happy birthday brother tony

tony
Originally uploaded by third uncle.

david bowie
from the album
hunky dory (rykodisc re-release)
LISTEN/quicksand (demo version)

there's too much to say or maybe there's nothing i can say, so i'm not going to say it or try to. well, i can say this. it was 37 years ago today that my beloved brother tony was born. tony has given so much to so many people in this time. for me he has shaped a tremendous amount (if such a thing can be measured) of who i am and how i see it all. most everything i love, am inspired by, believe in, laugh at, cry over, etc. are all an outcome of big brother tony's influence. all the other shit like my laziness, impatience, selfishness, and occasional dips into asshole behavior are all purely troy. which, i guess, is to say that everything good is all thanks to tony tu. and this includes one of my greatest loves, music. tony flipped my world around sometime in '95 when he gave me the first of a handful of life altering and affirming mixtapes. on that tape was this demo version of bowie's 'quicksand'. it devestated me then and continues to do so to this day. is there a song that i come back to more that still steals my breath and puts a lump in my heart with guarantee everytime? probably not. i listen to it now and that lump in my heart has changed its shape, become enormous, and my breath has gone and run away from me.