Stephen James Harrison
On the night of the huge Santa Rosa fires a couple of years ago, Robin, Roy Malan, Susan Freier and I were scheduled to perform up in Gualala. The plan was to arrive a little early to give the room and the piano a try. Some time early that afternoon as we were driving through Bodega Bay I saw that I had a voicemail. It was the calmest message, conveyed in that wonderful FM radio voice he had: “Hi Stephen, this is Robin calling. I am on route 116 and I am sitting by the side of the road. I ran over something that bottomed out my car. If someone cannot find a way to get me I am afraid we won’t be playing a concert this evening.” Of course, he gave me no location, and the cell coverage is crap up there, so we drove along 116, back from Bodega Bay searching. When we finally found Robin, right next to 101, he was sitting calmly on the sidewalk of a suburban cul-de-sac, tux in hand. It had been hours! But he was calm as a cucumber, and we got to the hall just in time to play the concert. That evening Robin was hosted for dinner at Sea Ranch right on the ocean. Everyone in the dining room saw a fireball go over the building heading East. Robin said it was the most astonishing meteor he had ever seen. In his mind it was that meteor that started the fires that night.