WILLIAM D. EVANS JR.
R.I.P. Oct. 9, 2007

It falls to me, I suppose, to recall the good times. Bill was not only a real military
dude, son of a Marine colonel, good friends with Chesty Puller-----squared away high 'n
tight with top NORAD clearances and licensed satellite security grade; Bill's entire life
was a love affair with music.

I love people who love music. And country-ass barbecue.

In high school, Bill was running dog's-body (errands) at the local radio station in the
early 60's, and he graduated to DJ duties. Playing the rockabilly hits of the time. Like
me, he never got over the golden days of sock hops and rampant bullshit jive talk.

Many of you will laugh when you recall his deep voice and dripping molasses, and you know
it's true. He may speak slow, but never at a loss for the zinger. Bill was always good
for the phone interview requests that poured in during the Napster and MP3.com court case
era.

Bill told me the story of marching into the Marine recruiting office in downtown Roanoke
VA, in 1965. The officer barred the door, said "Son, yore daddy told me to march your ass
back home, momma's got dinner ready. He knew you'd try a fool stunt like this. Get your
ass blowed off, not on my watch!"

Bill settled for next-best then, joining the Army. His second lifetime love was
electronics, and he got it in spades, posting to Germany in the late 60's, working at the
NORAD listening post.

I will tell you from experience that Bill was the man you wanted in the foxhole, when the
server went down, the router lighting up from denial-of-service bots (mostly from Media
Defender and RIAA probes)---- Bill could cut out your kidney with a K-BAR lid, save your
life, serve the organ cold with a hint of flava beans, and wake you up to a nice
breakfast of cigarettes, diet cokes, and then more cigarettes. And you'd be glad too.
What a loyal friend.

But Dmusic fans will tell you-----don't get Bill off-topic with recipes-- the boy turned
professional with the barbecue. Bill reached Nirvana State when he took 6 or 7 hours to
slo-ooo--ooo-wwww cook the meat. He invested in the type of Hummer machine that most of
you wives drag your husband away from in K-Mart---with the sidecar, and the applewood
chips. A definite Testosterone-poisoned atmosphere.

Butt-can beer chicken, that was the latest obsession.

I loved this story. Bill thought he would write a screenplay, and he was right.

Bill was married in the 70's and lived in Kansas. He covered the entire Southwest and
Prairie states as a--baby photographer.

It occurred to me recently, on watching "Shallow Hal," and hating myself for
laughing--that Jack Black would be the best casting choice. Bill Evans driving from town
to town, setting up the lights and backdrop, the line was stretching out the door, kids
were screaming, the big mama is trying to cheat your fee--and Bill is a zen-master. All
he needs is a teddy bear.

I will tell you one true fact, I know this to be true: Bill did not drink. He never did
drugs.

He enjoyed this existence, this endless panorama of hotel rooms (think: Dennis Weaver the
hotel clerk in Touch of Evil (1958)---the progenitor of Tony Perkin's portrayal in Psycho
(1960)---- Bill is eating green beans out of a can. Drives all day through cyclones--to
reach Sears in Chicago. You may have never thought about this---the baby photographer in
the front of Wal-Mart----but nobody thinks you (the portrait artist) shot ENOUGH frames
or got the eyeballs OPEN. Mama will cut you quick, too.

Bill shattered all sales records. He left 'em with a smile. Now you may know the seminal
experience when Bill took his arty portfolio into Kinko's and they refused to copy the
photos, citing copyright concerns. And it was his own work. Thus the original cartoon of
the Kopyright Kop, the pimple-faced counter jerk, who lives to create job security for
lawyers. Bill didn't like him no lawyers, nossir.

But ultimately, Top of the Tops, was Bill's extended trip to Malaysia in the early 90's.
Living in href="http://www.marimari.com/cONteNt/malaysia/popular_places/cities/kota_bharu/kota_bharu.html">Kota Bharu and Kuala
Lumpur.

You may recall some of his comments on pho list, for example---

1/15/06 10:11 AM pho list from Bill Evans

"Trust me when I tell you-- to a Malay---eggs and bacon will never replace href="http://www.malaysiasite.nl/images/recept6.jpg">Nasi Lemak for breakfast."

Or this: 12/11/05 pho list from Bill Evans:

"As someone who lived for 2 1/2 years in a very fundamentalist Islamic state in Malaysia
(Kelantan), I can attest to the fact. I've seen grown men cross the street to avoid
walking past a sleeping dog. I've seen them go around the block to get past the dog that
was in no way threatening. I'm talking very small dog. If you so much as pet a dog, wash
your hands before attempting to shake hands with a Muslim, if they saw you do it. If you
have a dog as a pet, they may not come into your house, or a best request that the animal
be keep in another room while they are there. While we may consider it to be
superstition, they take it very seriously."


Bill was traveling for National Geographic, creating an interactive CD, visiting museums
and documenting cultural rarities in a very dangerous country.

Permission required for every trip. Bill's witnessed "up close and personal" repression
of speech and religious cruelty.

And the NatGeo project required an early version of Flash projector, you remember that.
It was a nightmare to get software patches in Malaysia, and guess what: it was easier to
buy the CD in the market for $3 American. Not just Flash, but the whole bundle,
Microsoft, VisiCalc, you name it, all on one CD. $3 total.

So Bill was not just a Naomi Klein character, a 3rd World Disaster Tourist. Bill was a
man who was reality-based. He was cognizant of a society clubbed down by a brutal
dictatorship. Bill saw the early days of globalization. He wandered through the bazaar as
well as the cathedral.

I am looking now through the years of articles on Dmusic and Boycott. I am looking for
the photos he took of all of us, FCC Commissioner Adelstein playing harmonica with Lester
Chambers, photos of me and Derek and Leflaw, Johanna Mikes and Fred von Lohmann, me and
Boucher's first meetup.

The photos are gone. Bill's website, BigLick.com, is hijacked by another group, and
Wayback doesn't have the photos. Many of us think that Flickr was present at the
conception of the first protozoa, but 'taint true. Remember that when its your own time
to exit stage right------ how disorganized is your own history. The songs, the newspaper
articles, the correspondence.

You won't find much on Google about William D. Evans. He knew from the git-go about
privacy, and leaving no footprint when you return to atoms.

On that score--- to our sorrow---he has succeeded.

I have read his email folder.

Some sort of mystery that his last post was about Burma, 10/09/07 at 12:32 pm.

Some of Bill's last thoughts and prayers, then, were with the monks in the street. If he
internalized some of that sorrow, then I am sorry.

I know the extent of his suffering from PTSD---as all citizens and neighbors of
Blacksburg did--- but he personalized his own response to the tragedy of April 16. He
took it in. I wish I could take away that pain, Bill. I wish you had called me.

Some of my photo history, and yours---from Bill's catalog, are crystalized now, poof,
like "Tears in the Rain." Where are those photo CD's and memory sticks now.

See
Rutger Hower's line here from Blade Runner.

Yea. Here's to ya, Thumbtack. I'm going to cook up a mess of barbecue. Your jarhead daddy
would be proud of you.

Bill's spirit is molecules now. Tears in heaven.

WILLIAM D. EVANS leaves a mother and a sister.

Thumbtack is gone? Damn.

It is a hard loss. He was man who deserved our thanks and our respect.

Goodbye Bill.

Tom, great job on writing this.

With regard to Bill's passing, I may not have always agreed with Bill, especially with regard to our politics, but with Bill,
you knew where he stood. He was never afraid to speak up and let you know what he thought about things.

It does though, in the broader context, point out the mortality of each of us.

As I believe John Donne pointed out...
"Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee"..and...."No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls..."

This morning, I walked outside early, while the drape of black velvet still covered the sky, and God's rhinestones were a sparkin' above, and I thought,
"how insignificant am I"...these same stars that saw the rise and fall of Caesar, are winking at me, as if they have some secret joke about my future, that every one of them knows, that I have yet to discover.

I know sometimes I have in these hallowed halls, appeared insufferable, arrogant, and yes, perhaps intolerant of others. If I have seemed that way, I ask your forgiveness. If I have erred, it is because I genuinely believe in freedom, and the value of Everyman, the little guy, the fellow in the trenches or delivering the paper at 5 am, and not the "bigwigs" in Washington or in corporate headquarters.

For those of you who believe in God, in whatever form you believe he or she or it is manifested, I hope you will pray for me to become a better person, and to understand others more, and yes, for me to have more compassion, not less.

Although Bill and I would not be buddies, he and I both shared our fierce opposition to the RIAA.

I send my sincerest condolences out to his friends and family, and sincerely pray that Bill finds the peace he may not have found in this life.

Rest in Peace Bill.

Semper Fi Bro.

~Code

As someone who knew Bill well I do not know if I can add anything except that in a way we were brothers or family if you want to call it that. If he needed me I went, or if I needed him, he came....night or day.
He was from the right and I was from the left. But at the end of the day it does not matter. Friends are friends and there is not much talk but action.
This Sunday we will be having a wake for Bill with music and food and I think Bill will be seeing us all together...standing there with his smoke in his hand.....a bottle of coke in the other.
See you on the other side Brother.
Still Pickin'
Bill Hudson
Moneta, VA

the first person i talked to when we joined DMusic back in 2003.

Thank You Bill We'll miss you
all our love to his family.
Always
e.barbarella
Pop Dolls

Bill helped out someone special to me and for that I thank him.

And, Code, sure do miss your eloquence around here.

This is very sad news. Bill started a website I have dedicated a significant portion of my life to these past several years.

I never had the pleasure to meet with him face to face, but have talked with him on the phone on a number of occasions and of course we got to chat in the Boycott-Riaa forums quite a bit.

The world has lost a great man.

Some thoughts . . .

When I need my "Code fix", I can go to the CodeWarrior website, and when I need my "George Z. fix", I can go to the AZOZ website.

It's hard to get over the sudden departure of thumbtack.

pessimist, for quite a while. the previous year or so, I thought that maybe that you WERE Bill in disquise (or perhaps, Tomsong) ...because of your DEDICATION.

But the writing style, and some opinion stuff didn't quite match up in my mind, and other details/whatever and etc.

-----------

But,

I want to give you (and everyone else) an apology for not DIRECTLY communicating with you lately.

I have been busy with trying to pay bills and getting my band (and my mind/body/soul) together enough to advance an agenda "closer to home"

...thus,

I have pulled back quite a bit this past year or so here at Boycott-RIAA.

Sure, I post a crapload of articles each week,

but I have done SO VERY LITTLE lately in actually BEING here.

------

This news of Bill's passing puts me in an odd mood.

It makes me ask myself, "am I doing enough"

...probably not.

Shmoo;
Thanks for the kind words, my friend.

We understand your time is limited. We remember almost a year ago when you thought you'd have to quit handling certain administrative details because of other things you needed to do (such as making a living and driving to and from work; practicing with your band; etc.)
No problem. We respect you and your fine regard for what really matters in music. And we admire your devotion to the cause of independent artists such as yourself.

Your posting of articles helps a lot, and it's probably safe to say we're all glad you're able to do that.

So, carry on, comrade . . .
a person can only do so much.

Bill, I didn't know you as well as others did on this article, having never met you either was a shame. However I remember many conversations in my first year or so at DMusic, during what felt like a major flurry of activity here and at Boycott-RIAA. I remember you convincing Jennae to do an Open Mic, which I had so wished I'd heard.

You brought a lot of good into the sites here and your absence was noted repeatedly in the last couple of years. Despite all that brought this sad day to reality, you always were a man with a heart and your loss is an underestimated blow to all that is good and honest in humanity.

"But Dmusic fans will tell you-----don't get Bill off-topic with recipes"

HILLARIOUS!!
that was SOOOOOOOOO Bill!! He did love cooking and was damn good at it! I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to have tasted his fine 6-7 hour BBQ Ribs cooked in his "hummer" :lmoa: that's true too!

He was definitely a passionate man and COMpassionate.. I adored him very much.

It is a shame about the pictures however.. that man was good with a camera... was very proud of his photographic past and present abilities.

Bill was good at a lot of things.

A true gentleman, kind and full of character!

Missed indeed

I'm just glad I had the chance to meet such a wonderful soul.

My respects to the late ThumbTack, I had no idea he'd passed away.