sharke
samhayman
I'm new on this forum but I've been following this thread and even though I never knew the guy, I was hoping he'd resurface and tell us that he's ok.
It's never nice to hear that someone passed away; perhaps because he's a fellow musician, perhaps because I somehow already feel part of the CW community, but certainly because of how you guys talk about Billy, if I may say this - I do feel somewhat saddened.
My condolences to you all who knew him on this forum or in 'real' life.
Yeah it's hard not to get sucked in even if you have no knowledge of the guy...internet forum deaths do happen once in a while and I've always found them to be a very strange occurrence. Not only does it bring home the fact that these faceless people you interact with online are actually real people, but their existence is eerily "frozen in time," when you look back at the chronology of their comments. It's especially unnerving on Facebook. A friend of some friends on Facebook, whom I didn't really know, took his own life recently, and it's a truly strange and sad experience to read their status updates that they posted just the day before (in this case, just the usual stuff: funny comments, mild ribbing, "what's everyone doing this weekend" etc). I also went through this a few years ago with a regular contributor to a C++ forum who passed away.
I didn't know this Billy fellow but he sounds like a very decent sort and it's touching to read all of these tributes to him, also frustrating for everyone I'm sure not to have 100% confirmation. I'm in half a mind to take a walk up to his building on 72nd St and ask the doorman if he knows of anything, but don't know if that would be weird or not given that I don't know the guy, plus if he was there and it was all a misunderstanding I really don't know what I'd say to him!
I wish I was in your position to do that sharke. If Billy were actually still alive, he'd not find anything weird about it at all. I think he'd be humbled and might even shed a tear that we are all this concerened about him to where people are contacting others and trying to track him down just to make sure he's alive and well. I can't say that I knew the guy very well or anything, but my dealings with him over the years as well as pm's have shown me he was always human, had a sense of humor and appreciated when someone was in his coner or had concerns.
I remember after a heated discussion on the board, that I sent him a pm just to let him know I shared his view and was biting my tongue to get involved. He appreciated that so much. I would think something like this would bring the guy to tears knowing the amount of caring here....and then hopefully he'd laugh at the whole thing and at least know that quite a few people on here like him and admire him in spite of what the forum may make us all think sometimes. He's an approachable guy....so if you did go to his building and he was still with us and unaware this was all going on, I sincerely believe he'd thank you, buy you a coffee and then come on here to let us know. :) Like Rain, I'm holding on to some hope here that there just may be a mistake.
What has me scared is Bapu and a few others e-mailed Billy and didn't get a response. Unless he doesn't use that account anymore or has a strong spam setting, that part scares me. I still keep watching this thread to see ba_midi posted in it...please God let it happen.
-Danny