When Greg and I became friends in ‘96, we were only 14- fresh and uncertain of the next 3-4 eternal years of high school. We were both kind of dorky, young and naive, but we already knew we loved music. This is what sparked the friendship, we shared a weird taste in music, and that became a solid foundation.
We had always been bus acquaintances in middle school, until one day...
-I will never forget that Monday morning on the 45B bus. On the way to school, Greg asked me what I did on the weekend, I told him I just saw the greatest ska band, called Buck O’ Nine.
I really didn't think anyone else in school knew about them.
His face lit up immediately and he said, “I love buck o nine.”
-It was music to my ears, I felt like I had met my best buddy, in the world. Then he asked, have you heard Mustard Plug? I said, no... who’s that..?
-You gotta hear mustard plug! In the next few days, I went to his house and heard his favorite bands and he showed me all his pets. I learned a lot and it was so fascinating to me- he kind of introduced me to a different world, and he taught me a lot about his reptiles.
Every few months we learned of new bands and shared our new findings, and eventually went to some shows together.
I loved how he’d tell me about each artist he was getting into- we were constantly sharing and... evolving our music tastes.
I think it was between sophomore/junior year Greg grew really passionate about reggae, he talked about Bob Marley every week, and he always took interest in what I liked too.
By the time we were 16, we were both really into punk rock, and Greg really knew his punk music- and he was no poser… Bands like Strung Out, Good Riddance, Bad Religion were some of his favorites, and that never changed.
We also did typical teenager things- like admiring his cool pets & reptiles, and those late-night 007 video game sleepovers. We also did stupid, irresponsible things, like trying to buy beer at Holly St liquor store when we were 17.
Of course we thought we had a chance because we arrived in his big blue Chevy truck- which made us look older and super, punk rock.
For those who don’t know, Greg used to be a musician. Whenever I hear a trombone- I think of Greg. When I see a trombone in a store, I picture it being blue, because he used to tell me how cool it would be to have a blue trombone.
Some bands that always most certainly remind me of Greg:
Bad Religion, Strung Out, Good Riddance, Buck O’ Nine, Mustard Plug, Bad Brains, Bob Marley, The Slackers, and Steel Pulse.
Some memories of Greg...
In high school, he didn’t know it, but Greg was actually pretty tough. One time he rode home, about 1 mile downhill on his bike, from my house. He didn’t tell me about his crash that day, but I found out the next Monday morning- I was shocked when i saw him on the bus to school His face was all scraped up, it looked pretty painful, but it didn’t seem to bother him at all, And he just goes, “I crashed my bike”. Though he never rode his bike home from my place ever again.
When I was just getting to know him, he had a broken wrist from snowboarding.
I thought he was just super clumsy -- until I saw him ski. He tore it up on the slopes, he was really good- skilled and fast. I thought I was cool on a snowboard until I realized I could barely keep up with him. He definitely made me appreciate skiing a lot when we were young.
After HS, Greg went northeast to the AForce, and I went south, but those old memories and fun times were what drove me to reunite with Greg again after we moved back. I was stoked to rejoin and be able to see our favorite bands again or just hang out and eat pizza. Chatting with him was always free-spirited and fun. When he told me he was getting into old school rap, we’d start sharing 90’s hip hop videos and just have fun joking around.
In recent years, I always loved how he would join me for a good ol’ punk show- and he could still send me to a new song he had found- and knew that I’d love it...and I usually did.
And, that was a really big deal for me, because he was the only one that could.
When I see these photos, some tell me a short story,
or fill me in on some parts I had missed between the years.
I also noticed the pictures of Greg at work- he seemed so passionate, and it seems like he had a positive impact on so many people. -especially with all the stories I’ve read recently- about how caring, patient, funny, and a great teacher he was...his kindness has definitely radiated through everyone around him.
Greg wasn't just a friend I met on the bus- he was a big part of my life.
He was really special to me, and I’m really thankful to have been his friend all these years.
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