Losing Friends--Goodbye, Butch

I received news this morning that one of my oldest and dearest friends passed away while trying to escape from a home fire.

Butch "Four Bears" Chavis was a gifted Lumbee Indian artist and one of my cohorts when I ran around on the Powwow circuit back in the 80's. He was about 15 years older than I and was much like the older brother I never had. I will miss him dearly.

Butch was a huge Allman Bros fan and often toured with the Henry Berry Band out of NC back in the day. HBB played Southern Jam Rock and was a fixture in the Lumbee music community. They were the local Biker band and seeing them was like reliving the glory days of Southern Rock.

I remember days spent with Butch painting, doing beadwork and building dance regalia with ABB jamming in the background. I spent many many days like this. It was a much simplier time in my life when my only deadline was to be at the next show wherever that might have been. Those are the times I look back to when I'm stressed over my day to day exsistance and hectic scheduled I life I lead now. Just getting those images in my head of sitting around a table, being creative and enjoying each others company immensely makes me realize where I have come from and to never forget why I do what I do.

Many times when I was dead broke with not a penny in my pocket, Butch would invite me over to eat and give me a warm place to feel safe. He was my sanctuary, a solid rock of a guy that I could depend on to pick me up, dust me off and send me back into the world a little more secure in my surroundings. He was the one that kept telling me " Bro, someday your going to do something with your art" and I always laughed at him because he could paint circles around me and it was HE and not I, that I thought would make it with their art.

He was with me through a horrible period in my life of losing my fiancee', my business being stolen by a partner and almost going bankrupt. He never let me fall and made sure I came to his home and spent as much time as possible with him if for nothing else to make sure I kept my head on straight and didn't do something stupid. He made me realize that there was more to life that my short sided vision could see. He saw something in me that I didn't even see myself.

I hadn't seen Butch in many years and spoke briefly with him a short time ago when another Native artist friend, Derek Lowry passed away. The three of us were pretty much inseparable back in the mid-80's. Now I'm the only one left of the three and the memories have come flooding back.

The last he and I spoke Butch was very excited I was doing work for the Allman Bros and we talked of someday seeing the band again, just like old times.

I guess the lesson to be learned from all this grief is to never take your close friends for granted. Let them know what the mean to you and the way they make your life full. I never really got to give either of those guys a last big hug and tell them I loved them very, very much, although I'm sure they both knew it, I would have still liked to have done it.

Butch, Derek....I'll miss you brothers. I promise to never let the memories we created fade. You both shaped my life in ways you never could imagined. I credit you both with helping me choose the path I have taken and making me the person I have become.

May the four winds take you home. I will never forget you.

**The painting above was called "Those Eyes" and was one of Butch's favorite pieces of art that I had done. He had a t-shirt with this image that he constantly wore.