Good grief, where do I start with this one.
Freddy is my oldest record-loving homie, my blow-our-paycheck-at-the-record-store-ON-payday partner-in-crime, the guy to whom I left my entire collection to when I moved to Japan and who every-few-of-those-early-years-of-living-here, I would return to and expatriate some of my records little-by-little until I had rudely raided virtually all I could (Sorry Fred). Because he was from Chicago and tapped into the underground scene, and because he had about 10 years on me, he knew 5-10 psych, garage, punk, post-punk, new-wave, and no-wave artists for every Top 40 or Classic Rock artist I knew. Some of the bands and albums that Freddy turned me on to were the 13th Floor Elevators, King Crimson, Soft Machine, The Nuggets Compilations, Robert Fripp, Brian Eno, Can, Bongwater, Tom Verlane, Jonathan Richmand and the Modern Lovers, Television, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Laurie Anderson, The Residents, Pere Ubu, Bad Brains, Buzzcocks, Echo and the Bunnymen, Psychedelic Furs, Pavement, and Minutemen just to name a few. We also bonded a lot over Tom Waits, Zappa, The Velvet Underground, and of course the Beatles.
Freddy and I were part of the Dot’s Diner family, and music was always an important part of that world; everyday, control over the diner airwaves was paramount to setting the vibe of the day. There was everything playing from Bill Monroe to Augustus Pablo, from Miriam Makeba to Lauren Hill, from the Rolling Stones to our diner’s own beloved Dave Willey and the Hamster Theater. So much music. Fred and I would bust our asses working the diner on a Saturday and Sunday, then pack up a van full of records and head up to Ward, Colorado and broadcast music as W-A-Y-HI pirate radio DJ co-hosts for two days straight, from a tiny cabin hiding out in the woods .
He was also one of my earliest photo-homies and we used to take our cameras around to ball-games and parking-lot stick ball sessions, or up to High Point for some disc golf, or skiing at Eldora. He taught me about focal lengths and color filters and we used to see who could make the most creative photos.
There are really too many stories to tell but needless to say, Freddy is one of my OLDEST and one my all-around best buds, for damn near 30 years. Such a character, he was like a big brother I never had, and sometimes like a little brother, just somebody to play with. So many formative experiences and great memories made together. I wouldn’t be who I am without “Ol’ Fred.”
So after years of living in a cabin way, way up above Eldora, in mining cabin with no running water, commuting up and down Boulder Canyon each day, Fred finally moved down to the actual front range and lived south of town, down there by the Ethiopian joint, Ras Kassas, near the entrance to beautiful Eldorado Canyon, which is where I last had seen him as I was pulling away with a van full of records, my last haul from his place. We kept in decent touch and I’d hear about him every few years and it would be somebody’s birth or another’s passing that would bring us online to catch up. We both eventually got hitched to a lovely gals and next thing I knew, the diner was also more or less in both our rear view mirrors and he too was globetrotting with his missus, Lyndee, and living the good life.
A few months ago he reached out and mentioned that he and Lyndee would be coming through Japan while en route back home from China. Thrilled, I told him to get in touch again when his plans took more shape. He told me he would but I didn’t hear back. I imagine he got busy with the travel, and we both knew that he could call me outta the blue and say “Hey, I’m here, let’s go to the record shop!”
Well, a month or so had passed and I had completely forgotten about him coming to Tokyo. Then outta blue, I’m at a Yakult Swallows game at Jingu Stadium with my family, the first professional baseball game that I had seen in a good couple of years. It was a beautiful day and we were sitting out in right field along the first base line. I had a great view of the cityscape as a backdrop for the historic stadium (where Babe Ruth had once played a post-career barnstormer), and took a big sweeping panoramic photo of the scene and posted it to social media with the caption “Beautiful day for a ballgame.” An inning or two had passed and I hadn’t thought much of it, I had my eyes on home plate watching the batter with my binoculars. Suddenly, blocking my view of the batter’s box was a blurry, out-of-focus character standing in front of me. Keeping the binoculars to my eyes waiting for the person to pass, I noticed the figure started jumping up and down signaling to somebody. Wishing to see the batter and bit exasperated by this person blocking my view, I focussed the binoculars on the blurry character , and Lo-and-Behold, there in sharp focus stood my dear old Fred from a million years ago, smiling as big as could be at me! I was STUNNED! “FRED?!?! What the hell!?!?”
I immediately jumped up outta my seat and scrambling over a few people to get to the aisle where he stood, and gave him a giant hug and bust out my camera in disbelief and snapped a selfie to commemorate the crazy moment. I had completely forgotten he was coming to Japan (he had arrived the day before and was intending to call me after settling in) and it was PURE coincidence we were at the same baseball game! Checking HIS social media during the game, he saw my post and thought, “By god, we’re at the same damn game” and triangulated my position based on the photo, and found me in the crowd. What are the odds!
So it was a really happy homecoming of sorts and a joyous moment of life, one I will never forget. He met the fam, and I met Lyndee, and within a day or two we were at the record-shop catching up and it was “just like old times.” It was just so great to reconnect.
There is one more funny anecdote to the story. We visited Flash Disc Ranch in Shimokita on the day before he was leaving back for the states. Digging in the 45’s he found a very rare Minutemen single, being a bit rich for his blood, he hesitantly passed. We eventually left without scoring much, and I completely forgot that I had missed a chance to add him to Tokyo Record Style. We were simply having too much fun hanging out. Getting back to his hotel, he suddenly regretted not picking up the single, and thought to go back to Flash, but it was already closed and there’d be no time to get it the following day, the flight schedule was tight. He chalked it up as a missed opportunity and we started devising a way for me to maybe get it, and then send it to him, and for him to take a TRS photo when he eventually got it, and send a photo back to me, when suddenly his plane was delayed by a few hours, which meant he had time to go back and score it, which he did, and finally I get add my oldest record-loving homie to my photo project. Brilliant!
Already miss you, Fred. Catch you on your next time round. Stay in touch, and enjoy that record. Love ya, bud.
More Tokyo Record Style on the way!
Minutemen – Paranoid Time
Label: SST Records – SST 002
Format: Vinyl, 7″, EP, 45 RPM
Country: US
Released: Dec 1980
Genre: Rock
Style: Punk
https://www.discogs.com/release/368915-Minutemen-Paranoid-Time
Try Best Offer Score
On Instagram