The Best Friend Who Edited Geronimo

September 10, 2019
   He's been gone five years next month. We were two small town boys who used to get in trouble for being loud mouths. He edited the original Geronimo manuscript in 1994. We started a band in 1963. He named the band The Exits, because as he put it, "That's where everyone will go when they hear us play." We both loved Mexican food and blonds. We both hated ASU, as any U of A alum would.

Charles Richard Waters

   For many years I called him "No Way Charlie" because he, well, you don't need to know, but it involved parents being absent and a carload of beautiful teenaged girls who snuck out of their house. In his last years, I changed that moniker to "Charles Way" because he actually loosened up a bit and it was kind of funny to see him flower (Charlie acted like he was forty when he was 12, then he tried to make up for all he had missed when he was forty). He called me from the US Festival. Three days, forty bands, something like that. His little brother Johnnie was with him and told me the bands that day were The Cars, Santana, The Kinks and Tom Petty. I told him, "Charlie you don't have to catch up on the sixties in one weekend." We laughed. We both knew it was ridiculous, but there you go.

   I am dedicating the Geronimo book to Charlie for the first class editing and for being so supportive of everything I ever tried to do. A better friend I've never had.

"Funny how blessings brighten as they take their flight."
—Old Vaquero Saying