Hi Everyone,
 
I just heard about Gary's passing. I'm really shocked and saddened. I  
remember the first time I talked to him on the phone -- it was a conversation  that 
lasted an hour at least. You know first-time power-pop conversations:  they're 
always full of passion and there's an inability to stop  asking one another 
about this band or that band. Discovering another one of "us"  was always 
thrilling, particularly back when the internet was only a nascent  phenomenon and 
the only thread was the telephone wire.
 
Gary and Anthony had just started Audities -- an absolutely wonderful  
magazine -- and there was a pop buzz in the air, the exciting power of  
possibilities...
 
I remember the first Poptopia, one night at a Hollywood club whose name  
escapes me (the Martini Lounge?) . It had a bar when you first walked in,  then 
you entered the club, which was very horizontal. It had tables, and there  were 
about three rows of them. Anyway, bands were playing, people were meeting  one 
another, and the 20/20 guys suddenly showed up. They weren't playing that  
night, but had just arrived in town and were there to check out  the music and 
say hi to everybody. Then, right on the heels of 20/20 came  Gary and Anthony. 
The music was so wonderfully loud in that club that we almost  had to invent a 
sign language on the spot. The popular question was, "which  one is Gary and 
which one is Anthony?"
 
I have great memories of those guys, and that Poptopia in particular.  Again, 
I'm so saddened, so stunned to learn that Gary is gone. Everybody  has his or 
her own view of power-pop -- what constitutes it, which bands or  songs are 
the best -- and Gary introduced me to some great music I otherwise  wouldn't 
have come across.
 
Now, if only that Audities comp would finally come out ; ) 
 
Maybe as a tribute to Gary? Bruce, what do you think?
 
-- Jordan



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