Pic above from a story in the Ojai Post about Rain
I’ve known Rain Perry since high school.¬† We were in French class together!¬† And in the drama club.¬† We used to hang out in Upper Ojai, wandering the streets that threaded through the hills of the mostly redneck community.¬† Rain wasn’t from there – had an educated and artsy father.¬† Most of the folks who lived in Upper Ojai back then were either hippies or country folk, with an oddball or two here or there.¬† But Rain was very different.¬† She’d come from Colorado but you could really say she was also a city girl.¬† Rain knew about things other people didn’t, which was what attracted people to her back then.¬† It also made her a bit of an outsider among those folk.¬† But she found her way – and remains, to this day, the most popular friend I have – meaning – she has more friends than anyone else I know.¬† She is kind and thoughtful, bright and talented.¬† Rain lost her mother when she was a small child. And she was raised by her father — who was a force of nature.¬† He traveled all over California in search of some kind of fame — he had girlfriends that Rain became attached to, and then the girlfriends would go away.¬† He was a great guy.¬† I knew him well and believe me, he is not a guy you forget.
He died a while back — and before he died he threw himself a funeral.
I spent a lot of time with Rain and her father — I probably overstayed my welcome.¬† I was kind of like a stray cat growing up.¬† I sort of lived with other people, other families. Looking back on it now, as an adult with my own kid – those families were so kind to feed me and let me sleep at their houses.¬† I was hardly ever home.
Anyway, Rain and I had many adventures together — to detail them now would be, well, embarrassing!¬† But I will say that Rain once patiently tried to teach me how to sing.¬† It didn’t work, but she tried.¬† Rain has been a singer/songwriter ever since I’ve known her.¬† She started out as a girl with a guitar at an alternative high school in Colorado.¬† She kept singing and playing – and continues to sing and play.
But the reason I’m writing this is because, after many concerts, after marriage and kids, after a long life of kind of working steadily as a musician – one of Rain’s songs was chosen for the CW’s show Life Unexpected.¬† It is a big deal when something like this happens.¬† Rain is now going to have so many fans.¬† It could not happen to a nicer girl or a more talented artist.
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