[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 13, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H2685]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING JOHN KILZER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Cohen) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, today I learned that John Kilzer, a friend, 
an important figure in Memphis and in the music community, passed away.
  John Kilzer was 62 years old. He was born in Jackson, Tennessee, up 
the road from Memphis, but he lived most of his life in Memphis.
  He was the epitome of what Memphis is about. A lot of times people in 
Memphis call us grit and grinders, and the city is the city of grit and 
grind. It comes from the basketball team, the Grizzlies.
  John's life was Memphis and John's life was grit and grind. He was a 
high school All-American basketball player who went to the University 
of Memphis, then Memphis State, and played basketball. Didn't play it 
that well, but he played it. He was on the team; a good outside shooter 
and a scrapper.
  He got interested in other things and he had some demons with him 
too. Those demons came along maybe from his father, who was an 
alcoholic, and it caused John to have problems with abuse of drugs and 
alcohol as well. It interfered with his basketball career, interfered 
with his music life, but he never let it keep him down. He came back. 
He came back every chance he could.
  He came back as a musician who was signed by David Geffen, had two 
albums by Geffen, one song that made the top ten, and songs recorded by 
Maria Muldaur, Rosanne Cash, and others.
  He became a minister and he had a series of ministries in St. John's 
United Methodist Church in Memphis. It was called Recovery Ministry, 
where he had other musicians come and join him, and they performed for 
folks who were having trouble with addiction, gave them a concert every 
Friday and helped them on the road to recovery.
  He never forgot people, especially little people. He made a big 
difference.
  For a man from Jackson, Tennessee, who was a tall guy who played 
basketball, to become a musician and become a minister and a writer: 
quite a life.
  He was influenced by Reverend James Lawson, a hero of the civil 
rights movement, whose simple presence at a Calvary Church Lenten 
service influenced John to get back into ministry.
  He had a ministry degree and a Ph.D. in ministry as well that he got 
in London, England.
  He was influenced in music--which he dabbled with but wasn't very 
good--by Teenie Hodges, a guitarist for Al Green. He came over to see 
the basketball team and saw a guitar in John's room. He took up with 
John and taught him the finer points of music, songwriting, and guitar 
playing, and John did good at that, but what John did best was helping 
his fellow human being.
  He never gave up. He always saw hope and opportunity. And he thought 
in universal terms.
  So when I read about my friend, John, dying, the first thing I did 
was go around to try to find his CD in my condo. Most of my CDs are in 
Memphis, about 1,000 to 1, but I looked around and couldn't find John's 
CD. It must be in Memphis.
  So I thought, maybe I can talk to my friend Alexa, see if Alexa can 
help me. I said, ``Alexa, play me some John Kilzer.'' And Amazon Music 
had John Kilzer, about eight or nine songs in there, including a song 
he wrote with Kirk Whalum, a great saxophonist and a legend in Memphis 
and in the music scene, called ``Until We're All Free''. We are not all 
free until we are all free. It is a great song.
  So if you have a chance, if you have got Alexa as a friend, ask her 
to play you some John Kilzer. It is good music.

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