Rusty Key (also Rustiki, also Russ Harrison) passed away at his home in Seffner, Florida on a warm November morning at age 53.
A few paragraphs about Rusty, the person.
He was a kind fellow with an easy smile and a good nature. The kind of man who would gladly help you plant things in the garden or help you fix your car or help build something with his incredible assortment of tools.
A citrus farmer, Rusty was accustomed to the hot days of Florida. He could often be found roaming through his grove or working on his large garden filled with vegetables. He would share from his groves and garden, including large bunches of bananas.
Rusty was a pack-rat of the highest order. There was nothing he wouldn’t save. Found among his possessions was a box filled with… rusty keys. He collected musical instruments, computers, videos, farm equipment, tools, pictures, CDs, just about anything that had even the smallest value.
The Crazed Mugs at our first HukilauHe loved to play cards, especially poker, and knew basically every kind of poker game there was. A favorite was “pass the trash.” No one else on planet earth remembers how that one goes.
Rusty had sets of friends that rarely intersected. He had one group of friends that he would gather with in Destin, FL each year and spend a few days with. He had another group of friends that were musicians, another group that were farmers and older people, another group of buddies he just hung out with. He was also a dedicated family man. He lived with his mother and took care of her and his aunt and spent many days on their behalf, running errands or driving them to family reunions and events of that nature. Once, after a Jake Shimabukuro concert in Daytona, FL, after everyone had left, Rusty and I walked out of the empty building into the quiet streets. There were 2 motorcycles sitting in the parking lot near our car. He looked at them casually and from the darkness came a voice that said “Hey, Russ – what’s going on?” It was his cousin and some friends just doing some weekend riding. They just happened to meet in that parking lot in the middle of Daytona. Rusty had things like that happen to him often which we discussed to the conclusion of realizing that these kinds of events let him know that he was where he was supposed to be at that moment.
As a musician, Rusty was more inclined to the folk/country side of his craft. He did a short stint as a touring musician in several different bands in Atlanta, he played the bass guitar and the guitar, as well as keyboards. He also sang. His voice was very well suited for support vocals as he could hear harmonies easily and sing them well.
When I started playing around on the ukulele, Rusty wanted to play, too. We started one afternoon in the woods near Fishhawk Creek in Riverview, Florida with the song “All I Have to Do is Dream.” He was a diligent practicing partner who would always come prepared and seemed to enjoy every moment of playing as much as I did. Our favorite song to play together was Nani Hanalei. Rusty and I laid tracks down for our forthcoming CD, “I’ve Lowered My Sails,” a few months before he passed and I’m looking forward to sharing it with everyone.
Before Hot Lava was a Crazed Mug, he jammed with Rusty and I on
International Tiki Day at Clancy’s Freaki Tiki.At our gatherings at the Lagoon Lounge, my home tiki bar that Rusty helped design and build, Rusty would always be the last to leave. Many nights I would go upstairs to the bedroom and fall asleep listening to him play his Baritone Uke and singing softly in the lounge below. He had a saying that he would fall back upon during the lulls in conversation. Looking around him at all of the tropical plants and the soft lighting and the Polynesian artwork he would smile and say “…center of the universe… center of the universe.” It was this statement that created the desire to rename The Lagoon Lounge as The Rusty Key, in honor of our dear friend who is greatly missed and can never be replaced in our lives.
The Crazed Mugs together at Hukilau.
I have certain beliefs about life and death that many of you readers may not share, but my faith in God gives me hope that I will see my friend again one day and perhaps we’ll be able to harmonize and strum once again… and once again I can hear Rusty Key say “…center of the universe… center of the universe.”
-pablus
