Facebook carries some bad news

It probably doesn’t help that I’m writing this morose column with the Traveling Wilburys playing “End of the Line” on YouTube as background music to help get my creative juices flowing.

Once branded a “supergroup,” the Wilburys, together between 1988 and 1991, was comprised of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne (Electric Light Orchestra), Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty. Of the five, only Dylan, now 80, and Lynne, now 73, remain standing.

The name came about during a recording session that included some errors courtesy of some faulty equipment. Harrison jokingly said, “We’ll bury them in the (recording) mix.” And so it began.

By the time the band played “End of the Line” in 1988, Orbison already passed on to the great beyond. In the YouTube video, as a nod to his passing, there is a photo of the great “Pretty Woman” singer placed on a rocking chair while the band plays and sings on what appears to be a moving train. Hence, “End of the Line.”

Harrison would die 13 years later; Tom Petty, 19 years later.

“Hey, Wendorf, do you have any uplifting news?

Well, Dylan and Lynne are still with us. In fact, for lifelong fans of Dylan, such as myself, the cool cat from Hibbing, Minn., is still writing songs. Go, Bob, Go.

I don’t recommend this for anyone my age, 66, because it can turn into a bummer, but this Monday, I decided to look up an old high school classmate to see what he was up to these days. Not much. He’s no longer with us.

In fact, his obit led me to a Facebook page set up by the high school from which I graduated (Bayside High in Va. Beach, Va.), which is really a wall of death. Anyone from the high school who dies, including teachers, people who know of their death are free to either upload their obit on the page or write a tribute to them.

Sad to say, there were more than a few from my grad year, 1973, who still look the same in my mind when I saw their name appear. Simply seeing their name brings back a lot of fond memories.

I spent my freshman and sophomore years at another school (Prospect High), which is located in a Chicago suburb. I don’t even want to see if that school has a similar morbid FB page.

Ironically, in the Traveling Wilburys’ “End of the Line,” midway through the song, Petty sings the lyric, “I’m just glad to be here; happy to be alive.”

So am I after looking at the old friends, high school acquaintances of mine who have already passed by the wayside. All of us should at least make it to the age of 70. Is that asking too much? I think not.

Petty, by the way, died at the age of 66, which is my current age.

“Think positive thoughts, Wendorf.” I will, but I’m not going to check that FB page again.