This is the story about the original art from my first homegrown CD. My concept was to riff on the closing scene from “The Planet of the Apes.” You know the one.

My first stop was Bras & Mattos Monument company on Mission Blvd, right across from the big cemetery. I wanted to know how much it would cost to buy a remnant of granite and have 10 letters engraved on it.

The funeral representative went into auto pilot. He ushered me into an office-parlor, and offered me a comfy chair at a table with a glass of water and a box of tissue. He soothingly began, “Please accept my sincerest condolences on the loss of your … loved one.” He had this down. The look in his eyes was deeply sincere and compassionate. I smiled, thanked him, and repeated my request. All I needed was a remnant of granite with 10 letters engraved on it for an album cover. Nobody was dead. It was a curious encounter, culminating in a reasonably priced (and grief-free) arrangement. The nice man at the tombstone store called me the next day. My rock was ready!

The Alameda estuary was the perfect spot to to capture my design idea. The rock was wrapped in a blanket and stashed in the trunk of the car. Brian lugged it from the car to the edge of the water. Our friend Terrie had met us in the parking lot. She was a good photographer, and had agreed to take the picture for me. Terrie composed the shot, and Max cleared away everything we didn’t want in the picture. He found a discarded McDonald’s cup, and employed it to scoop water from the bay and pour it onto the sand around the rock. This made the rock look like it had been there for centuries. It was exactly as I envisioned.

Terrie was fabulous. She hovered around the rock, her dark curls bouncing about in the wind, snapping pictures from all different angles. She quietly coached Brian as he re-positioned the rock for the best effect. Periodically, she would summon Max to pour more water around the rock. Max found a piece of driftwood nearby, and dragged it into the shot. Perfection! By now, a small crowd of onlookers had gathered. One man asked “What are you doing?” Terrie looked at him over her glasses and drily said ” What does it look like? We’re shooting a rock album.”

The rain began to fall as Terrie was hastily shooting the final frames on her roll of film. We packed everything up and made a dash for the car, laughing all the way. Well, except for Brian, who was was carrying a 45 lb. slab of granite. In the rain.

Of all the pictures Terrie took that day, we ended up using #36 on that roll of film – the very final shot. That photograph became the cover art for my first CD. Not long after, I submitted In Every Age to OCP for publication. I enclosed a copy of that CD with the sheet music.

That granite In Every Age rock from Bras & Mattos Monument Company is now a beloved fixture in our garden. It serves as a reminder of the day we all worked together on one of my crazy music projects.

The rock sits in a corner of our garden, under the pittosporum, not far from mom’s hydrangea. Just seeing it takes me back to that day, all those years ago. I think of Terrie. Max, as a young boy, laughing and running along the edge of the water. My Brian, and all the heavy lifting he has done in my life. I remember that McDonald’s cup, and the rain.

It was a good day.