Some Thoughts On This "Anniversary"...

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Some Thoughts On This "Anniversary"...

Postby Geof » Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:10 am

I got an e-mail from Randy's fiancée a little while ago. It said in part, "The Bedemon CD is great. Love Craig’s voice. Randy would be really happy. Five years today... :( "

I hadn't realized that yes, today, August 8th 2007, was five years to the day that Randy died from his auto injuries after a week in the hospital, most of it in a medically-induced coma.

Five years. Half a fuckin' decade. Wow.

When I read her e-mail, I admit with no embarassment that I kinda lost it. I immediately thought of his face, smiling. I thought of Randy, Taryn and Mike here in April 2002 as we frantically raced through learning and recording ten songs in five days. And then I remember getting home the night of July 31 around midnight after seeing Lynyrd Skynyrd and Kansas—tragic band and "Dust in the Wind"—and hearing the message on my answering machine from Taryn that they'd been in an accident and Randy was badly hurt, and how my heart raced and I felt nausous as I dialed her number even though it was 3 AM on the east coast.

And...I remember calling her on August 8th, 2002 to see how Randy was doing. Her mom answered and said she'd just gotten back from the hospital. She got on the phone, and said, "Geof...Randy's dead..". I remember screaming something to the effect of, "Fuck! No...this can't be happening..." as both of us were crying our heads off.

As we would do when I flew back for his funeral and our eyes locked at the airport as I stood there and she and her son approached and both of us had that instantaneous feeling of the part of the equation that was suddenly and horribly missing. We stood in the airport lobby hugging each other and crying out loud, oblivious to anyone and everyone around us. It would have been the perfect Brian DePalma 360 shot. Those who know will understand that, as would Randy. And we would continue to cry—and laugh our heads off—over and over and over again, on call after call over the next year or so.

People die every second of every day. Somewhere, as you read this, someone is losing a relative, a friend, a child, a lover. You hear about it on TV or read it in the paper, and then you turn the page or flip the channel. But when it happens to you, when you lose your best friend in middle age due to an unexpected accident...you never really get over it.

I don't enjoy horror movies like I used to. I don't enjoy listening to Black Sabbath as much as I used to. I mean, I still love them, but...without Randy to sit with and discuss the gore effects in a movie, or to call up on the day a new Sabbath album was released, and then each of us would listen to it 3000 miles apart and then call back for a track-by-track discussion...it's not the same. No one can, has or ever will replace that bond we had. That emptiness will always be there.

It took a while, but we finally got Child of Darkness out, and I think it turned out pretty good. The 2002 stuff is taking a long time as well due to circumstances beyond my control, but I have faith that people will be blown away. Taryn's comment back at the beginning is referring to a CD-R I sent her of five very rough unfinished tracks with Craig's vocals on them so she could hear what we're up to. Mike was impressed as well. At the rate things are going, it probably won't be available until spring/summer 2008, since we still have four tracks we haven't touched, and then it has to be mixed and mastered and we don't even have a label yet. But, it will get done.

In Randy's memory, and so everyone can hear his last musical creations, it will get done.

Play something heavy today, and play it loud.

Randy would like that, and he would smile.
Last edited by Geof on Thu Aug 09, 2007 3:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Postby Mike » Wed Aug 08, 2007 2:58 pm

I will! I miss my old friend Randy too. Very eloquently stated Geof. It is amazing that you can live so long and have so few true friends. Randy was somone I could be apart from for years at a time, but when we did get to see each other it was like we never missed a beat. I can't wait for the 2002 CD to be done, Randy would be amazed by it.

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Postby Damocles74 » Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:04 pm

I just got the CD and it is utterly amazing! From reading the jacket I feel like I know Randy..at least a little bit.
/Step down lower..into the grave/

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Postby Geof » Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:14 pm

Thanks...glad you enjoy it. I think you'll like the 2002 sessions as well. This site is an ongoing memorial and celebration of who Randy Palmer was and what he loved: heavy and horror.

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