna Kloepfer and Barry BonGiovi from my Right Track days. They too have moved on. Saw Phil Ramone, Russ Titelman, Nile Rodgers. All famous record producers as well as a few other people including one matron who looked at me and said ‘See you next summer’ as I doffed my cap. I said, ‘I hope so’.

It was a beautiful and brilliant tribute to Arif, so much so that Joe in his closing speech he remarked that his father would have loved all the attention and affection. Joe was surrounded by dozens of well wishers so I left without thanking him for the invitation. He knew how much I loved his father, and for me it was an honor to be there.