05-17-2025, 06:25 PM
Celebration of life for my friend Tony who I've known since SJSU. My gf at the time (then later wife, then ex) had a class with him at a community college (West Valley? Astronomy? Where are those brain cells...)
She thought we had similar interests and introduced us. We did...he was into Adrian Belew as I was and turned me on to this cool collaboration he did with Ryoichi Sakamoto: https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&se...nded+dream
He also had a copy of King Crimson at the Budokan on VHS which I duped way back when...
He was a drummer and an artist. After community college, I would see him on the SJSU campus all the time. When the tribal funk SJ band Dot 3 was a thing, he was one of the giant African mask dancers they had on stage.
He and hi buddy Jon joined me and my friend Jerry for an all afternoon surf music show at Forbidden Island tiki lounge in Alameda. I drove us all up in my minivan, , but over the course of the show, Jerry and I tried so many rum beverages, grogs, etc, that by the end of the night, I was in no shape to drive us home. Thankfully, Jon jumped in and I crashed that night on Tony's floor. Good times...
I was living in a small studio in Soquel when he was forced to change living arrangements (he rented a room in a house at the time) and he asked me if I wanted his drum kit since he wasn't playing anymore. I said yea and it lived with me for years, but when I moved, it went to a friend's house. I kept the drum throne, and still use it when I practice guitar. I brought it to the memorial so he would have a place to sit.
I was in the ER last Sept when I got a text from a mutual friend informing me that he had passed. I wasn't able to process that at the time, but after my mom passed, I started doing some open mics pretty regularly and I'm Dec or Jan, I played Nick Drake's Cello Song and dedicated it to him.
The celebration of life was at Fuze in downtown SJ. It was a party. 2 bands: the New Shockwaves and Chrome Deluxe performed. There was a taco truck slinging free street tacos, too. Between bands, I reprised that Nick Drake song to the one or two people listening, and then played a couple other songs to fill the space until ChromeDeluxe was ready.
All in all, a great time was had. Nice to see some old friends and coworkers...
I was impressed by the turnout. I wrote in the book: "Miss you Tony. it looks like you touched a lot of people and it looks like they are all OK with that..."
Happy trails Tony V!
--tg
She thought we had similar interests and introduced us. We did...he was into Adrian Belew as I was and turned me on to this cool collaboration he did with Ryoichi Sakamoto: https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&se...nded+dream
He also had a copy of King Crimson at the Budokan on VHS which I duped way back when...
He was a drummer and an artist. After community college, I would see him on the SJSU campus all the time. When the tribal funk SJ band Dot 3 was a thing, he was one of the giant African mask dancers they had on stage.
He and hi buddy Jon joined me and my friend Jerry for an all afternoon surf music show at Forbidden Island tiki lounge in Alameda. I drove us all up in my minivan, , but over the course of the show, Jerry and I tried so many rum beverages, grogs, etc, that by the end of the night, I was in no shape to drive us home. Thankfully, Jon jumped in and I crashed that night on Tony's floor. Good times...
I was living in a small studio in Soquel when he was forced to change living arrangements (he rented a room in a house at the time) and he asked me if I wanted his drum kit since he wasn't playing anymore. I said yea and it lived with me for years, but when I moved, it went to a friend's house. I kept the drum throne, and still use it when I practice guitar. I brought it to the memorial so he would have a place to sit.
I was in the ER last Sept when I got a text from a mutual friend informing me that he had passed. I wasn't able to process that at the time, but after my mom passed, I started doing some open mics pretty regularly and I'm Dec or Jan, I played Nick Drake's Cello Song and dedicated it to him.
The celebration of life was at Fuze in downtown SJ. It was a party. 2 bands: the New Shockwaves and Chrome Deluxe performed. There was a taco truck slinging free street tacos, too. Between bands, I reprised that Nick Drake song to the one or two people listening, and then played a couple other songs to fill the space until ChromeDeluxe was ready.
All in all, a great time was had. Nice to see some old friends and coworkers...
I was impressed by the turnout. I wrote in the book: "Miss you Tony. it looks like you touched a lot of people and it looks like they are all OK with that..."
Happy trails Tony V!
--tg