Like Dizzy Gillespie's Cheeks

Twenty-six

Ben was out of touch for many years, trying to get his career together, spending a lot of time in Europe, sending postcards and money every so often, but basically he acted as though he had no family, and as a result, Clara divorced him and started a new life. Unfortunately, Ben became nothing more than a distant relative to his daughter Lisa. From the time she was eight, it was her stepfather, Marvin, a successful restaurateur, whom she called "Dad." And Ben was simply known as "Ben."

He was on the last leg of a European tour when Ben not only turned sixty, but also suffered his first heart attack. According to Zack Childs, his bass player, "he'd been looking uncomfortable the whole night," but he had just attributed the tightening in his chest and the fact that his arm would dip in and out of numbness to the rich French cuisine he had become accustomed to. But through it all, he kept playing, kept humping for the Buddha Zone.

Drinking was just part of Ben's post show ritual, but what wasn't a part of the post show ritual was having a massive heart attack and collapsing with a shot of whiskey in his hand.

Tragedy always seems to test a family as well as define its intimacy. And based on Lisa's reaction to Ben's condition, it appeared that she cared immensely for her birth father.

Ben would have a few more heart attacks, but it was this, the first one, that really allowed Lisa and her mother Clara to make amends with Ben. Part of the reason for the interest in Ben at that point was that Lisa was pregnant. And for some hormonal/emotional reason, family and sentiments run a bit deeper for a pregnant woman.

As it turns out, Lisa ended up a divorced single mother living in Chicago with her son, Ben's grandchild, who, like Lisa, had no interest in music... which was fine with Ben. It was just nice knowing that he had some family around.