One of my best friends passed away several weeks ago His name was Ken Sowell, best know to many as Rocky. I met him while still in high school along, with his buddy, Jerry Cohen. All three of us worked for Prescott Valley, pushing property (at the time) to folks in South Dakota & Illinois. They had a roaming team of salesmen who would pressure these people into buying land while enjoying a free meal at their local steakhouse.
One of the best things about these two, is they would write these amazing songs and soon, I was recording them in my home studio from 1975 through the early 80’s. Ken was a great singer & harp player and Jerry, an outstanding guitarist. Ken had cerebral palsy and always walked with a pronounced limp, and it got progressively worse as he got older. I would drop by and/or call him once in while, to see how he was doing (as recently January 23rd). It was when I called him on Thursday, February 15th, that I found he had died the day before.

We had a great get-together in memory of Rocky, this past Saturday at Hotel San Carlos in Phoenix, along with many friends including Jerry Cohen and the members of Contraband, the rock band Rocky sang with since the early 1980’s. Jerry’s brother, Ben Cohen also created a very moving video with one of Ken & Jerry’s deepest and most moving songs, “Time Slips.” Please watch this and experience the kind of synergy Ken & Jerry had and listen to the lyrics. In retrospect, they do mirror Rocky’s life.

Join Radio Free Phoenix this Saturday, March 27th at 3pm & Sunday, March 28th at 12 noon (AZ-Pacific Time) for an encore presentation of Ken Sowell’s “Radio Freedom” show that aired November 26, 2005 on Radio Free Phoenix.