In tribute.

In a departure from the standard formatting here on the AHTBM web project, I’m gonna post the newest episode of Revolting here;

Listen to it now, or listen to it later. My own mom doesn’t even listen to it anymore.

If I had any, my feelings wouldn’t get hurt.

Now then- Anyone who has any inkling of me or my aesthetic knew today’s post was coming.

After Rick Froberg’s death in July, and Gary’s death last week I was on my heels, but when STOOPZPOOMZ simply texted me in the early hours of Wednesday with a message consisting of nothing but ‘Albini’, I momentarily lost my breath.

I don’t get tied up in celebrity deaths, but like Robot said about Rick’s dying, he was our guy. He was one of us. I very much felt that way about Steve. I would say we’d been friends since I was in high school, but it took many more years from that point for the two us to actually cross paths.

It’s not every day we get to let people who’ve influenced us in all the ways they have, know.

In a profoundly fortuitous turn of events, several years ago Shellac drummer Todd Trainer asked if I would be interested in doing an installation of paintings at a two night engagement at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall, to which I naturally responded by passing out on the floor.

Upon regaining consciousness I said “heck yes“, and so we did

A few weeks later I wrote to the band and thanked them for the opportunity. I said that collectively and individually they’d been responsible for providing a soundtrack to my nearly every creative endeavor for over 30 years. Some time later I received a letter in response thanking me for my thanks and that they appreciated my part in the event.

I’ve seen them a few times since and Steve always had time for a kind word, or a sharp joke.

Really, I can’t think of another person who has had a more profound influence on shaping my world and that of countless others more than him.

It was an honor to have our lives, however infrequently, intersect as they did.

Without exaggeration or hyperbole, I am who I am, because of who he was.

Photo by Lenny Gonzales.