Best friend died

[EthanK]

Dearest yous.


For those of you who don't know me, I'm a long-time listener, and am responsible for the little baby faggot illustration and keith's new CD/DVD cover.

This weekend my best friend, Johnny (22 years old) died in a car crash. To make matters worse he left behind his girlfriend of 5 years who is like a little sister to me and family who he had been helping make ends meet.

Johnny wasn't a regular listener, but before I went to NYC last fall to stay with Kyle and Newsy for a while, I told him the little baby faggot story and got him to listen, unfortunately he wasn't the savviest of people on a computer, so downloading the show was a to-do. But regardless he was a fan and would listen with me anytime we were driving around and loved Keith's standup.

To get a sense of character of who Johnny was, he started dating Katie 5 years ago. Katie came from a broken home, no dad, strung out mom who was in and out of prison, and several other abusive family members. Johnny made sure she was safe and found places for her to live almost instantly so that she could concentrate on school, until they were able to get an apartment together. In the meantime his mom, stepdad, and little brother came across some hard times, and he made sure to pay their bills to keep a roof over their head.

His philanthropy didn't stop with his closer relationships either. Our common hobby was riding BMX, and a few years ago this kid started showing up at the skatepark. We didn't know him but Johnny took him under his wing, teaching him everything he knew, helping him put together a decent bike and riding with him as much as possible. Dylan (the kid) was working part time at a coffee shop to save up for new bike parts and move to Milwaukee to get a career started, but he never had a bank account due to his mother's ill-repute and bad habits. She was stealing money from him to buy drugs, and when Johnny found out he went to the bank and cosigned on a savings and checking account for Dylan. This summer Dylan moved to Milwaukee, got sponsored and starting to make appearances on internationally distributed videos alongside seasoned professionals.

TLDR: I'm starting a little fundraiser to help his girlfriend and family continue their lives without having to struggle financially, as they depended on him quite a bit. I have no expectations or goals, but for anyone that donates 25 dollars or more, I will include a custom caricature sketch.

Donate here

Love.

Ethan

[guitarrob]

Shit, man. I am so sorry. I'm going to see how much I can help out. Stay strong.

[punk'n]

That's really sad. I'm so sorry for your loss.

[Sparrow]

*Super Hugs*

[Rhian]

I'm so sorry to hear. Wish I could help.

[Newsy]

Damn man. Within the one month you stayed at my place and ended up being a fucking stand-up gentleman. I'm sorry for your loss, and hope people can help out whatever way they can. He sounds like he was an awesome dude.

[revenant]

We don't have enough people like him around. Hope his family and friends get through this.

Donation coming your way...

[happylea]

So sad for you and his family..May he rest in peace...

[Leentron3030]

Originally Posted by revenant

We don't have enough people like him around. Hope his family and friends get through this.

Donation coming your way...

THIS.

I donated.

[EthanK]

I love you all, to those who posted and/or donated, you are all wonderful, and I am working on getting back to all of you individually to gather reference images for your caricatures.

I'm sorry I didn't get back to the thread right away, but I got a mysterious bug (my sister who's a nurse suspects a black widow)bite that kept me from walking, got locked out of my house, and the obvious funeral events to attend all kept me away for an extra minute.

anyways, in the meantime I figure I'd add some pictures of Johnny and Katie that I could find. I'll be uploading caricatures as I finish them as well.