Many moons ago I became good friends with a member of San Francisco's officially-anonymous avant garde cult band The Residents. Like many Residents fans I had a t-shirt bearing the band's then-iconic mascot, a man with an eyeball for a head wearing a tuxedo, a top hat adorning the eyeball-head. My friend "H" told me "if you're wearing that t-shirt in public and some stranger recognizes it, you know you've got a friend."
The comment came back to me today during my lunch break. I was on Market Street in SF in front of the Westfield mall when I noticed some dude wearing a Bemon t-shirt. How often do you see that on the street, even in SF? I don't think I've ever seen a Bemon t-shirt before. I did a double-take and realized that I was looking at Skullbrainer Jay and his family, who return to the Philippines this evening. I hadn't met Jay before but recognized he, his lovely wife and son from photos posted to SB. Totally charming family ... Jay's young son was so cool. He asked "are you my dad's friend?" and kept putting out his hand to shake mine. I told him that I knew who he was because I'd seen photos of him playing with his dad's monster toys. He and his mom laughed.
I usually have my "blinders" on when walking on crowded city streets, so the serendipitous chance encounter probably never would have happened if my eye hadn't caught that Bemon t-shirt.
It was great to meet Jay and his family, if only for a few moments. BASK has several honorary members who don't live in the Bay Area but visit now and then.
Three cheers for BASK International!
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