“We’re putting the band back together”

Happy Halloween! It has been 18 years of family portraits. That is hard to believe. Each year we create a family portrait based on horror, spookiness, scary stories/tales or just plain creepy. This year is a little different. This year’s portrait is special.

My friend Dan was diagnosed with cancer late last year. He passed away at the beginning of this year. It took everyone by surprise.

Dan lived in my neighborhood, went to my fist birthday party (and many more), we were born two months apart, we went to the same schools together and had known each other our entire lives. We hung out, made fun of each other, played hacky sack, basketball, and video games. It was a great neighborhood to grow up in and Dan made it better. After he moved to Seattle and myself to Atlanta, we continued to stay in touch and see each other when we would return to NY for the holidays.

One of Dan’s favorite movies was The Blues Brothers. We quoted that movie all of time.

“We’re on mission from God.”

“It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses."

Orange whip? Orange whip?…Three orange whips.

When I visited him before he passed, he had mentioned he finally showed the film to his daughter Alison. He got the biggest smile on his face when he talked about her laughing at loud at many of the best scenes.

I’m not the best at writing stuff like this. The annual Halloween portrait is something I love doing. It’s something I look forward to every year. So this year, I’m dedicating it to Dan. The Blues Brothers is something I remember fondly about him enjoying and I’ll think about him every time I look back at these photos.

I think he would get a kick out of them as well.

Miss ya dude.