Kent Finlay was a mentor and friend. He was the beating heart of Cheatham Street Warehouse, my first honky-tonk love. Kent was a dreamer. He wrote songs and gave others a place to share theirs. He loved chili (no beans) and picking his guitar beneath the oaks at Luckenbach. And he believed in young writers like me. Kent's legacy lives on. We hear it all the time, like when the radio plays yet another classic by that fresh-faced ag student Kent put on stage for the first time in Oct 1975, a feller named George Strait. Happy birthday, Kent. Miss you.