Polish Rock LegendI met Stan Borys in the summer of 1984. I was preparing to leave Chicago for extended travel in Europe when I read an article in the Chicago Reader about him. He was a rock legend from behind the Iron Curtain where his charisma, voice, and poetry were seen as a challenge to the establishment in Cold War communist Poland. His song ‘Jaskółka uwięziona’, (Trapped Swallow) resonated as Solidarity coalesced and came to power, transforming Poland and the world. He’d been living in the U.S. since 1975, settling in the Chicago area by the early eighties. After our meeting, I left for Europe where it became my mission to connect to Stan’s past, to meet his people, and experience his country from a unique vantage point, not as a tourist, but as a witness inside Polish music history. After returning to Chicago, I began working with Stan, helping with promotional efforts, writing and recording songs with him, accompanying him to performances, becoming very good friends. Stan collaborated with my band Strange Romance on the song ‘Waiting in the Rain’ in 1987. In June 1991, I joined him in Poland for his first major return appearance at the Opole Festival. Crossing paths in the U.S and Poland over the years, we’ve remained friends and collaborators. Our last effort together was ‘For Nothing More’ from my eponymous album of 2007. Stan was the key to my door to Poland, my unique existence there, and to my Polish wife and children. Dług wdzięczności, Stan!
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