Ken's Second Act

Bidding Adieu to Olivier "Oli" Delcor with a Twist

Bass player Olivier “Oli” Delcor said the number 16 is significant in his life. He started playing music in his native Belgium at age 16, moved to Prescott 16 years ago and has a son who is 16.

Only one of those numbers won’t change. Oli, 52, said he is returning to his native Belgium because he fell in love with a French woman, Julie, whom he has been dating for three years and lives in the capital city of Brussels. Divorced, Oli said he came to Prescott for love and will leave for love. He left Prescott on Friday.

I’ve jokingly called him “Olivier Twist,” and he said he prefers going by Oli because his formal name doesn’t “ring right.” My nickname for him is an allusion to the Charles Dickens novel, Oliver Twist. I saw the movie version, the musical Oliver, in a cinema when it came out in 1968. Like Dickens’ other novels, Oliver Twist dealt with marginalized people in Britain at the time. I have an Oliver Twist story: More than 20 years ago, I ate breakfast at a 1950s-style diner on Route 66 in Kingman, Arizona. I overheard a man with a British accent talking with his two female companions about acting. Being a curious newspaper reporter, I approached him about his acting career. “How much time do you have?” he snapped back, then mentioned he had a role in Oliver. “What is your name?” I asked. “Uma Thurman,” he said. He left in his camper with his two passengers, and I never saw him again.

I’ve gotten to know Oli while he performed at the Raven Café in downtown Prescott and in his almost daily visits to the Prescott Public Library. Elliott often has accompanied him to the Raven and the library. Elliott is a highly functional autistic youth who always greets me.

Oli said performing on stage has enabled him to overcome his shyness. “I’m very independent, and I think through music I try to connect with people,” he said.

His bass playing mirrors his soft-spoken personality. His style contrasts with the kinetic, “shake it up” presence of bandmate Jonathan Best, lead singer and keyboardist.

Oli said he started out playing rock music with bands in Europe. Nowadays, he enjoys “spiritual jazz” from musicians such as Alice and John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders. He also likes “world music” from the Middle East and North Africa. He uses his Facebook page to show his musical tastes and spiritualism.

I know little about his native Belgium, which lacks high mountains and architectural monuments such as the Eiffel Tower and Acropolis found elsewhere in Western Europe. Australian band Men at Work poked fun of it in the 1981 song Down Under with the lines:

Buying bread from a man in Brussels
He was six-foot-four and full of muscle
I said, “Do you speak-a my language?”
He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich.

Oli takes pride in his homeland, where he still has family. Brussels “has a lot of culture,” including museums and concerts, he said. It is headquarters for the European Union.

Oli said he loved living in Prescott, with its nature outdoors and its mild weather. “I think Prescott is a very good place to find yourself,” he said.

He worked in Prescott at a business that makes stickers, and will seek employment in Brussels in social work or printing. “It’s funny because I come from a family of printers,” he said.

He will find himself back in Belgium, and will visit Prescott to see his son. Elliott in turn will visit him in Belgium.

Jonathan Best said he will miss Oli’s sense of humor, his “groove” and “special” sound, adding, “I’m going to miss him being with his son.” He performed in a going-away party for Oli dubbed Morphus’ Last Show Feb. 6 at the Raven.

I’ll miss Oli as well. If I visit Belgium, maybe he’ll buy me a Vegemite sandwich with a side order of French fries.