In his raucous “Soul Alive!” album, singer, bishop, mortician, limousine driver, drugstore owner, backstage barbecue vendor and father of 21 Solomon Burke testified, “The answer in life is love and understanding.”
The soul-singing minister continued, “I don’t want nobody to give me flowers when I’m dead and gone. Give me my flowers while I’m living. So I can feel ‘em, smell ‘em, see ‘em.”
I thought about Burke’s words after hearing fateful news of Lee Allen Zeno of Lafayette. Zeno is a sideman, a musician who makes the stars sound great but rarely gets the spotlight. Zeno and his remarkable bass guitar skills helped Buckwheat Zydeco become a Grammy winner and the only zydeco band to win an Emmy…