Absence Part 1.

So i skipped out on posting for the last couple of months.  I call it procrastination.  Things got a little down for a lot us here in New Mexico, the lack of rain, fires and the resulting smoke, motorcycle accidents, friends and companions passing on.  So here is the first posting that i have been putting off for a while now:

Back in May ago I was getting ready to write a few posts about some of the bands from Espanola, NM.  This northern New Mexican town has had several bands that I have been familiar over the last decade of so.  In preparation for this I contacted Pat Clements to see if his band Osoatomico was still active.  He wrote back explaining that Osoatomico was defunct, but he was working on trying to get something new started.

Two days later he died in a motorcycle accident.

I first met Pat a little over a decade ago when my band at the time first played in Espanola.   We hit it off pretty well, as we did with most everyone in Spana.  I think the first band that I remember him in he was playing bass at the time.  Later he was in Gloryhordeorchestra, playing bass as well.  The last time I saw him play was when one of my bands shared the stage with him at a show down here.  At that time he was in Osoatomico and had switched to playing drums. 

He was very talented and, as with most talented artists and musicians, was emotionally volatile.  It just comes with the territory.  I think we had the volatility in common.  Don’t be mistaken, there was no violence or hostility.  It was more like he wasn’t able to restrain his emotion.  It is the type of emotional and passionate explosiveness that can make it hard to work with others, but it’s also what helps drive creative process.  He had a passion for music and motors.  He was interested only in the quality of the music that he was playing, and in the quality of the bands that he listened to.  He didn’t give a crap about popularity.   It is those qualities that made me respect and appreciate him.   Not many people are that genuine. 

Over the years I would run into him on campus when he was going to school down here, or we would run into eachother at shows down here or up in Spana.  It was always great running into him, and I would always hope that I would run into him at the shows up north. 

He was a big guy with a big personality.   Our community lost something big when he passed.  From everyone in our bands here we send our condolences to his Family and Friends up there in Spana.  If his loss hit us this hard we can barely begin to imagine how devastating the loss is for you all.  Please, take comfort in knowing that he did make an impact on many people.  He made a contribution to our lives that can be looked back on by all of us as something real and tangible.  We all benefited from knowing him.   He was genuine. 

Here's a couple of videos of Osoatomico at Burts Tiki Lounge.  He was playing the drums.
 

 Osoatomico at the Espanola plaza