My brother Andre and I shared three passions together- reading, listening to music, and discussing history. Over the years we enjoyed many concerts together, suggested many books to each other, and heatedly debated historical events.

When I was 12, I ordered The Two Towers from the school book drive. He was excited that I was interested in Tolkien, and he told me about The Hobbit and Tolkien’s other books which he had and lent to me. We read the books together. Later, he discovered Frank Herbert and his Dune series of books. Once again, he shared them with me. When these books were made into films years later, we went to see them especially Dune. Even when he was in college, he didn’t mind dragging his younger sister along to the library because he knew I liked reading so much.

He took me to my first rock concert to see The Who at the Long Beach Arena. I took him to his last concert to see Buddy Guy at UCLA. Between those dates, we heard many great bands together. Most notably, we saw Jeff Beck, Frank Zappa, Eric Clapton, and The Grateful Dead. On one very special day back when Andre had his VW bug, he took my sisters Renee, Jacquie, and me for a drive to Hermosa Beach. He had gotten Santana’s Abraxas tape and played it during the ride. It was a perfect moment for me. I was with my siblings listening to wonderful music. It was remarkable also because that day Andre drove calmly which was not his norm. Whenever I hear a song from that album, I remember that day.

I like to think that I like history because of my own curiosity, but it is more likely because of my Dad’s and Andre’s influence. They both liked history and had many great books for me to read. He knew so many interesting facts about Russia and the Middle East. When we would speak about current events, he would cite specific and sometimes obscure events that were impacting the present. I didn’t believe some of the conspiracy theories that he believed, but I still loved him because he was my big brother.

Post notes:

Andre has two fantastic children, Renee and Derek. I love them both very much.

Andre installed a stereo into my VW bug in such a way that no one was able to steal it. I remember there were three foiled attempts to steal it and the speakers. My mechanic finally installed wind wing locks which deterred further attempts.

Andre was part of several garage bands at the Merit Avenue “O” house. I still have a hard time listening to “Smoke on the Water” because of the number of times I heard that song played by Andre and his band.

I have the funniest memory from when I was about 13 years old and on a camping trip with my dad and grandparents. My dad had not brought his raft with him on this trip as it was not anticipated that there would be good rapids. I’m note exactly sure where we were...maybe Russian River? Anyway, as we were packing up to leave my dad took notice of the great rapids and expressed what a bummer it was that he did not have his raft. Then a large log caught his eye. My dad grabbed the log and hopped onto it in the water, exclaiming he would see how far he could ride it down the river. I’m not exactly sure how long he was gone but, I recall that it felt like a long time. My grandparents were freaking out and I was just thinking to myself...my dad is so cool! Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, my dad pops back up. His clothes were a bit tattered and his glasses were broken but, did he have a good time and a story to tell! Absolutely one of my favorite memories!