Rest in peace Joe
Joe, Al, Jesse, Mike circa 2001
Jesse [I think?], Joe, John
I saw John today, he told me the sad news that Joe died a couple weeks ago by drowning in East canyon reservoir.
Joe and I met when we partied at Al’s apartment; I was seventeen. I had seen him around sporadically, but usually with his girlfriend who wore zebra skin pants so we never got to know each other beyond the occassional small-talk. Until one night. After being administered by Al with a healthy series of vodka shots in hopes to lighten the mood after a dispute between us, I sat drunk on his couch alone. Joe walked in and sat near me, mentioning I had nice shoes. We drank together and talked/flirted about life for a few hours and the world around me fainted and departed. I clashed with my introversion as I was intimidated by the cute punk rock boy. I remember vividly sitting on the couch with him, details down to the shirt I was wearing. He poked around on his body explaining his tattoos too rapidly for me to comprehend or contemplate with my head being a mess, probably because I asked about them. He lifted up his shirt to expose his scrawny frame and a tattoo in particular that I was terribly charmed by was “BEER” scrawled in an arc figure across his stomach in old English script. I remember thinking to myself how badass he was. I ended up passing out and I woke up to him watching me sleep from behind the couch. "Hi", he smiled. "Hi", I was puzzled and left to go find Al. We exchanged numbers and he called a few times the prior weeks, but for some mysterious reason I felt ashamed and never answered. I wish I could remember why. Perhaps it was because I was still sort of dating Al. I have no recollection of ever talking to him again.
Anyway, years later he stopped Cody and me at the Poison concert just to extol Cody’s t-shirt. They talked about butt rock while I stood there frozen. He didn’t recognize me. I remember thinking what a cool guy though, for chatting so warmly and avidly and randomly to Cody - a total stranger.
obituary--
http://www.legacy.com/saltlaketribune/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=89746758