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Post by Micha on Aug 19, 2019 16:34:09 GMT -5
A few weeks back, I finally managed to do a Holiydays/On A Holiday mix with his vocals on the bridge over the 1966 track, and now this! Rest in peace, Mr. Wonder!
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Post by dauber on Aug 19, 2019 21:01:11 GMT -5
There's a GoFundMe now to raise money for: - Nick's funeral
- Finishing his album Memories of Tomorrow
- Donations to the SPCA in honor of his rescued chihuahua Ringo
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Post by sneakypete77 on Sept 18, 2019 8:48:39 GMT -5
I’ve been away from home for most of the last fraught five months and only been able to post intermittently, so I’m quite late to this but no less saddened. I don’t profess to have known Nick at all, although we did meet on several occasions. One guy who did know him very well is my good pal Tom, who lives about five minutes down the road from me. Tom travels extensively and after I introduced him to Domenic Priore in the early 80s he became close to Dom, Darian and Nick, staying at their homes from time to time.
I’ve been watching hours of Tom’s home movies from his visit in March 1992 which mostly consisted of a series of road trips around the LA region with Nick driving and Darian filming everything from the back seat. A lot of it was just three young dudes being boisterous, occasionally interspersed with periods of extreme silliness. There was a little bit of banter between them in the car, but mainly the trio spent the journey time singing Beach Boys three-part harmonies, which was a delight.
Nick’s love of sci-fi is evident in his portrayal of James T Kirk when the three of them visit Vasquez Rocks, scene of a classic Star Trek episode where Kirk (Nick) defeats evil alien The Gorn (Tom), Darian providing a breathless commentary and authentic dialogue throughout.
Nick was still living with his parents back then, and a tour of his bedroom reveals an impressive model of the Starship Enterprise hanging from the ceiling, but also a collection of books on astronomy and cosmology showing that he had a serious interest in the sciences too. We see his parents preparing a lavish meal for the guys, and in keeping with their Russian upbringing, Nick has to remove his hat before taking his place at the table. Probably the one and only time he’s been filmed/photographed without it!
There were also times when the fun had to stop and some serious work had to be done. Recording in Darian’s music room, Nick can be seen playing numerous short guitar fills on different instruments as take after take becomes layered and a recognisable melody begins to emerge. Darian handles the lead vocals, doubling and sweetening and before too long “Do You Have Any Regrets” takes shape. Even Tom gets in on the act, adding a backing vocal from 3.23 to 3.36, “I looked and I found it/ With rings all around it”.
Probably my favourite part of the movie is when Tom plays a tape of the infamous Beach Boys’ Perth ’78 show, and both Nick and Darian sit through quite a few songs with horrified expressions while Tom is pissing himself on the floor laughing. It takes Carl’s historic demolition of Good Vibrations to loosen their professional resolve and Nick is the first one to give in to the absurdity of it all, almost shrieking with laughter, closely followed by Darian who can at last appreciate the funny side.
Compared with Tom’s experiences, my own fleeting times with Nick were much more mundane. I’ll post those separately, not wishing to lengthen this one more than it already is.
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Post by sneakypete77 on Sept 18, 2019 13:34:36 GMT -5
The first time I met Nick was when Tom introduced me to him at the Armadillo in Glasgow prior to Brian’s Pet Sounds show in January 2002. Tom’s friendship with Darian and Nick meant that we both got invited to have a pre-show dinner with the band deep underneath the venue in the artists’ dining room. It was Burns Night and sub-zero temperatures outside, which didn’t deter the local fans from flooding the streets dressed in kilts and T-shirts, whereas Brian sported the biggest white parka, scarf and gloves. He decided he would have a massage in his dressing room so he left the rest of us to enjoy our meals without him. Being Burns Night, the outside caterers had prepared a menu which was heavily skewed towards traditional Scottish fayre. Tom and I managed to persuade almost everyone to try the haggis, neeps and tatties. Everyone that is, except Nick, who declared that he only ate stuff that he could recognise. No amount of coaxing would get him to change his mind, and he stuck with the Finnan Haddie instead, saying that at least it sort of resembled some kind of fish.
The next time I saw him was at one of the SMiLE shows at the Royal Festival Hall in 2004. I was trying to look after another dear friend of mine, who shall remain nameless (hi JP) to save his blushes, and we both had passes to the after-show party in the VIP lounge downstairs. My mate had been celebrating all day and was mightily refreshed by the time I took him into the room. There was only one occupant when we got there, and it was Van Dyke Parks. JP lurched over towards him, plonked himself down and said he had a few questions to ask him. He must have known in advance that his memory cells would all have been kaput at that stage so with a flourish he rolled up his shirt sleeve to reveal about a dozen questions written on his bare arm in biro. Van Dyke was more than a little bemused but it was when the next person walked in, which was Nick, that the room came alive. Nick walked over, completely baffled by what was going on, and when he sussed it out he erupted in the loudest, most brilliant belly laugh that I’d ever heard. When Nick laughed, everyone took notice, and the world will surely be a much quieter place without him.
I caught up with him again later in the tour in Newcastle, where my wife Julia and I discovered that we were staying on the same floor in the same hotel as the band. So of course we stayed until the wee hours enjoying drinks and nibbles with them all in the bar of the Malmaison after the show. Nick told us of his love for British comedy and he was especially fond of Sacha Baron Cohen’s Ali G character. One episode he hadn’t yet seen featured one of his heroes, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, so I might have come out with a few spoilers (Ali referring to his guest as Buzz Lightyear, and asking “what was it like not being the first man on the moon, was you ever jealous it was Louis Armstrong?”). But Nick roared with laughter all the same. Actually he might have been just a bit miffed because everything I asked him afterwards, he replied in fluent, almost aggressive, Russian. That’s when he revealed that English had always been his second language and being the son of Russian immigrants meant that as a child he was raised speaking only his mother tongue.
Sadly I wasn’t there for the SMiLE show where I was told that when Eric Clapton suddenly appeared in the doorway of the VIP lounge, Nick rushed over, prostrated himself in front of Clapton and waved his arms up and down proclaiming “I am not worthy”. But of course Nick was worthy, and he'll be greatly missed by his bandmates, especially Darian. Almost like brothers, they seemd to be joined at the hip from their post-high school days. Tom has been hurting since the sad news broke, and he and I had a special dinner at an upmarket restaurant last week to remember and honour his friend. Somebody is putting a hell of a band together upstairs, and they've just acquired a true maestro. RIP Nicky.
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Post by hankbriarstem on Sept 18, 2019 20:51:12 GMT -5
The first time I met Nick was when Tom introduced me to him at the Armadillo in Glasgow prior to Brian’s Pet Sounds show in January 2002. Tom’s friendship with Darian and Nick meant that we both got invited to have a pre-show dinner with the band deep underneath the venue in the artists’ dining room. It was Burns Night and sub-zero temperatures outside, which didn’t deter the local fans from flooding the streets dressed in kilts and T-shirts, whereas Brian sported the biggest white parka, scarf and gloves. He decided he would have a massage in his dressing room so he left the rest of us to enjoy our meals without him. Being Burns Night, the outside caterers had prepared a menu which was heavily skewed towards traditional Scottish fayre. Tom and I managed to persuade almost everyone to try the haggis, neeps and tatties. Everyone that is, except Nick, who declared that he only ate stuff that he could recognise. No amount of coaxing would get him to change his mind, and he stuck with the Finnan Haddie instead, saying that at least it sort of resembled some kind of fish.
The next time I saw him was at one of the SMiLE shows at the Royal Festival Hall in 2004. I was trying to look after another dear friend of mine, who shall remain nameless (hi JP) to save his blushes, and we both had passes to the after-show party in the VIP lounge downstairs. My mate had been celebrating all day and was mightily refreshed by the time I took him into the room. There was only one occupant when we got there, and it was Van Dyke Parks. JP lurched over towards him, plonked himself down and said he had a few questions to ask him. He must have known in advance that his memory cells would all have been kaput at that stage so with a flourish he rolled up his shirt sleeve to reveal about a dozen questions written on his bare arm in biro. Van Dyke was more than a little bemused but it was when the next person walked in, which was Nick, that the room came alive. Nick walked over, completely baffled by what was going on, and when he sussed it out he erupted in the loudest, most brilliant belly laugh that I’d ever heard. When Nick laughed, everyone took notice, and the world will surely be a much quieter place without him.
I caught up with him again later in the tour in Newcastle, where my wife Julia and I discovered that we were staying on the same floor in the same hotel as the band. So of course we stayed until the wee hours enjoying drinks and nibbles with them all in the bar of the Malmaison after the show. Nick told us of his love for British comedy and he was especially fond of Sacha Baron Cohen’s Ali G character. One episode he hadn’t yet seen featured one of his heroes, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, so I might have come out with a few spoilers (Ali referring to his guest as Buzz Lightyear, and asking “what was it like not being the first man on the moon, was you ever jealous it was Louis Armstrong?”). But Nick roared with laughter all the same. Actually he might have been just a bit miffed because everything I asked him afterwards, he replied in fluent, almost aggressive, Russian. That’s when he revealed that English had always been his second language and being the son of Russian immigrants meant that as a child he was raised speaking only his mother tongue.
Sadly I wasn’t there for the SMiLE show where I was told that when Eric Clapton suddenly appeared in the doorway of the VIP lounge, Nick rushed over, prostrated himself in front of Clapton and waved his arms up and down proclaiming “I am not worthy”. But of course Nick was worthy, and he'll be greatly missed by his bandmates, especially Darian. Almost like brothers, they seemd to be joined at the hip from their post-high school days. Tom has been hurting since the sad news broke, and he and I had a special dinner at an upmarket restaurant last week to remember and honour his friend. Somebody is putting a hell of a band together upstairs, and they've just acquired a true maestro. RIP Nicky.
In memories such as these, the man still lives - forever.
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Post by Mikie on Sept 18, 2019 21:47:31 GMT -5
In memories such as these, the man still lives - forever. Yes indeedy.
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