Jan Berry, of Jan and Dean has died

Powerline has a nice remembrance. I was 14 in 1966. I remember lines like
It's not very cherry, it's an oldie but a goody;
Two girls for every boy;
And then I saw the Jag slide into the curve;
and then
But parked in a rickety old garage,
Is a brand-new, shiny red, super-stock Dodge!

In 1966 Jan survived the Dead Man's Curve scenario in real life, but not quite in as good shape as the narrator of the song. His accident said to a lot of teenagers that life isn't really the dream of the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean songs. Later Brian Wilson's saga would reinforce that. Still there's nothing like the exhilaration of those surfing and car songs of the early 60s.

Jan was 6 years older than me. Now he's telling my generation that death is ahead too, but not to fear it. I firmly believe that those moments of youth are still there in the permanent record and that we'll visit them again, but not really relive them. The memories of illusions are sweeter than they are themselves.