Geo in Memoriam
George, It’s hard to comprehend how this is the moment, that I’d be writing this now. I’m sitting here in Todos Santos after some divine intervention (which i suspect you had something to do with) ended our race to Cabo early, but so graciously allowed me to be onshore to be part of this process. I’m listening to Above & Beyond and thinking about our family and the truly incredible and one of a kind community that you built and I’ve had the distinct pleasure to be a part of.
George, you and Gary are my brothers. I have a dear sister Allie, but until I met you both, I’ve never had brothers before. We’ve known this since that beautiful Monday evening during breaking down camp in 2016 when we all really dove in together with Lee. This isn’t my earliest, but it is one of my most cherished memories with you both. I’ve never called a person my brother before, or felt it so deeply as i do now with you two. Gary, the year you’ve had is absolutely inconceivable. I pray and hope to be able to support and provide for you whenever you need it, and even when you don’t!
I want to start by expressing my deepest love and condolences to all of our family, but particularly to Gary, Greg, Grant, Diane, Ting, and your two beautiful and exceptional children Astro and Xing. I am here to support Ting and them in any capacity I can, forever.
Benji put this so well in his note: The world really did lose one of its brightest lights.
The thing that keeps coming to me is how much you’ve inspired me over the years. My life is fundamentally different than it would have been without you in it. No single person has ever helped me feel so capable, and so invincible. This wise belief in creativity; in the doers and dreamers that make up our culture, and your endless positivity and relentless focus on just making things better every time we touch them is enough for all of our lifetimes. Even when we didn’t agree, we found a way to work together. I think about you sometimes when I’m frustrated, or a bit too serious, your smile and insistence that we’re all part of the same family with the same goal. No one helped me slow down like you either. I’m making a commitment today to do my absolute best to live without judgement and with an open heart and a smile and the wonder that we have for this life. It’s so precious.
There are so many memories to share, stories to tell over cold beers in the sweet spot, shared love for the Robot Heart community, continued creative work on the bus and spreading joy throughout the world through love and beats. I can’t wait to see you out there in the dust, in the mountains, on the ocean, and everywhere we all love going together.
A few distinct ones that come to mind at the moment:
The very first time i witnessed the incredible Robot Heart bus on the playa, in 2011. I came out to see my colleague and dear friend Atish DJ, not knowing anything about what was in store for us. I knew then that I’d have the opportunity to work on that glorious sound system. It’s trulybeen one of the greatest honors of my life to have the opportunity to contribute.
Tom bringing me into your family and giving us the opportunity to connect. Feeling like I’d found my home. The rest has been pure magic.
Your joy in making deep connections between the exceptional people you’ve come across and collected over the years. The joy and tears in realiczing how many of my dearest friends today I met because of you, either directly or indirectly.
Sitting with you and Gary and Lee and telling our stories that first year for me with camp on the playa. New brain!
Herbie Hancock in the morning hours at 159 and flashbacks to growing up with dad listening to jazz together in similar circumstances.
The truly profound experience of witnessing the parents that you and Ting have become. Getting little nuggets of wisdom from Astro and Xing and your pure joy in their education and growth. Deeply, deeply inspiring for an aspiring parent.
Alpha and Beta in San Francisco. Going to visit Saul at Otherlab, time with James Lindenbaum, the Tosca takeover, truly superlative travels with Jenny and Molly.
Our first phone call about camping together while i was absolutely buried in the Malthus rebuild in Reno, and how ridiculous it all was.
Bringing RH and Relaxomatic back together a bit.. two Disorient offshoots with different values and different missions, but old unrequited friendships involved. I still so vividly remember smiling as you and Lobster Rocket hugged while we jump started the bus with Joan, their heavily modified Humvee which also has a 24v electrical system. Oh yeah, and we had run out of fuel .... First connection with Dave Andre behind the bus because of this.
Putting together the year of honoring collaboration and bringing the energy of the bus back to Distrikt, link up with the Mayans, Disco Knights... and of course, your favorite link-up.
Christmas at Mica with Ting, Astro, Tom, Kristiana and our whole family. Telling Phil the helicopter pilot dinosaur jokes. Matching onesies - Ding dong! Who is it!
Uni, so much uni.
The argument we had about leaving the bus engine running that led to the transaxle bolts shearing off that morning, and fixing it with ratchet straps with Icebreaker. In my most frustrated moment, you just handed me a beer with a smile and a hug and helped me understand what really matters. These lessons for living will stick with me forever.
Chasing you down the rabbit hole. Thanks to Tyler for promising a tap on the shoulder when needed. It turned out to be deep!
One night in Hong Kong. Getting to witness your life there.
The gift of Mudita as a concept in my consciousness from Gary. Mudita means joy, particularly sympathetic or vicarious joy, or the pleasure that comes from delighting in other people’s well being.
Learning about music with you. Conversations and beautiful relationships with so many artists. Tom and Jimmy, Anna and Paul, Lee, Swamy, Dill, Walt, Doyle, Roy, Scott, Garza.. oh and dreaming of Laurie Anderson on the bus.
Relentless focus on the acoustic experience of the Bus. Walking in front of the bus with you and Pascal and tuning, tuning, tuning.
Reading you The Dry Salvages, by T.S. Eliot during our last deep dive not so long ago in Jackson Hole in Tom’s Tram. So profoundly grateful for just one more with you. Final. Final.
Our last conversation about doing and dreaming and the excitement of gathering our community in front of the bus again. We all know what we need to do and we will do it righter than its ever been done before in your honor.
With that, I’ll leave you with this.
It’s not farewell, its fare foreword, voyagers.
Voyager Geo, as we hurtle through space on this tiny blue marble.. I’ll always be thinking of you. See you in the dust, and on the other side, Brother. We’ll be together every day in the meantime. This I know for sure.
To the rest of you, we carry on together to celebrate the values that we connect around and that Geo so deeply inspired. Keep living the fullest lives we all can. Every moment is precious.
Looking forward to seeing you all in the sweet spot sooner than later.
With Love & Beats,
Justin