Thoughts from a “normal” person

“Normal” in the sense that I am not a musician who chanced a moment on
CB’s stage. But maybe my connection to Hilly does not make me normal. In
the ‘80s, Hilly managed my Dad’s band, The Big Fat Pet Clams from Outer
Space. They didn’t even make it to the list on this website. They really
didn’t make it anywhere, but Hilly believed in this band, and that is what
gave us all (band, family and friends), hope that something big would
happen. Hilly spent god knows how many hours making the little “pet clams”
(actual clams with googly eyes and a felt tongue glued on, in a little
plastic nest). I remember spending several Saturdays driving to CB’s as a
family…even our beagle Apple pooped in CBGB’s. And yes, Hilly cleaned it
up. And he came to our house, but all I remember was him eating a big
bowl of oatmeal, at the kitchen table. I was probably 10 or 12 at the time
but I knew I should sit there and listen to him talk (and he could talk).
Decades later we would still see him, and not just at the gigs my dad and
my brother and their bands would play at CBGBs. And at the end of his
incredibly giving life, my parents got to say goodbye in person a week
before he died. It is truly the end of an era.

Thank you, Hilly, for believing in the Pet Clams. For us, that really was
enough.

Dr. Jen Gelbstein MD

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