Deano

So this is a random posting more for myself than anyone else, so I apologize to anyone browsing Facebook and stumbling upon this. On this Friday night I made the decision to start a major project; a complete rework of my entire music collection. Having 4,000+ songs on my computer, this is a significant project.

Being enough of a nerd to still like the sound of more than just a guitar, a bass guitar and a drum set in a band, I immediately started searching Amazon and other sites for Ska bands. The same results kept popping up:

Reel Big Fish

Less Than Jake

Rx Bandits

Save Ferris

All old bands, who's music I have been listening to for years.

Then another old band came up....Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Chuckling to myself I clicked on the link to take a walk down memory lane. I opened the first link to hear a preview of the song "The Impression that I get." For those of you who don't know it right away, you would if you heard it. Hit up Amazon and check it out.

I was instantly reminded of a happy (and sad) memory from the past. An effect many songs seem to have on me.

I remembered being at the Baywood apartments in Newport, right across the street from Fashion Island. I had a cousin named Dean who I knew as "Dean-o." A step cousin, but none-the-less, a cousin. At any rate, I remember blasting that song on a CD in his boom box in the living room of a one bedroom apartment he shared with his mom Juliana and grandmother Kitty. Juliana and Dean were from Barcelona, Spain and were here on a temporary visa.

Those were the days of what I would call my mid-years, in between elementary school and high school. A period that proves to be rough for most youth, myself being no exception. Escaping t to an area where no one knew me and I knew nobody was a great relief.

I remember how refreshing it was to hang out with Deano. He was so full of life and excited about everything around him. I remember that he was a huge Jean Claude Van-Damme fan. One day on the way down from their second floor apartment to the pool I watched him mess up a harmless ficus tree like nobody's business.

We would swim one day of the weekend, and on the other walk across the stree to Fashion Island to see a movie and spend hours in the music store.

I am not quite sure of the specifics, but from what I understand Kitty's visa had expired, and eventually Kitty and Deano were forced to return to Spain right around when I started my freshman year of high school.

Several years later, in my freshman year of college I believe, my mom let me know in a fairly coincedental conversation that Deano had passed away. Apparently Kitty had left Deano at home with his sister, and when she called to check on them, no one answered. When she returned she found Deano collapsed in the shower. He would have been about 19 years old.

I never really got the details, but I remember a conversation about how the utilities in Spain were not as safe as in the U.S. I believe it was something about not adding an odor to the gas that would let you know if there was a gas leak. Here in the states a gas leak will smell like a rotten egg. The doctors believed a gas leak had caused a build up of methane in the shower and that Deano had passed out and eventually died from asphyxiation. Juliana found his sister in the other room just fine.

At any rate, rather than a moment of sadness, it was a pleasant moment...thinking about younger years and the enjoyment of careless summers. Summers much like the summers I used to share with my cousin Sean.

Usually such a "pop" song would not be palatable; but remembering Deano's face as he sung The Impression That I Get so enthusiastically, and busted his Jean Claude-like dance moves, brought a real smile to my face.

So I paid my $0.99 and added another song to my collection.