I have just managed to repair my old guitar distortion pedal (for you guitar freaks it's an original RAT2 straight from the late 80s), sounds KILLER on my Marshall amp, I'm happy AF but as in parallel I keep searching for an old contact of mine Google is not precisely my pleasant friend this time:
Let's go back in time first, late 2007. Being a member of a travelling community of bikers (way before the FB hysteria Horizons Unlimited was the way to go) I receive a message from a US couple who are enjoying their honeymoon on their bikes on a RTW trip and seek for guys to meet in Athens (Greece not Georgia). How cool is this right? So I reply and manage to meet them at night in the center of Athens. Little I knew that Kevin and his Colombian wife would be 2 of the coolest guys I'd ever meet. Fed up with Bush's administration in US (both Democrats) they decided to spent their honeymoon abroad around the globe.
They love the kebap house I take them for dinner, we share lots of laughs and interesting talks including Kevin's intention to run for mayor in Boston. Not knowing him well enough yet I say to myself "maybe wine is talking more than his mind does". He goes further though proposing me to come to Boston to help him convince the Greeks there to vote for him. Well, maybe I should🙂. As we later walk back to their hotel we find a neat old BMW parked outside Monastiraki metro station where we take a couple of pictures (which I still try to find).
We stay in touch as I follow Kevin's blog recording their honeymoon around the globe in his own distinctive style. A post titled "Not horny in India" is among the first that comes in mind which had to do with the fact that the horn of their BMW went off, which is more crucial to survive in India than the gas itself. Among the most epic moments though was the one when they escaped from border police somewhere in Africa as they had enough of bribing at borders around there already.
2008 and the "Hillary or Barack" dilemma rises up in the Democrats. I was afraid back in the day that Obama would be more of an attractive figure than a substantial presence (rightly so I'd say now) so I was leaning slightly towards Hillary though being a Greek living in Greece any native here would tell me "why bother?" (to be honest I'm not 100% sure why I do this to myself but that's another story). So I text Kevin to get his (more sound) point of view and he also tells me he prefers Hillary.
In 2009 he does run for Mayor in Boston indeed, unsurprisingly and unfortunately didn't finish first but bragged about his "most votes per money spent" achievement. Next year I quit my job (my last office job ever since by the way), I start travelling extensively, mostly on my bike and staying out of the social hysteria led to loosing contact with the guys.
Fast forward today, trump reloaded fuck up of the last US elections led me to write several posts about the whole thing and its global effect (it's literally all Greek to you but you can check my previous 4 posts, easy to translate in 2024 and I'll gladly help if you ask me to do so in the comments). Among my thoughts is how much better things would be had Hillary won against Barack back in the day. With this thought in my head I recalled Kevin's preference for Hillary so I said "hey, how's this guy doing today?" and started looking him up after all these years.
I find his FB and see that it's stopped since mid 2016. Seems weird to me so I keep seeking vital signs. His site is gone, he's not active on any social, googling his name doesn't help much but googling his name with "Boston" gave me the screenshot you saw at the beginning. "52, heart attack". Multiple shocks and too much info to process at the same time almost stops my heart too. Kevin was already 52 in 2019, (thought he was closer to my age, due to him being young at heart I guess), another wife (Ukrainian) plus a son.
What to process first? The "you know you're getting old when people you know but are not much older than you are gone"? Kevin is the first one of those BTW for me and definitely among the last ones I'd choose to leave this world if I was forced to at gunpoint. The sadness about his wife experiencing the war in Ukraine without Kevin or happy that at least Kevin is not here to experience a second trump on top of the ongoing invasion of putin? Despite that I can't think of someone not wanting him back anyway.
It's heartbreaking to see his wife's FB frozen at the beginning of the war (February 2022). The comments showing how she rushed to escape reminded me of how another friend of mine tried to escape last minute with her son, like so many others. 2 and a half years later some people in peace still can't manage to walk in Ukrainian's shoes while millions of people in Kevin's homeland decided that a guy who (among other unthinkable things) has actually promised to burry Ukraine deep under russian aggression is the right one to lead them. Wrong people die at the front...
As I realise Kevin's death, I try to seek more info from the time we were not in touch to fill the blanks. Therefore, I find that he campaigned again in Boston but that time under the name Pat Payaso. In case you don't know "payaso" means "clown" in Spanish and now that you might start sensing where this goes check out his most viewed video:
This is so "Kevin"🙂 It's the first time someone manages to put a smile on my face while the news of his passing are still only a few minutes away and that describes him a lot. Besides, only a guy with a good taste would pick such a song right? His tiny YT channel (today only reads 12 subs but I guess it was no Taylor Swift at its prime) has some nice talks with Mike Dukakis, one of the best politicians in US (trust me I don't say this due to his Greek roots) and I guess Kevin had the same opinion hence those videos with him.
Of course with Kevin we also shared the same passion for motorcycles though he took it a notch even further as (if my memory serves me right) he even did the Isle of Man, the races of races, where he told me he snapped his drive chain at one of the jumps because he kept the throttle open while landing.
Have fun on the other side Kevin, I'm still younger than you when you left this world but no one knows when I or anybody else will join you. When I will you won't mistake my location for Athens Georgia (instead of Greece) again (like you did when you thought I'm not too far to join your party next day🙂). Thanks for the good times and the colours you tried to apply in a rather pale world with rather colourblind people. Cheers mate.
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