A year ago I had never even heard the name "Michael 'Aussie' Holten." Then last spring we met in an online songwriting class. At the end of the six-week term I was wishing that the group could continue to meet informally on our own. I didn't get a chance to suggest that, however, because Aussie brought it up on his own even before I could. And right away I thought, "I love that guy." Little did I know at the time that within a few months I would actually come to Love that guy, with a capital "L." The group has met biweekly ever since Aussie suggested its creation. And that is where I came to know and love Aussie. You all know him, so this will not come as any surprise to you, but I have never in my life met anyone as genuinely joyful and positive as Aussie. He simply refused to dwell on any negative part of life. What's the point of that, right, Aussie? For me that is so much easier said than done. Yet he did it effortlessly. And he was so quick to praise our songs effusively, even though he knew so much more about creating music than the rest of us combined, and his songs were so damn smooth!
Aussie's songs, which Michael Hayashida from our songwriting group has already linked on this memorial site, reflected his incessant optimism and joy. I strongly encourage anyone who hasn't heard them to go and have a listen. My three favorites are "Footsteps in the Sand" (
https://soundcloud.com/aussiestudio/leaving-footsteps-in-the-sand), which is hauntingly beautiful and has a lovely backstory, "Best Mates" (
https://soundcloud.com/aussiestudio/best-mates), which is just thoroughly Aussie, and has the added advantage of being one of the few of his songs that he did the vocals on, and "A Silly Story" (
https://soundcloud.com/aussiestudio/a-silly-story), a really cool song about John Lennon waiting around in heaven or some heaven-like waiting area. (Aussie told us that John Lennon was his favorite musician on his favorite band. I'm not going to go so far as to say they have "Come Together" in heaven. I'm also not saying they haven't. I'll just note that Aussie passed away exactly 40 years and a few hours after John Lennon did.)
I want to take this opportunity to thank Aussie's amazing wife, Aileen, for staying connected with our songwriting group. She has given us a way to stay connected to our friend and to be able to mourn his loss properly. In barely over half a year, we all fell in love with his lovely spirit. I find it so uplifting that a man whom I didn't know a year ago can appear in my thoughts literally every day. And while losing Aussie, especially in these hard times, is a terrible blow to me and to our group of songwriting friends, our lives are so much better for having known him even for a short time.
I'll end this by raising one small bone I never had the chance to pick with Aussie. It has to do with his song "Best Mates." The song opens with: (My dad said) "If you can count your mates on one hand// Then Son, you've done, alright by me." Who was Aussie kidding??? He could count through all his fingers and toes and then start borrowing digits from his many best mates. Still, I loved that Aussie included us among his best mates. Such an honor. And I take real solace in the very next two lines in the song: (He said) "I outlived all my best friends// But they always turned up, when I need." When he played the song for us, I asked Aussie if he would consider changing "turned up" to "turn up," with the idea being that even after death our best mates stay with us and help when we need. He liked the suggestion and said he'd make the change the next time he recorded the song. He never got the chance to record the song with that change, but no matter. Aussie is now a part of me, and I know that he will always turn up when I need.