In 1985 I went to Milwaukee to record with my friend and former bandmate Jerry Harrison (now a member of Talking Heads) and the first night there I met Rita while eating at the Coffee Trader. Her fitness studio "Stretch" was located in the same building and Jerry went there regularly whenever he was in town. Rita stopped by our table to say hello and I was immediately taken with her charm, humor and beauty and inner light. For some reason she drove me back to where I was staying that night in her very cool Mercedes 450 SL and in the course of that drive she changed the direction of my life profoundly. We began a long-distance relationship with me in NYC and her in Milwaukeee until she finally moved east and we were married in a modest but moving seaside ceremony on the Long Island Sound. But helas our marriage was not meant to be; I'm a rock musician and would be getting home from gigs at three in the morning and Rita would be getting up an hour later to begin personal fitness sessions with her corporate clients. We said goodbye to our marriage in 1989 when I moved to Paris where I've lived to this day. Our break-up was a bit rocky as most are, but Rita was all-heart and eventually we reconciled and stayed in touch and whenver I had a new album out I'd be sure to send her a CD. I always thought our paths would cross again but I suppose that's not meant to be in this lifetime at least. I can still hear her voice saying these words ...

"And if our ships should sail from sight, it doesn’t mean the journey's end, it merely means the river bends”.

Love always,

Elliott