Brad Nowell: RIP

Okay, so I'm drunk and feeling sentimental for the first time in ages and the only people I have to talk to are on a message board drifting throughn cyberspace.........

Brad was the front man from Sublime and smoke two joints just finished on my playlist.

The first time I met Brad I was only 4 or 5 and he was smoking a joint and playing guitar in torrance park, chilling under a eucalyptus tree near the army depo. Now that I am older, I realized that he was blazing (ya never forget that lovely smell...). I guess I was lucky that he wasent smoking crack or something worse...

anyhow, Brad asked me to leave him alone while he was tokin and jammin on an acoustic sometime in the late 80s, like 88 or 89. I was a persistent little bugger and i loved guitar sounds so i kept floating around him till he finally asked for my name. "Nathan" i told him and he asked why I was running around out here by myself. "oh, I'm not by myself, my dad is playing basketball" i told him. He inquired into my age and family and whatnot and I learned that he too came from a broken family. He told me that he lived with his dad and he was going to college.

Brad was a great guy, putting out his joints when I came near to chat and listen to him play guitar and sing. I only chilled with him twice at the park but he left a lasting impression on me. I love to play guitar now and smoke pot LoL

Later, in '94 i met him in a friends backyard, where sublime was playing a gig. It was so freaking awesome to see this dude play live with his band... I tried talking to him after the gig was through but he did not remember me... oh well. I hear/read that he had gotten into way harder drugs than pot over the years. Brad told me if he ever had a boy he would want him to go to low-key gigs like this one like I did though LoL

When he died from a heroin OD in 1996 or 97 i shed a tear for him... he reminded me of my uncles wasted lives and I felt he really deserved better but alas... heroin is a bitch I guess. Peace my friend, peace